Coach house not recognized on zoning certificate

[Phil Janasac]

My fiancee and I are in the process of purchasing a 2-flat with a coach house in the back of the lot on the north side of Chicago. Our lender requested a zoning certificate for the appraisal and discovered there are only 2 dwelling units (from one building) noted on the certificate; which technically makes the coach house illegal even though I was always under the impression that coach houses (outside of zoning law) were considered “legal non-conforming” structures. 

We were planning on renting this coach house out, or possibly living in it ourselves, but now I’m worried about the liability that comes with doing that; our realtor and real estate attorney don’t seem to be concerned at all since they’re pushing us to buy this as a 2-unit property, which would make the legality of the coachhouse irrelevant in a sense. There was a note on the zoning cert that said “DOW 12-3-54 - DEPT RECORDS REFLECT ONE BLDG WITH TWO UNITS” - which I think is from Department of Water. This doesn't give me confidence that we can get the city to recognize a second building, even though a basic inspection would determine so. 

This has been a lot to process. We have been waiting months to get this short sale approved and now we are being hit with the fact that the coach house isn’t legal. Personally, I feel like the sellers, and the listing agent, grossly mis-represented this property by not disclosing this, and justified it because they were selling it as a 2-unit, even though they had rented out this coach house to a family for the last 13 years. 

What can be done to get the city to recognize it as a legal dwelling, or that it even exists? Would we have to get it re-zoned? Is it still worth proceeding with this purchase? The coach house is in decent shape and ready to rent, but we would want to upgrade it in a few years. 

As always, appreciate the thoughts and feedback.

[Corey D. McCray]

The zone laws change should've grandfathered the coach house.  You would have to prove the coach house was there prior to the zoning change.  Not hard to do your attorney will need to research building permits.

Now if the coach house was out up illegally then there is a problem.