Renovating a duplex that is listed as SF on county records

[Marsha Rost]

I have found a good deal on a house that was built in 1910. It was a single family home that was turned into a duplex and the conversion must have happened a long time ago. However it is still catagorized as single family on county records.

It needs a complete top to bottom rehab. I would like to keep it as a duplex. I wanted to know, since it's not legally a duplex, what will the city require us to do when applying for permits. For example, are they going to make us create a fire rated separation wall. What do I need to do to have it legally listed as multi family?

The property is in Houston TX.

Thank you all in advance

[Lee Hampton]

City of Houston(COH) treats a duplex the same as a Single family residence for permitting purposes. You are not subject to multifamily ordinances until you reach 3 units. There could be HOA restrictions in addition to COH. If there is no HOA, then COH is all you have to worry about. Because of the age of the house, you will be grandfathered in against most ordinances, but once you remove/modify an item, you will be required to meet current code, e.g., replacing an electrical outlet requires the new outlet meet new code(tamper resistant). And a fire rated separation is just a thicker or an extra piece of fire rated sheetrock, easily achieved.