All Forum Posts by: Andrew Dincola

@Andrew Dincola lots of good stuff here! As flippers, we always add egress to non-conforming windows in basements. Just the right thing to do.

Love the office idea, potentially could charge a bit more for one person to use it exclusively?

Good luck!

My opinion is that the building codes are not always to limit us citizens but to protect us. If there were an emergency, such as a fire, one needs to get out as quickly as possible. Therefore 2 options to get out/2 egresses, encase one is blocked by the fire. As a real estate agent, I sold a house where the owner had built a room in the garage (to rent out to students) with one window that was a legit egress but no heat source other than a portable electric heater (another "bedroom" requirement) and the door that led into the garage. This is not a legitimate bedroom where people should be sleeping for safety reasons. I personally would not want to rent such a room and therefore I will not rent out such a room to others. 

I appreciate you posting this question because none of us start with all the knowledge. There are angles we just haven't thought to think about. When I was first starting out as a real estate agent, I had a 17 yr. veteran agent, tell me more than once, "well, I haven't seen that situation before." So I figured that if a 17 yr. veteran in the real estate business hadn't seen all the challenges and angles I shouldn't expect myself or others to have seen/experienced it all. 

@Joe Splitrock pretty much nailed exactly why I am adamantly against it. The absolute minimum requirement of all landlords is to provide a safe and habitable place. It doesn't have to be clean, or nice, or even smell good, but it does have to be safe and habitable. I don't care how nice the basement is, it's not safe and illegal for a very good reason and you know this. Would you want your child to rent this basement? 

And I'm not sure if someone else has mentioned it yet, but if something were to happen, you may be criminally liable. Are you OK with defending yourself against a charge of negligent homicide / manslaughter and potentially spending several years in prison? 

@Andrew Dincola while you might be able to "get away" with it since you are renting out rooms in your own primary house and thus most likely flying under the radar of any rental permits/inspection requirements (if your local jurisdiction has any) I would strongly suggest not doing it. As most of the seasoned investors who have commented before me have indicated, it's not a wise decision for several reasons. Egress windows are requriered for a reason, to allow exit during an emergency, typically a fire, most fires start in the kitchen and most basement stairs are right off the kitchen (granted not all but most). With that being said IF there was a fire in the kitchen and your tenant/roommate in that basement bedroom could not get out the stairway because of the fire and they die in your house, in your basement in what you knew to be an unsafe situation - how would you feel for the rest of your life about that? Now take that same scenario and add in the legal negligence factor and if you don't think you insurance will try to side step anything to pay for more than the property cost you are most likely mistaken, and the family of the descendant will most likely be legally/civilly coming after you for this and knowingly putting their loved one at risk. 

Andrew sir, I'd have to say it's just not worth the few hundred dollars a month you may benefit from renting out another room - morally, legally and mentally should something go wrong. 

I do love the plan to make the space into another rec/tv area for people living there to enjoy or spend the money to give it an egress window and all will be good. 

Just my $.02 - Mark 

@Andrew Dincola  I would get several different ideas on egress.   There may be different ways to do this.  Also even if you get egress installed it is still a below grade space which may be less desirable then your other bedrooms so keep that in mind

@Andrew Dincola from a shrewd cost-benefit analysis, would you be able to get more in rent by renting it out than a multi-million dollar wrongful death lawsuit would cost if someone were to be trapped in that room during a fire? No, so renting it out as-is should be off the table (you may be found negligent in which case liability insurance may not cover it). Now, how much more in rent could you get compared to the cost of adding an egress? Based on my experience, I’d say minimum $5k to add an egress in a basement if it’s very simple or a lot more if you’re moving walls and reworking the layout. I wouldn’t do it unless you can recover that cost within a year or two with additional rent, or if it would add significant value to the property. If you’re changing the layout and exterior aesthetic, be careful not to do anything that would lower the value or salability. If you could make it into a lock-off in-law suite that would be a nice value-add.