All Forum Posts by: Erin T.

Thanks everyone for the further suggestions. 

@Eddie Torres - We had only planned on a 500sqft structure... 

We'll try reaching out to City directly and getting multiple second opinions.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

@Matt Giacinto - I will send you a DM. 

@Jonathan Taylor - We are looking to do an ADU (detached). According to the Contractor, the City said although the ADU is an entirely separate structure, the main house and the future ADU are somehow "related" being on the same property so the main house must first be in code.

Pardon my complete ignorance here, but I just looked up our records again on LADBS and there's two "Certificate of Occupancy" documents obtained by the previous owners in 2002 - One for a kitchen remodel and one for a deck extension.  Are those not valid C of O we could use to help our case here, if the C of O ends up being a reason this project is being held up? 

@Dan H.- I just called another contractor and he mentioned SB897. Will look into it further! 

Hello BP community!

My family and I live in NELA (Highland Park/Eagle Rock) and we had an unpermitted ADU in our backyard. After attempts to get it approved as legal were denied, we demolished the existing structure last fall in order to build a new one.

As of today our contractor informed us that the City of LA told him we cannot get the permits for the ADU UNLESS we completely update our main house to bring it into code. Apparently there's no record of a Certificate of Occupancy issued for our main house. Our main house was built in 1923 and since it's so old, there areas of the house that are not up to code such as insulation, electrical, etc. I don't think it makes financial sense for us to do that just to build a legal ADU. 

Has anyone heard of this issue before? I see ADUs being built all across NELA, and I'm completely shocked at this news. If anyone has experienced this or has any advice for us, please let me know. Thank you!

Hello BP friends, 

We're based in CA but looking at potentially investing in the Kenai Peninsula, AK.  How much do you all budget for maintenance? We're not too familiar with upkeep given the different climate. Thanks for your help.  

Hello BP Community! Could anyone recommend a contractor in Ventura County? Looking for help with an ADU.

Not sure why but I can't seem to post the location as "Ventura" in the post.  Thank you! 

Thanks everyone for the ideas. We'll look into permit history/records and consider calling the City.  Will be back if I find anything interesting to share! 

@Bruce Woodruff As you said it probably won't meet code standards so maybe "livable" only in appearance... Thanks for the comments.

@Dan H. Thank you as well - I will look into SB13!

Hello BP commmunity! My family and I live in NELA (Highland Park/Eagle Rock) and have an illegal ADU in our backyard (studio, approx 400SQFT, bathroom, no kitchen). We don't now exactly when it was built but it's probably in the last 20 years.

We've been using it for when friends/family visit, but as we look to move out in the next couple of years, we're considering renting out our main house and also converting the guest house into a legal ADU.  So far we've had two quotes on the conversion. Both told us we need to demolish the current dwelling and start from scratch to be legal.  Both quotes to do so were in the $300K range, and said it would take about a year.

Has anyone out there been in this predicament? It seems if we want to make this legal, we need to start from the beginning, which is kind of a shame because the structure is livable, so just wanted to see if we have any other options. I believe the previous owner rented it out becaus we still get mail for the tenants... Thank you!