All Forum Posts by: Jia Liu

 @Robert Andersen Thanks a lot for your insight. She is feeling a bit better after consulting with multiple people.  Thanks a lot everyone for your advice!

@Jonathan Klemm Zoning certificate does say 1 unit. Her house is not located in ADU area. Apparently, years back, the owner tried to legalize it as 2 units. it was approved by the city, but under conditions to bring the building up to code and with all the permits. The owner never pulled any permits so it stayed 1 unit until now.

@Samuel Pavlovcik that makes sense indeed! She said she is contacting you now and will discuss everything. @Angel Dejesus Yes, very stable income, but a ticking bomb. The buyer will have to be enjoying the risk.

@John Warren Thanks a lot for your input. Making it a single-family instead makes a lot of sense and it sounds way easier. She would like to sell it as soon as possible. I wonder if there are buyers that would buy it under this circumstance or whether she was the only one :). 

@Mark Ainley Thanks a lot for your advice. I will share it with her.

Hello guys,

My friend has a house in Chicago. She bought a single-family home with an additional unit in the basement that is not an official/permitted unit.

The house was already rented to Section 8 tenants (both units) when she bought the property, and it went through yearly city CHA inspections. Given the strict requirements of the city for the safety of the property, she assume the extra unit is built up to code, but she never checked it with the city engineer. Of course, I told her she made a mistake buying the property like that. Now she wants to make it right.

If she starts the legal conversion process with the city while the tenant is still there, I can imagine it would be quite a painful process, because the city would force her to evict the tenant immediately and the tenant could complain and file a lawsuit. It would be better if she moves the tenant out without breaking any lease agreement first.

Do you know some reliable engineer who she can contact and make sure the building is up to code before actually starting the legal conversion process? Of course, this solution would be only temporary. She would start the conversion process after the tenant is moved out.

In case something happens to the tenant while being inside the unit, will the insurance cover the costs if the unit is at least up to code, though not legal?

Will making sure the unit is up to code assure that if something happens to the tenant, she won’t be facing serious legal issues?

She wants to sell the property again but buyers are scared to buy an illegal unit, for valid reasons.

If anyone can suggest how to best proceed in this situation, let me know. I myself don’t have any experience with this.

Thanks in advance for your help.

@Marian Smith @David Silver 

Thanks for letting me know about pressure-treated sill plates. Didn't know about that. The house was built in 1991. So, hopefully, it has pressure-treated wood?

• The home inspector inspected it about a week ago. He claimed that he saw mud tubes, termite galleries, and wood rot on exterior trims. He just performed visual inspections. We were present, but he didn’t show us in person where the mud tubes and termite galleries were.
• The seller's termite bond company told the seller that they didn't see any live termites.
• So, we hired another pest control company who went out there yesterday for a third opinion. This inspector also said he didn't see any signs of live termites. Just wood rots from water damage and fungi on the exterior trims. He walked around the house inside and out using a stick with a rubber end tapping on any wood members he could reach. Hearing for a solid/hollow sound of the wood members, I suppose. I specifically asked him about the mud tubes and the galleries that the original inspector found. He said he didn't see any of that. This inspector also mentioned that there are the Sentricon tubes all around the house. So that helped prevent termites. Would you guys agree? 

So now we have one home inspector (termite inspection licensed) saying there are mud tubes and termite galleries and potential termite damage all around the house. Then we got two pest control inspectors (one from the seller's termite bond company and one from a third party we hired) saying there are no live termites. Just water damage wood rots and wood fungi. 

I am leaning towards believing the two pest control inspectors. Maybe our home inspector was just exaggerating the fact to cover his own behind?? What do you guys think? 

Thanks!

@David Silver thanks for the reply, David. I am gonna have a third party pest control company inspect it again. Do you know any nondestructive methods to check for termite damage? Without tearing the walls down to check for damages. Thanks!

@Theresa Harris That was my thought too. Also thought the home inspector might be bringing up the worst case scenario so that he's covered when we actually find major damages in the future, if we buy.

Hi everyone!

Looking for some opinion here. We are on contract to buy a house right now. We hired a home inspector who told us that there are possible termites and termite damages. (He has a termite license and performed a separate WDO inspection). He estimates anywhere from $10k to $100k of repair. He saw evidence of termites including wood rots on exterior trimmings and sidings and mud tubes. We asked the seller if they are aware of this possibility. So they asked their terminate bond company who told them that there are no live active termites.

Who should I trust? My termite licensed home inspector who can't see behind the walls or the seller's termite bond company who's best interest is to say they did their job in the past and there are no issues.

Thank you!