All Forum Posts by: Nicholas Bolcon

@Anthony Thompson Thank you for the insight.  I wonder if even if the area is completely up to code if you could be sued if an accident occurred because it wasn't permitted?

Obviously also of concern is the town finding out and fining you.

I do plan to call the building department and ask those questions.  When I asked last year (again not the same town) it seemed unlikely that they would make you tear it all out, but they might have knock some holes in to access electrical and plumbing for inspection.  Unfortunately I did not get a chance to call them today and that means it will have to wait until Monday, and the sellers are looking for the final offers this weekend.

@Ed Emmons Thank you for the insight.  I do want to make sure there is no confusion though, I'm not actually doing the work, it already exists, they just never pulled permits for it and, therefore, no inspections to make sure it is up to code.  So I see your points about liability.  I'm no expert, but I do believe the egresses are fine, electrical appears fine as well.  I think I might be able to get more of an idea with a home inspection.  And while I understand that a home inspector might not be a state or town code inspector they may be able to shed some light on safety concerns.

I did run into this a little bit last year when buying my primary residence.  A house I was looking at had an apartment above the garage that never got permits pulled.  This was a different town, but the one right next door.  The discussion with the town inspection department was that I would likely not have to tear it all out but they would have to maybe rip into walls to access plumbing and electrical if I actually wanted to get it inspected and properly permitted. 

The way I see it is this way:  the property is still ok either way, it just affects how much I am willing to pay for it.  If I close the deal I have a few options.

1) assuming everything seems up to code, rent it out as a 3 bed, 2 bath for that unit

2) attempt to have the town inspect it and get the proper permits, this could result in at the very least ripping into walls, and if I am unlucky, having to rip it entirely out (seems fairly unlikely I will have to resort to that).  The downside is added work, increased taxes probably.  The upside is ensuring I am completely covered, dotting my i's and crossing my t's and ensuring good rent.

3) Rip out the additional bed and bath (I am thinking about ripping out the kitchen anyway because I don't want renters treating it as a two-family unit within the two family). This would require some demo work and I would not be able to get as high of a rent obviously and it would reduce my ROI. Granted I could always try and re-do it in the future and even try and go to zoning to get it made a 3-family over the 2-family, with that kitchen, 1-bed, and 1-bath being an individual unit.

All of these options obviously have their individual positives and negatives.  Any thoughts?  Thank you for the advice.

Hello Bigger Pockets community,

 My name is Nick, I am from Rhode Island, and I am trying to get my foot in the door of the rental property business.  I have been browsing the forums for a while now but just got around to making an account, although my partner has posted a couple of times.  I look forward to continuing to gain knowledge through this forum and hopefully giving some back.

I have started searching for properties and putting in offers through a Real Estate agent I trust.  I currently have an offer in on property in West Warwick, RI.  It is a side-by-side duplex with two large units.  We will call them units 1 and 2.  Both units originally have 2 beds one bathroom, and they are large.  In addition, unit 2 has some basement space converted into an additional bedroom and bathroom and also an additional kitchen.  So unit two is listed by the selling agent as a 3 bedroom 2 bath "potential in-law".  The numbers with a 2 bed 1 bath and a 3 bed 2 bath work out pretty well at what the offer is.  The seller has not accepted the offer yet because they are leaving it on for a week and have an open house.  This has given time to do some extra digging and I just learned from my realtor today that the extra bed, bath, and kitchen in unit 2 never had construction permits pulled for adding them to the living space.  

I have read some info on un-permitted units as a whole (as in a actual 3 unit with a whole 4th unit un-permitted or un-zoned).  This seems a little different because in this case the unit is still zoned properly as a two unit but the additional bed and bath are not there as far as the town in concerned.  Does anyone have any thoughts or advice on if this would be a problem for renting it as a 3 bed 2 bath unit?  Thank you for any help and nice to meet you all.