Thank you very much all the for helpful information.
I contacted PGE, the electricity provider and they have no problem split the electricity in their end. The only problem is that, I would need a permit from city so that they can inspect when the electricity split is done, and the issue would not provide me the permit if it is not a legal dwelling unit.
Let me add some more information about my house. My so called in-law unit has the same size of the main unit which is about 1500sqft. The land is 7000sqft. The in-law unit has kitchen, bathroom, and 4 beds. It is 1500 sqft, which is more than the 1200sqft limit for a second unit. So the city gives me two options:
- make second unit smaller (up to 750 sqft as it can only be 50% of the first unit) so that it can be a second unit
- or apply for the house become a duplex.
The first choice does not work for me because it would alter the whole layout of the second unit and from investment point of view it does not give me any benefit.
The second choice would be very expensive as the city said it would cost about 50K for all the fees to pay for the city to legalize it. On top of it, I have to put a fire-proof wall between the two units which need me to tear down the current wall between them.
What I just want to do it to split the electricity but it seems that there is not an easy way to do it. I am not sure how to move further with this situation.
@Karen Margrave When you submitted the plan to legal the unit, wased the fee was as high as 50K like I mention above?
Thank you
