All Forum Posts by: Robert Palladino

@Aaron Hollingshead, I listed it from my desktop. The issue did start however when I viewed the listing on my phone. 

@Bjorn Ahlblad, I tried relisting it, and it basically did the same thing again, only much faster.....

Thank you both for your replies

Has anyone had this issue?

I posted a new rental listing to Zillow, and it was active for about 30 minutes before it was relabeled as "off market".

No explanation, no notification, nothing.... I am completely lost here. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

@Adeeb K.,

Is there an ACTIVE rental license for three units? If so, you should be fine. If the rental licence has lapsed, then you may have a problem. There is a grace period, but you would have to check with the city on that particular. If there is no rental licence, you will have to go through a long zoning appeal process, then most likely have to file an appeal with the Board Of Building Standards because i'm assuming there is no sprinkler in there, which is usually not an issue with existing triplexes, but if you're changing the use from single family to triplex, it will trigger a sprinkler requirement, among others. All this can, and has been done, but takes time and money. 

My advice would be to check the status of the rental license first through Eclipse system, or emailing the city, or asking the owner to provide proof of active rental license for 3 units. If you send me the address, I'd be happy to look it up for you.

If there is no license, perhaps you could negotiate a zoning contingency in which the sale is contingent on getting the use. If you're doing a total gut rehab, I would just factor in the cost of the sprinkler system.

Hope this helps

You can still apply for new permits online. By stroke of luck & good timing, L&I rolled out their eclipse permitting system right before the shutdown. You may still need drawings, but permits are still being reviewed & Issued.

If you already have a permit, construction has officially been opened up in Philly as of May 1st. 

@Jeremy Fisher, thanks. I did end up going through with the purchase. For various reasons, the settlement was pushed back a couple of times, but we ended up closing on April 10th. Because there was no bank involved, we were easily able to close virtually. I've been working over the past 3 weeks on the renovations. Working from home during COVID has actually been beneficial in this regard, since I cut out my commute time each day, I gain more time to work on the property. To social distance, I made a list of all of the materials that I was going to need, and made one trip to Home Depot in the beginning to get everything at once, so that I wouldn't have to keep going back & fourth numerous times. The renovations were light, so they are just about complete. I anticipate having it listed for rent by next week (hopefully).  As of right now, I am on budget, but anticipate that I will go slightly over, but not by more that $500-$1,000. I could have stayed under, but ended up hiring out the painting, installing new exterior doors & capping some of the windows. It was a good situation for the contractor who was out of work & practicing social distancing, since the place was empty, and he would be there by himself. It worked out for both of us. 

I'll update this post once it's rented once the assumed numbers become real.

-Rob- 

Yeah, those small RM-1 lots are a siren call..... It's a good thing that you were smart enough to do your due diligence first. Many are not, and don't find this information out until it's too late. Best of luck.

After re-reading your question, I realized I may have initially misunderstood your question. I believe the link below will help answer your question. See section 14-602(7)

https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/philadelphia/latest/philadelphia_pa/0-0-0-154712#JD_14-602(7)

@Michael Lutes,

The short answer is this:

[1] In the RM-1 district, the minimum lot area required per dwelling unit is as follows, provided that, whenever the calculation of permitted number of dwelling units results in a fraction of a dwelling unit, then the number of permitted dwelling units shall be rounded down to the nearest whole number: 325(.a) A minimum 360 sq. ft. of lot area is required per dwelling unit for the first 1,440 sq. ft. of lot area.(.b) A minimum of 480 sq. ft. of lot area is required per dwelling unit for the lot area in excess of 1,440 sq. ft.; provided that, if the green roof conditions set forth at § 14-602(7) are met, the number of units allowed is 25% greater than indicated by the foregoing lot size requirements, applied prior to the inclusion of any other applicable increases in allowable units.

Click the link below for zoning use chart: (Table 14-602-1.A)

https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/philadelphia/latest/philadelphia_pa/0-0-0-154712#rid-0-0-0-170236

You also have to check if you are located in an overlay district. Some overlay districts have restrictions on multifamily uses. You can see if you are in an overlay district on Atlas within the "zoning" tab. If any overlays are listed, you can click on the link provided in atlas which will take you to that section of the zoning code.

Hope this helps,

Rob

Hey @Chris Terry,

that all depends on whether or not the use would be permitted by-right. If you're willing to share the address, I can do a quick analysis for you. would this be new construction, renovation, legalizing existing?

If you do not need a variance, you the review time is 21 working days (or 15 for single family & duplex). You could pay to accelerate that application (I believe for $420) which knocks the review time down to 10 working days. 

If you need a variance, before the shut down, you were looking at 3 months minimum, but now, who knows..... 

Thank you all for your insights. This has been very helpful.