All Forum Posts by: Tess Sweet

Hello everyone!

We just bought a C2 property on York Road in Highland Park. It's zoned commercial but we got a renovation loan that requires us to convert it back into a residence. (It had previously been a home converted into a business) After we live there for a year, we intend to switch it back to commercial. My question is regarding rules and regulations for dropping a shipping container in the back lot to create more habitable space. For now, an office and workshop. I have been researching tiny homes as ADUs, etc, and think the shipping container designs are really cool. See attached pics! 

Anyway, just wondering if anyone knows rules about this. Does it require permits and inspections even if it's not living space? And is it possible to stack 2 high? 

Thanks for your insight everybody! This is the best forum ever.

@Sydney Sherman - Thanks for sharing the details. I was pretty surprised - disappointed AND confused by the fact they need you to provide those covered & uncovered parking spaces. I thought the new ordinance freed us of all that! 

@Scott Rosser, thank you for asking this question. I am wondering this too! I was in the process of demo-ing unpermitted work in our garage when the law changed. So, I stopped the work and reversed it. I have been working on the place with my handyman husband - but I know that we need to start legitimizing the property and making it a legal ADU, approved by the city. We don't need an architect or designer because a small bathroom and bedroom were built before we bought the place. It was an illegal unit. But not anymore! Hopefully soon!...

@Carlos Alonso Hi! I would love to hear about the way you were able to submit permit applications to the city. None of the ADU forms I dug up online seem to reflect the law change as of January 2020.

BTW ... This thread is so great! Thanks everybody for participating. If it weren't for you all sharing the good news, we would not have known!!! 

Thanks to EVERYONE for participating in this thread! And SPECIAL THANKS to @Will Barnard for your thorough overview. It's sooooo helpful! We are overjoyed. @Carlos Alonso, I would love to connect with the designer you chose. We are eager to start! That said, I am now reading about "ADU specialists" - Anyone know about this service and workflow? I bet their phones are ringing non stop right now! Both my husband and I do basic remodeling work, but need help with big picture design and planning. Also curious, @Carlos Alonso, about how "over the counter approval" is possible? What forms?

This is (potentially) very exciting news for us as duplex owners in city of LA! That said, if anybody might be able to answer a couple questions for me that would be awesome...

I am wondering how it might immediately affect us as we are currently in the disappointing process of demo-ing and restoring an un-permitted ADU (illegally built by previous owners) back into a 2-car garage with garage doors in the original openings. We were required to do this by the housing authority. (The previous owners got tagged for this and it trickled down to us having to remedy it after we purchased it back in June.) We live in one of the units but we sure would love to keep that garage as a big rec room or ADU! Maybe we can hold the work and now apply for it to be a legal permitted ADU? My question is about covered parking requirements. We were told by zoning back in July that we had to restore the covered parking that was previously there... Anyone know about this requirement changing? We have room for off-street tandem parking on our property but aren't able to legally build additional covered parking due to lack of setback space, etc...

My intuition says they wouldn't still require covered parking spaces if they are saying that garages can be converted into ADUs? @Carlos Alonso @Boris Suchkov @Robert Chuang @Matt Everling @Nabil Suleiman

@Glenn Driver- Hi! Thanks for participating in my thread. Sadly, at this time, LA city only allows ADU's for SFR properties. I am crossing my fingers hoping that will change down the line! We were advised, if we want to add an ADU, to consider changing the usage of our zoning from R2 to R1 and changing our property to an SFR by cutting a door between the two units. Before we move forward with any big changes, we plan to discuss with a real estate lawyer. It seems there is a lot of red tape but there are ways perhaps to get creative with your use? Let me know what you discover please. And I will keep you posted as well!

Wow, I really want to get back to you on this! I have so much to say! I'm too busy to go into details at the moment, but I will chime in for sure.

We purchased a duplex in the City of Los Angeles.  It is on an R2-1 lot (zoning regs. allow R2 or R1 use. We live in the front unit and are preparing to rent the rear unit. ( I am not a contractor, but have a lot of construction experience and have always worked on my own house. ) As I attempt to make minor repairs, such as replacing a stove hood, I have been told that because it is a rental unit, I have to hire a contractor to pull the permit and perform the work.  They said I can do it in the unit that I occupy as my residence, but not in the back rental unit.   

There has been other unexpected red tape that we are dealing with as well, and it is all based on the fact that the building is a duplex (income property). Meanwhile, next door to us, also an R2-1 lot, there is a single family residence, and a newly completed 1150 sqft ADU (bigger than the original SFR). The owner rents both the SFR and the ADU, however, is allowed to pull permits and do work on both because it is not under the Housing dept (HCIDLA) jurisdiction because it is still viewed as an SFR.

Our possible solution is to change our use of the lot to a SFR (the front unit we live in) and then permit the rear unit as an attached ADU. (note: ADU's still fall under RSO (rent stabilization) but not SCEP (systematic code enforcement program) which is where we have encountered the red tape.

We are unable to find anything in zoning that says we can't change our use. And an attached ADU is legal and accepted in the ADU ordinance.

Questions:

1. does anybody know of anything within the L. A. City codes or ordinances that would prohibit us from doing this?

2. Would it somehow negatively affect our property value and/or create problems in the future if we try to sell the property?

Update: Just went down to zoning and found out we can't get an "R" certificate  for the garage. It has to stay a garage because there is not enough space to build a carport that would satisfy the required 2-car covered parking. Really disappointing news, to say the least. I did find however out that we can make the garage 2-story, so that's something we can consider.

News flash: With the new ADU ordinance, it seems like buying an SFR and building an ADU is a better investment than duplexes in LA these days. There are a lot more limitations and red tape for duplexes. They need permits for every little thing while SFR's with ADUs seem to be the golden ticket. Note to self. SFR.