The rule is based on if it's "within the primary dwelling unit" of the taxpayer or not. 

The city is claiming my 4 unit is really a 3 unit.

A lot of these are garden units.

Quote from @Devin James: In one of our development projects, the City staff asked us to remove 40 units from our concept plan.This wasn’t requested by the City Commission at a formal hearing, it was the opinion of the staff.Our original concept already proposed fewer units than the current zoning would have allowed.Here’s what erasing 40 units means:- 40 fewer homes for buyers- Over $1M in lost profit for our team- Fewer tax dollars and impact fees that could’ve benefited the City’s infrastructure & servicesWe gotta get betterEveryone wants more affordable housing, but not everyone wants to do what it takes to achieve it we never listen to the recommending bodies. we move for city approvals and work closely. the other thing we do is keep going back to the same groups over and over and over and over every month on the same agenda and make very small reductions like 2% or 4% and that reduces and beats them down eventually they accept what you want. it's just before beating a dead horse. we keep tabling until they give us something we all agree on then we go to vote. in our city in columbus we have to get recommendations but that's our strategy. we used to come out as aggressive as possible. we typically study developments in the area and keep it very similar in terms of density. we have a track record of very controversial projects and litigation and not taking no as an answer. after a year of that haha I can tell you it's not worth it. now we are more relationship based and buying the right kinds of plots of land. if the numbers don't work on the front end don't do the development. 

Only one tenant smokes and it fills the other units quickly. 

Seller financing can be a fantastic way to get into a 4+ unit property, especially in a competitive market like Chicago.Have you started reaching out to owners directly or networking with agents who specialize in multifamily properties?

In the message, I could say "Did not go through application because unit is already filled."

Hello,I am looking at adding washing and dyer machines in a 4 plex unit.

@Sean Dillon figure out how to buy a 2-4 unit with FHA loan.Then rent at least one of the units long-term for stable cashflow.Try STR in another unit as well as the other bedrooms in the unit you live in.You may even consider living in the basement, attic or worse unit in the building to rent everything else out and max cashflow. 

If they have a 100 unit property and 5 units are eviction candidates, they can leverage and hold out a bit since the other 95 units are performing.