Then I sent emails directly to Clayton Morris inquiring about a finish date and he responded by voice-male that permits were almost completed and that it should be 4 to 6 weeks and it would be "smooth sailing" as he characterized it.The house was never built, I've paid back-property taxes and fines of over Approx $1200...ongoing yard maintenance costs of anywhere from $40+ up to as much a $225 monthly for a vacant lot just to keep the city off my back with fines...etc..Bottom line is.....After having a nearly perfect credit score and credit record of 25+ years, I will be in Bankruptcy court in May, 2019 because I cannot afford the payback of the credit card funding because there is no house built (cash flow) and there is not a single attorney that I contacted who doesn't want $60,000 (up-Front) because they all say they can't do it on contingency because Clayton has so may law-suits against him already that they feel there will be little (if any) money left after all the litigants already in line have been paid.

What does the permitting process look like and getting the zoning changed? 

Permitting.

Great deals and I would continue with them but the market dried up in 2022 with legalization of recreational marijuana in CA Since returning to investing I have been exclusively in cash.

Oakland permit department is telling me Category 1 ADUs require separate addresses, and therefore, separate metering.

Assuming you "converted" the property to rental 4-5 years ago and you filed for rental applications/permits and have been filing 1040's for that property then you should be good from an age perspective. 

All the same permits and inspections should be required whether the home owner does the work or not.

The city doesn't count it though because of how it was permitted. 

The non-buildable tract of 15 acres was being sold to a farmer for crops, not houses and they were not permitted because no building rights were remaining. 

Homes with active permits can transfer to the new owner but unlicensed properties will need to wait for a license until the currently active rentals drops by roughly 100 licenses.