All of the codes are published by the International Code Council (ICC). 

I made sure the family had plenty of time to gather his personal things and did whatever I could to help them (I can't imagine losing a child, so I was as respectful as I could be).I am not a lawyer so it's best that you seek council first, but my understanding of the law is that you should disclose a death within the last 3 years if it's 1-4 units.  

To do that, we worked with an engineering firm and presented our plan before the city council - it was a long process but worth it!

While not an investor group per se, I know that they do a lot of work with people who own properties and are very active with the city council, because the city is not particularly landlord friendly.

However, before you move forward, I wanted to be sure you've looked into whether your property meets the latest regulations on Accessory Dwelling Units enacted by Austin City Council in November 2015.

Variance is tricky and takes time, council meetings on small towns are once or every two weeks.

Mankato is a little more strict because of the college community.The only way to make a change is to go to your city council and hope their position has changed since the ordinance was implemented. 

Does it need to go in front of city council?

So once again, your first step (after getting your war council of atty, acct, and QI together) is to negotiate a lease extension.Second though you are buying a lease and improvements.  

Both options are going to require notice to surrounding property owners, and public comment at zoning compliance meetings and/or city council meetings.