California House With Non-permitted Addition
So here I am, looking for a place to move into and fix up while living there for a few years, and lo and behold, I've found a great deal in the hills. Needs a tiny bit of work upstairs, but is livable. Downstairs, there's a second unit, which needs a lot of work. Gotta move in a stove, redo the kitchen, knock out a couple of walls, etc. I plan to fix up the downstairs unit and rent it out to help with the mortgage, so that I can actually afford the place until its price has risen enough to sell it.
And then the problems start.
I come to realize that the lot is zoned R1, which means the 2nd, "in-law" unit is in NO WAY permitted (you can only have SFR's on an R1 lot, I believe).
So here's the question, for all you rehabber veterans: Given that I have to run some electrical, move in a stove, knock out a few walls (provided they're not load-bearing), maybe lay some flooring and repaint...how likely is it that I'll get caught?
Do inspectors actually drive around looking? Naturally, I'm not changing the footprint of the house (the unit is downstairs, the house is on a hill...), so it won't be too obvious from the outside...but will I attract too much attention by bringing in raw materials to the house? (Do you actually need permits to, say, remodel your kitchen in Los Angeles)?
Any experiences you might choose to share would be MUCH appreciated.
KC
Ask Lufos.
thats the best advice.
[addsig]
Dear Lloyd Dobbler
A resident of Toluca Lake, that is a part of North Hollywood where they have real foundations and pay taxes.
The game you are about to embark on is one very common to the Hills of Hollywood. Perhaps it is the up and down movement of the film industry or the transitory nature of our inhabitants.
I think I hold the record on the additional unit in an R-1area. The point of cause was the kitchen stove.
Way back in time I bought the property on Verbena off of Beachwood Canyon. It had a big sign on this shack at the back of the lot. Do Not Enter Unsafe. It had been placed there by the building department somewhat like issuing a challenge.
The structure was an adobe hut built in 1797 as shelter for the gate keeper of a nunnery which had been founded by two butch nuns that were following behind the good Father who was doing a little real estateing for the Catholic Church, he called them missions sort of a slave labor camp for the local indians. Unless you are a true believer then they were centers for divine redemption. You pick. Anyhow I fell in love with adobe bricks and dirt and I restored it. I left part of a couple of walls up for old time sake and to keep the ghost of a little child happy. It was adorable. Fireplace with embeded old glass from wine bottles, I laid the floor myself Mexican Pavers and the cabinet maker, hippy, heavy smoker out did himself with woodwork. A little tiny stairway led one up into a baby loft just wide enough for a double bed. Raised the ceiling to fit and oh my god it was beautiful. About 400 SqFt plus s200 SqFt loft. I was happy labored long and hard and produced the worst script the film world has ever seen. It is used as a model of what not to do at the Film School.
Then filled with the zest of design I built a redwood three story glass house on the front, connected it to the ex adobe hut with a glassed in walkway thru which a tree grew. I mean how foo foo could you get. I moved in fully permitted and lived, had children love and was loved.
Of course strict R-1 the little house while fully permitted cannot be a second house. The glassed in walkway solved that, but no stove allowed in the back, that would make it an official second house. Sooooo I installed the stove itself with butterfly nuts. It could be removed in the twinkle of a minute and a simple highly polished piece of wood inserted. Legal.
For several years the Department of Building and Safety played a game, the game was to try and catch Lucius Foster with his pants down, er I mean with his stove attached. Nevah Hoppen.
The ghost of the little girl that died here at the turn of the century, Summer Fever they called it then. All the prayers of the Nuns and Rosary beads a clicking could not save her. So sometimes at night you can see the faint outline of her shape like a shimmering light and hear the soft little whimper of a child with a high fever. We loved her much and we miss her. But the little house is still there and occasionaly in the early morn you can hear the tap tap tap of the Building Inspector as he knocks upon the door, hoping to catch the inhabitants in a moment of disarray with their stove attached. Nevah Hoppen
Lucius.