So, we bought a 130-year-old house in August 2023, listed as a 3-bedroom, but we recently discovered that one of the bedrooms isn't legally permitted by the city. We thought it was a valid bedroom when we bought it, but it turns out that, according to the city, it's just an attic due to an old illegal conversion. We're stuck because the city won't let us start renovation work until this is sorted out. Getting the upstairs up to code is looking like it could cost us around $200,000, which we don't have. We've also talked to some lawyers, but they said we'd need to prove the previous owner knew about this issue to have a case. Any advice from those who have faced similar problems? What can we do?
3 Answers
I'm curious, why do you need to deal with this right now? Are you trying to sell the house soon? If you’re just looking to remodel, maybe you could see if the city allows you to proceed with the downstairs work while you tackle the upstairs later. Also, don't forget to get your property tax records updated to reflect only what’s legally allowed to save some money!
Did your inspector mention this issue during the sale? If not, that could be a major oversight. If they cleared the inspection without mentioning any issues, you might have grounds for further action. Plus, it might be worth checking with your local permitting office about any rules that were in place back when the alterations were made. Sometimes older work is grandfathered in.
Honestly, you might be in a tough spot with the previous owner. I think the cheapest route might be to just revert the attic back to an attic. That could mean tearing down the drywall and taking up the flooring. Just check what the city needs to consider it a safe non-livable space. It’s not ideal, but could save you a heap of cash compared to fixing it up to code.