City/County zoning ordinances in Morgan Hill (San Jose: for sale, renter)

[PizzaGirl408]

We are thinking of buying several acres on the outskirts of the city of Morgan Hill and was wondering if anyone knows the zoning laws. In particular, we would buy a property that had one house on it and would like to put two new modular homes (classier way of saying mobile home) on the land. The zoning states we can have one secondary home no more than 1,000 square feet. What kind of penalty would the city/county throw at us if we went ahead and put these homes on the property? If we are not trying to sell the property with the non-permitted homes, do they care?

[sonarrat]

The best way to get an answer to your question would be to call the city and ask them how they enforce illegal housing units. If they're like San Jose, the answer is they don't really, unless you're trying to rent them. Then you leave yourself open to heavy penalties if the renter complains about an illegal lease.

My old piano teacher lived close to the Uvas Dam and she had multiple buildings on her property. So you may have nothing to worry about.

[laurau]

I live in a house in Morgan Hill but have property in the outskirts as well (Uvas area), where we're trying to build (still in the permitting process). Here's what I've found out:

1. You're allowed one secondary residence, not two, so what you're putting on the property would not fit the ordinance.

2. However, no one is going to do anything about it, unless they're forced to. This will happen if either of two things occur:

a. One of your neighbors complains (they will have to investigate then), or
b. You apply for some sort of permit that requires them to come to the property

Otherwise, they're just too busy with other work. There are 5 illegal houses on the property adjacent to the one we have in the Uvas area, and the county isn't doing anything about it. They pretty much told us this verbatim when we asked them about the multiple properties in the area will illegal houses.

ONE LAST AND VERY IMPORTANT POINT:

The people who own the property with the five houses just mentioned would like to sell the property now (it has been for sale for over a year), but they can't, because the houses are illegal. No one will provide a loan on a property that has anything illegal on it. This may become an issue if you want to sell the property somewhere down the line - you should look into this BEFORE you put the houses up. Having one less mobile home might be a better compromise if it helps you sell the property in the future, unless you can remove it later. Good luck.

[DMenscha]

Originally Posted by laurau

ONE LAST AND VERY IMPORTANT POINT:

The people who own the property with the five houses just mentioned would like to sell the property now (it has been for sale for over a year), but they can't, because the houses are illegal. No one will provide a loan on a property that has anything illegal on it. This may become an issue if you want to sell the property somewhere down the line - you should look into this BEFORE you put the houses up. Having one less mobile home might be a better compromise if it helps you sell the property in the future, unless you can remove it later. Good luck.

Your first rep point laurau!

for the OP, do not run afoul of the law on this one, it can get very expensive.