How to get a garden apartment to be recognized as Legal by the city? (lawyer)

[enator]

I just closed on a 4 flat (legally recognized as 3 flat by city), but the garden apt. was built in originally and has been in use since the building was built. It's very obvious from the inside. The garden unit has High Cielings, an original fireplace, original radiators, original woodwork, windows, doors, and is even wired w/ the original wiring. The unit has 3 means of egress. The previous owners added an additional bedroom in it that I'm sure is illegal and will need to be removed, but I'm ok with that.

How do I get the city to recognize it as a legal unit? What is the process? The appraisal lists the building zoned as rt-4, but the zoning certificate says 3 units (they started to write 4, but crossed it off and wrote 3). I wouldn't even bother with this, but currently the building has 60 amp electrical service and I need to update it to 200 amp. Part of the process is putting in new meters for all legal dwellings. Currently the basement apartment does have a meter, but I'm not sure if ComEd will let me put in a new meter w/o the zoning certificate saying 4 units.

Thanks for any input.

[knitgirl]

I would have made that a condition that the seller take care of that. Too late now, maybe someone else will have some ideas.

[soulful]

The last time I investigated this, I discovered that when converting to a higher no. of apts. the property must have a parking place for every single unit. Buildings are "grandfathered" based on their current classification (therefore, many 3 flats have zero parking spots, for example, and they are perfectly legal). However, if you wish to change the classification you must meet the parking spot requirement.

In addition, there are other requirements for a garden apt. to be "legal" per the city fire codes. You mentioned 3 means of egress so you might be ok in that regard.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by enator

...but I'm not sure if ComEd will let me put in a new meter w/o the zoning certificate saying 4 units.

Thanks for any input.

I'm not sure either, but I don't think ComEd requires the number of meters to equal the number of units for their own purposes. As long as they know who to bill and the bills get paid, it's just an accounting measure for them. The building I live in has 8 units and 10 meters - I know one of the meters is for common element electrics, but I don't know about the 10th. And we had higher amp service pulled in last year.

It won't hurt to put the order in with ComEd. If you want to ask up-front you can, but I'd be surprised if it really mattered to them.

[enator]

Cool, I'll have to see what ComEd says. I'm afraid they might alert the city inspector to the work that's going on, so I'll need to pull a permit, which will cause the whole mess to begin with.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by enator

...How do I get the city to recognize it as a legal unit? What is the process? The appraisal lists the building zoned as rt-4, but the zoning certificate says 3 units...

Simple. If the property is zoned for 3 units you need to get the property to be zoned for 4 or more units. (Getting it changed might not be so simple.) Although I believe a 3 flat already is in a category where you might not have to have the zoning changed.

I would find a zoning lawyer and ask him or her.

http://www.amlegal.com/library/il/chicago.shtml

http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/w...eEnumValue=204

http://maps.cityofchicago.org/website/zoning/index.html

[enator]

in case anyone is searching for this topic later:

w/ rt-4 zoning, 3 units is all you can have w/o rezoning which is a huge pain in the ass and isn't always possible to do.

to get a 4th unit grandfathered in, you need to prove that the unit was built originally as part of the building and would therefore be grandfathered in. To do so, you can fill out a Freedom of Information Request Form that's on the City's website (under dept. of buildings) to get all previous records of building plans/permits. This is the proof you need to get grandfathered in. I'm doing this process now, and will update eventually w/ where it gets me.