I own a building with an illegal basement apartment. The ceiling does not meet the city's minimum height and the current windows don't open so it's a fire escape violation. Otherwise, it is up to code. I am thinking about fixing the fire escape issue and living in there myself, so I can get more money from renting out all the legal units. Is living there myself a violation? Is this a bad idea in some way? I have spent some time in the illegal basement unit and it's perfectly fine and I would not mind living there.
[Owner US-IL] Is living in an illegal basement apartment as the owner legal?
I did this to a landlord once. He ended up having to evict several tenants and paid us out.
I can’t imagine who you would get in trouble with. I would definitely take your own safety seriously, though, and make sure you’ve got good egress and smoke alarms.
edit: hmm, you might run into issues if you ever need to do an insurance claim
Chicago owner occupant here. I live in a unit that would be illegal to rent out, but is legal for me to live in as the owner. My two cents? You’re fine.
Can you elaborate about how you determined that it's legal to live in? I'm not in Chicago but I'm hoping that there's some way to make it above board to live there.
That’s what my real estate lawyer told me - it’s a different set of rules as an owner occupant. In my case, there’s only one door in and out, which disqualifies me for renting it out but not for living there myself.
You can live in the unit as you own the property!
The owner can live in a unit that cannot be legally rented to someone else, because they own the property!
Lmao this is so funny. I would say its a personal judgement call 😂
People do it all the time.
Live in it and keep your trap shut !
And most importantly, keep your tenants and your neighbors happy.
Does anybody know of the apt? Is there any reason a code violation could get called on you? Do any of the tenants know it is illegal? Do you live somewhere that inspections regularly happen?
If not, how would anyone official ever know?
Inspections aren't common. The current tenants in the building know that it's illegal and one of them used to own the building. Disgruntled tenant could perhaps report it. It would be hard to hide living there from the other residents just from a practical perspective.
...You rented a unit to the former Owner?
He sold it to someone whom I bought it from and was a resident throughout (first as owner ocucpier then as a tenant). I didn't see a strong enough reason to not renew. The last property management had no complaints about him.
I would say technically not legal. But your only thing to fear would be a tenant reporting you. But you’re going to be the tenant of the illegal apartment, and obviously you’re not going to report on yourself. So I think you’re gonna be ok. I would not tell anyone you live there. Perhaps act like it’s an office or something, never let anyone in, and if anyone asks say you live somewhere else.
It depends entirely on the local laws and codes. In some cases what's illegal to rent out is legal to inhabit as an owner.
Absolutely.
I’m not familiar with codes that exempt an unlawful living space just because it’s the owner. These codes are designed to protect lives, even of the owner. Even when you buy a house you need a certificate of occupancy. So if a tenant can’t inhabit it then nobody can. But it’s the owner so nobody is going to say anything. I would just keep it quiet and all should be good.
It'll be fine up until it isn't.
Either your insurance will deny something expensive because of it, or code enforcement will figure out after you piss off a tenant and get you in expensive trouble.
Now, is that a lottery you want to play?
Roll the dice! I've played this game in my first four unit and the city just didn't have the resources to deal with me. Saved a crap ton of money. You're more likely to get a letter of compliance than an immediate fine.
You could get an egress window put in for easy escape in case of fire. My parents' house had a fire. I would definitely not live in a basement with no escape.
I am a landlord in Chicago. Fix any violations, like fire exits. Your risk here is very low, as an owner. If you get discovered, you might have to move out real quick, but this rarely happens, even in illegal apartments that are being rented, but that's higher risk. If you try to evict a tenant in an illegal apartment, you might end up in a big mess.
Violates habitability, violates habitability
No it doesn’t because the “owner” will be living in the unit!
Doesn't matter. It can be ruled unsafe regardless of ownership.
Occupancy can 100% be revoked.
Not how code violation works
Go for it definitely better and safer than renting it out don't ever mention it to others
The average person doesn't really think about that so I think you're fine
As long as you don't invite a city inspector over no one can do anything they don't have evidence.
Don't ever give your tenants a key
Yes it is illegal. You will be at the mercy of the rest of the tenants in the building. If you have a conflict with them, and they realize that you're living in the illegal space, they could use this as leverage against you in a dispute.
It may not be illegal from a fire code standpoint depending on when the building was built, it may be grandfathered depending on local codes. It may not meet building code for use type though. (I work in fire code enforcement.) the only way to know is to reach out and ask.
That being said, if a fire happens, they will go to the basement last because it’s not a legal unit and it’s assumed not occupied. I hope you can get yourself out and that you have options in case one set of stairs is burned up. I also hope a firefighter doesn’t die in a collapse trying to save you.
I hope you can get yourself out and that you have options in case one set of stairs is burned up. I also hope a firefighter doesn’t die in a collapse trying to save you.
If I moved in, I'd fix all fire code issues. The only fire code issue (according to the seller, so I'd check myself as well — this wasn't part of due diligence on the sale since the sale made sense even ignoring this illegal unit) is that the basement windows don't open, so I'd just make sure that they all easily open from the inside. The only reason that they didn't is because someone bolted a second window over them on the outside, so just removing that should be enough fore fire codes. The windows are probably possible to climb out of easily, but I can stick a ladder down there too. The only reason that I am considering living there is because the safety issues are easy to fix. The ceiling being a bit shallow is as far as I know not a safety issue, so I do not see it as important to fix that.
I wouldn’t rely on a seller for fire life safety. I’d talk to your local planning office. They can tell you from a building and fire code standpoint what’s legal or not. That’s great if you’re going to fix the window so it can be used. That would be my biggest concern.
Yeah I would verify what they told me before relying on it, of course. They said that they had it rented out before, thinking that it was legal, but then got in trouble with the city and found out that it was illegal in the process of that. I'd probably try to find the inspection report from that event.
You can do a public records request. I’d ask for inspection and code enforcement issues because it could be separate. I also wouldn’t specify fire or it so you can cast a broader net.
Illegal is illegal.
Are you asking if it's illegal to do something illegal?
Most city's are full of these "illegal" it's only a problem when it gets rented out and even then ....there's a ton of section 8 housing that are in non-conforming apts
These usually only get brought into the system after a tenant reports them that lives there usually if they're being evicted or whatever other vengeful motivation
How far off are you on the ceiling height? Couldn’t you technically cut the concrete floor, excavate some of it out, then pour a new concrete slab so it’s in compliance? It be quite a bit of work and expense not sure if it’s even worth it.
I would need to add about two feet. Web searches tell me that the cost to have this done professionally is upwards of $20,000. A whole unit usually goes for like $50,000-$100,000 per unit when buying a multi-family home in this area so this might be worth doing at some point, but I don't want to spend that kind of money right now.
It’s a risk, but not a major one. I would do it myself, most likely. Depends on the neighborhood though, all my rentals are south of 55 where people don’t care about minor stuff like that. If you’re in like Old Town or Wrigley or some other fancy digs like that, you might have issues.
I'm nowhere near chicago. I'm about 100 miles south of chicago.
It’s a risk. The part that might be an issue is if someone calls code enforcement. It might cause them to inspect the entire building and fine you for violations. There as well. You are not renting it out so that would not be an issue.
I would re-brand it as a non-conforming garden apartment.
And no, there are no owner occupied exemptions for non-conforming units. Just don’t tell anyone (tenants, neighbors, mailman, etc) and you most likely will not encounter any issues….
Let's play fill-in-the-blanks.
Q: "Is _____ _____ _____ illegal _____ _____ _____ ____ legal?"
The answer is in the question.
I know someone who had 2 illegal units in her house. Everything was fine until she pissed off neighbors with a rooster. Code enforcement found 100k of citations...