Land Use Problems - Posted by Erro

Posted by Rick, the Probate Guy on July 04, 2007 at 09:48:01:

What happens if the “tenants” reneg on the widget leases but continue to occupy the units (for free, of course)?

How about a master lease to one family for the entire property, but arrange for you to collect the portion due from the other sublessors?

I can punch holes in this idea, too, but it might get you closer to your goal.

Also, don’t forget what your position is if and when you had to stand in front of an unlawful detainer judge should it be necessary to evict one or more tenants.

Land Use Problems - Posted by Erro

Posted by Erro on July 04, 2007 at 09:19:28:

I have a seller who is welling to lease option his property to me for 10 years. The property has 3 houses and 1 large workshop. The only problem is that the county will only allow a single family to lease the entire property. So I would not be allowed to lease each building to seperate families. Does any one know a way to get around this? Or maybe what department I need to talk to in order to get this changed? This seller is really hurting because of this and is taking a large loss every month. He is very motivated and I am motivated to fix his problem.

I was thinking I could let the families live in the homes for “free” and rent them a widget for the lease amount? Would this work to get around the counties requirements?

Erro

Re: Land Use Problems - Posted by BTI

Posted by BTI on July 05, 2007 at 14:09:01:

Erro

It might help if you stated what state your in. I know in California there is a Supreme Court case under Rose Bird that the city of Palo Alto lost when they were trying to limit the number of unrelated people that could occupy a property.

Some one on this site may be familiar with something similar in your state.

BTI

Re: Land Use Problems - Posted by Rich-CA

Posted by Rich-CA on July 04, 2007 at 18:50:56:

Find out the exact wording of the ordinance or zoning restriction. See if it mentions sub-leasing. You could lease the property to an LLC, which in turn puts tenants in the property.

Also, how does the county define “family”.

Re: Land Use Problems - Posted by michaela-CA

Posted by michaela-CA on July 04, 2007 at 17:13:14:

are there or have there been a bunch of rooming houses in the area? I wonder if this was a zoning change that was based on the above problem and now there can not be more than 2 unrelated people living on the same property or similar?

Find out why that zoning is in place and then you might be able to find a way around it.

Michaela

Re: Land Use Problems - Posted by Penny

Posted by Penny on July 04, 2007 at 16:39:10:

In addition to a zoning change, you also might look into whether you can get a special use permit from the city. It might be called something different in your state.

A special use permit is where you obtain permission from the city to use property zoned for one use for a different use but it doesn’t change the original zoning.

You will need justification for why you should be allowed to do so and need to find out the application process and how long it takes for either in your city.

Re: Land Use Problems - Posted by ken

Posted by ken on July 04, 2007 at 15:10:14:

I have never heard of something like that.Is someone out to get the current owner by chance? Could you seperate the property into seperate deeds or change the zoning to make it acceptable.Try talking to whoever at the county said they must be rented to 1 family and find out why and try to find a way around it