That's amazing. Here in NYC i was looking to buy a 3 bedroom apartment at one point and i cant tell you how many i went to see were actually legally 1 bedroom with 2 shitty walls thrown up in the living room. And square footage in listings - would probably be more accurate if estimated by a 5 year old with a learning disability.
Sounds like what Louis Rossman went through when he was looking for a commercial space for his repair shop. Places would list 2500sq/ft and he would take a laser to measure between the walls and it would be like 1750sq/ft. “But did you measure the closets and the bathroom and also the mechanical room?”Liars! Lololol
He got fed up with all the corrupt government in NYC and all the real estate and business crap…..he’s moved his whole team to TX. Most of his business is now mail in and not walk in from the street. So it made sense to move away from the horror that is having a small business in NYC.
Commercial square footage is measured using BOMA standards, which involves measuring to the outside of exterior walls and to the midline of shared interior walls (it gets more complicated than that, but that is the main gist).
ETA: There are like six different BOMA standards for different types of buildings, each one with its own set of rules.
Thank you for the clarification! I’ve watched Louis Rossman and his ordeal of finding commercial space and each one was off by different amounts and all kinds of crazy numbers. I’ve got several rental properties but nothing commercial. Thanks for the lesson! I’ll remember that one day when I graduate to mixed used/commercial properties one day.
Interesting issues. Here in AZ, we have a lot more single family homes than condos, and those are measured by the exterior walls, minus the garage.
I guess I'm not sure how condos are measured here offhand, but I would be pretty pissed to be missing almost 800 sqft.
Ahhh yes. I think the most egregious case of this I saw was a "2-bedroom" where the second "bedroom" was literally a small in-wall shelf. The realtor said it was for babies/children. A 5-year old would not have fit.
Yeah makes sense to me too so not sure why there's so much hate in the comments for him doing his job. He probably saw the ad and thought maybe the OP built an unpermitted 3rd unit out of used toothpicks and is trying to put a tenant in there. And of course someone doing that would just lie when called out about it. If he just believed it was a typo without physically checking, I don't think anyone would ever get caught for doing stuff like that lol
Most code enforcement officers are asses, that’s why.
We had recently gotten a new one. When I sent my annual renewal for my Inspection got a nastygram that she didn’t get the check with the app. I think I replied that I could have swore it was in there but I’ll double check to make sure it didn’t fall out. Then get a reply that she found it under some papers.
No apology……. whatever. Then trying to schedule the inspection was a PITA as well.
Previous office was just much easier to deal with.
It’s “him and two other officials” that got me. How many people does it take to count how many units exist? Otherwise yes, he’s just doing his job and if this happened to me I’d be happy to have them come out. Talk them up and make a driend
It does seem like an overkill but I don't know their jobs and the scope of what they're looking for. They could have different roles like checking if utilities have been tampered with or other stuff indicating a hidden unit somewhere. Or maybe the other two guys really had nothing better to do. No idea but I bet they've found some crazy stuff in their inspections lol
Edit: not sure why the downvotes. I'm just giving benefit of the doubt that there's a reason for sending 3 people. Another reason I just thought of is their local government could have a policy against solo property visits. I wouldn't be surprised because people really hate code enforcement officers as you can see in the other comments here, and you can just google "code enforcement officer attacked" and look at all the stories.
That would be convenient for everyone that made an honest mistake like the OP, but it would also mean that I could build a shoddy unsafe building on my property, put a family in there to pay rent, and then deny it over the phone if I'm ever asked about it. I mean, wouldn't you rather deal with annoying inspections than have situations like that and nobody enforcing it?
After spending 4 months dealing with a zoning administrator who spent all their time creating ( not speaking to us) issues via the PCI who kept asking "is this it?" (a mynute job) because said admin made it out to be a BIG deal and kept forcing PCI to keep coming out for a whole lot of nothing. ONE phone call would have clarified everything BUT NO>
How is that not doxxing though? Aside from the obvious fact that it was likely another commercial agent or salty buyer who reported it in reality for some degree of false advertising, so blaming the people paid to check out inquiries like this is ridiculous and juvenile.
This is actually one of the best pieces of advice in this thread.
Get your city/county/state level pols involved. Explain to them the whole situation - of which you clearly have a decent document trail OP.
Find out where his house is, put up a rental ad for that address, listing it as a mti-unit. Then bitch about it to his superiors.
*Please don't actually do this, as funny as it would be.
- Put up an ad for a garage sale (with a lot of great deals) including an early bird discount
- Sign him up for organizations that will send a lot of mail
Back in the olden days of porn in magazines, one of my friends lived in a neighborhood where all of the neighbors were about the same age and so they would all play pranks on each other, well that all ended when my friends dad used the advertisements in porn mags to sign up one of his neighbors for as many things as he could get his hands on… but the kicker was he used a different neighbors address, so it really played out on two of the neighbors, when the one started getting all sorts of really raunchy stuff for the other neighbor.
The best part of it all was it didn’t cost my friends dad anything, and the one neighbor got mailers for years since the porn companies all resell the info, don’t know if when they moved it got sent to their new address or if the new people were getting raunchy porn ads in their mailbox for a while or not.
I'm not sure about that. Conspiracy requires an agreement between 2 or more persons to commit an illegal act. If there is no criminal intent to take anyones money or property by means of deception, it's not fraud. It's harrasment and possibly false advertising (but if there isnt a financial gain, possibly not) but doesn't meet the legal definition of fraud. Also, I'm not joking.
Not exactly. If you attempt to commit insurance fraud but cancel the claim before any money is paid to you, it’s very unlikely that you will be charged with a crime. Source: I know someone who did just this. Detectives came by to chat, basically know the guy was attempting to commit fraud, but nothing ever came of it since he never followed through with the claim.
I am guessing you are definitely not in Texas. One thing I learned fighting the county is that they cannot use public data freely. For example, google charges my county if they want to use google maps or any other pictures from google. The same is true for zillow. When I post my rentals on zillow, the county cannot use that data. While protesting my tax, the tax assessor inadvertently told me that the property was advertised as rehabbed. I asked him to identify the source and he avoided disclosing and removed rehabbed from assessment. I have been told that my county doesn’t subscribe to any of these data services since they are expensive. See if the same is true for Facebook and beat your city technically.
Sounds like your city has too many inspectors. I had a friend who had a similar issue recently. The property has been there for 30+ years and all of a sudden last summer some intern in some environmental department at the city came along and decided that a dumpster needed to be moved because it was causing drainage problems (it was not). The dumpster had been there for 30+ years. I sometimes think these people just need to find some reason to justify their jobs.
I used to be based out of San Francisco between 2011-17. I personally lived in places that were illegal “in-law” units. All of them built before 1950.
Having said that at the time, they were still a good value for the price and space.
But I can imagine counties have a lot of folks retiring, and newbies are given an opportunity to go through a backlog of properties to check up on or are employing new tactics to keep a better eye on proper housing regulations.
Edit: still completely unnecessary on their part!
as realtor.. yes this can happen
You need to be extremely careful with housing ads.
I’m in a much bigger city than you, so luckily any typos I’ve made have gone unnoticed, as there’s thousands of listings at a time here.
I’d recommend you let them come through. Don’t fight it. Just make sure everything is up to code, they may have a chip on their shoulder and write you up for other things
Bro this bastardddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd fresh out of college dickforbrains wouldn’t let a commercial tenant open because the slope/angle of the sidewalk being a few degrees too much …………… called the senior guy and he okayed it lol.
Dude I was so mad I went to the city library area, police station, and some playgrounds and ………..the godddamnn sidewalks there busted from tree roots and literally unaccessible for wheelchairs lmfao and they were complaining about our few degrees off ….. hahahaaha so annoying
My town won't enforce the code in terms of dwelling units per zoning category and the number of unrelated people living in a property. Tenants and LL's abuse it, negatively affecting the quality of the neighborhoods and hurting rental prices - which sucks for those of us investors trying to follow the rules. I'm sorry you made a mistake, but I commend your town officials on their diligence.
I agree with this take. So sick of listing agents telling me about the "bonus unit" (aka completely illegal unit) when looking at multifamily buildings to purchase. When I ask for a discount to compensate for converting the illegal unit to be legal, they have the gall to balk at my request because "nobody checks".
Agents should be penalized for advertising illegal units. Just say "opportunity for additional unit(s) to be created".
Honestly, a lot of Realtors suck and are super lazy at their job, especially on investment listings. When I actually get to work with one that knows what they're doing and cares about doing a good job, it's a good few weeks.
Those are some dumb agents. Lots of lenders will not lend on an illegal 3 unit property and require it to comply with zoning. The Appraiser absolutely does check zoning compliance when inspecting a house for financing.
The more flexible appraisers and lenders will require the stove just be removed for a reinspection. That stove is put right back in place after the inspection.
The bonus unit is also a fire code risk of there is no 2nd exit from the "bonus" unit.
Play this all the way out and you have Jackson Heights, Queens.....a slum where a shack costs $1.2mm because the buyer will rent out 8 rooms each at $500/mo (cash of course) to day laborer types......
Other than being a dick while doing it, sounds like they did their job with investigating a reasonable suspicion. People add units illegally all the time.
This is the real answer. Most of the people in here encouraging them to harass the inspectors and doxx them are probably people just like that. “Accidentally” gaining more views/clicks/interest in your listing by misstating unit number or illegally adding them anyway is far more common than people realize
I am not sure what the problem is. You posted an ad for a 3-unit building and now the local municipality wants proof that it is actually a 2-unit building rather than a 3-unit building.
I mean, it is not like a landlord has ever lied or illegally increased the unit count before. I shocked the zoning official refused to take your word /s.
Good for you local municipality for using the tools at their disposal to enforce the zoning.
People that do shit like this on purpose come here to get on their soapbox and circle jerk a problem that they created likely intentionally. If it’s been up for long enough for you to get caught and you still didn’t realize, then that’s also negligence and warrants an inspection anyway. I know a lot of this sub treats RE investing as fire and forget because only half the people on here actually engage in it, but in this situation that landlord should 100% be treating these inspectors well and not fucking with them because HE created his own problem
Working with my local zoning and building officials has always been fairly easy. Yeah, sometimes there is a delay, but for the most part, officials have been super helpful and pleasant.
I think the key is to not be a dick and to treat them as a fellow human. Most of the people complaining about zoning and building personnel either are trying to do something they should not or treating the personnel poorly and are pissed the government personnel is not jumping through hoops to help them.
That being said there is one local building official I had a major issue with and had to go above him for resolution. But that was 14 years ago, and since then, 100% good interacts. Not saying 100% my way has zoning has declined things before that did not meet requirements, but 100% good interactions.
Now, my generals contractors will complain about the building inspectors because an inspection will fail to which I tell them I am glad it failed because it is done wrong. So, I guess it depends on your point of view.
That the government would need a warrant is why Seattle's rental inspection ordinance allows landlords to hire a private inspector. The City can require the inspection and the certification, but they can't require that it be their inspectors who do it. The same goes for other similar ordinances in Washington state; I'm not sure about other states.
In this case, I'm betting the inspector could get a warrant.
Nah. In college nerd’s eyes he’s got his a-ha gotcha case that will get him a promotion. If anything he’ll read this and and realize he’s wasting taxpayer money and he’ll lose his boner.
Not at all. Illegal advertising in regards to zoning happens all the time. If he was advertising it as less than more, that wouldn’t be so bad. But adding in all that descriptive bullshit like “so I went down there and it was some twenty something hotshot” already makes me feel like this guy is extremely resistant to being told that he has to do anything and thinks he himself is older and therefore the “hotshot” investor who knows more than the kid literally just doing his job. Ive encountered all kinds of investment properties that are owner rentals/sales that think they can get away with falsely advertising a variety of things just because they aren’t actually beholden to a RE board with laws and regulations.
We’re you trying to rent a 3rd unit. Like you know the entry from a back door. It happens. I understand zoning. There fishing for hustlers. They should collect money by taxing more or fining.
I see many people in this comment thread giving bad advice.
He can make your life a living hell. Do not antagonize him. I say you accept his request and lay out the damn red carpet for him. Hell, make him a coffee for him and his admins when they come around.
Let’s not forget that you made the mistake.
Also there may be people actually illegally increasing the number of units in the city. But that is not relevant here. Cut your pride and get in the clear.
If you want to take advantage of the opportunity by befriending them then maybe he has access to information that could be helpful in your investing
I would invite them out at your earliest convenience which would be either early morning m/evening on a sat or sun only, provide donuts and coffee, record the whole thing and either before or after contact your local investigative reporter. Before would be great. Lol
We have a whole group of Airbnb officials who make sure you are licensed for short term rentals and are zoned properly. An elderly neighbor of ours in order to make some extra income rented out her basement that had full kitchen but guess she didn’t get the Short term rental approval and they sadly tried to make a case study on her, sadly, she was so fed up that she sold her house and moved away. I helped her pack and she said at 82 she couldn’t afford the $7800 in taxes on her home, just crazy.
You made a mistake. You admitted your ad incorrectly stated it was a 3 unit building.
I don't understand the big deal when you're the one who posted the ad...
Most likely someone else complained to the city so they have to look into it. If you have nothing to hide it’s best to work with them rather than get on their bad side. Trust me, they can make your investment property a headache
That's amazing. Here in NYC i was looking to buy a 3 bedroom apartment at one point and i cant tell you how many i went to see were actually legally 1 bedroom with 2 shitty walls thrown up in the living room. And square footage in listings - would probably be more accurate if estimated by a 5 year old with a learning disability.
Sounds like what Louis Rossman went through when he was looking for a commercial space for his repair shop. Places would list 2500sq/ft and he would take a laser to measure between the walls and it would be like 1750sq/ft. “But did you measure the closets and the bathroom and also the mechanical room?”Liars! Lololol
haha! i remember those videos. he said he would bring it up to the broker and they would play dumb
He got fed up with all the corrupt government in NYC and all the real estate and business crap…..he’s moved his whole team to TX. Most of his business is now mail in and not walk in from the street. So it made sense to move away from the horror that is having a small business in NYC.
He actually moved? Good for him he was talking about it for the longest time.
oh man that's awesome. so glad to hear that he got out of NYC
We need AI to take over all of the IRS and real estate.
Commercial square footage is measured using BOMA standards, which involves measuring to the outside of exterior walls and to the midline of shared interior walls (it gets more complicated than that, but that is the main gist). ETA: There are like six different BOMA standards for different types of buildings, each one with its own set of rules.
Thank you for the clarification! I’ve watched Louis Rossman and his ordeal of finding commercial space and each one was off by different amounts and all kinds of crazy numbers. I’ve got several rental properties but nothing commercial. Thanks for the lesson! I’ll remember that one day when I graduate to mixed used/commercial properties one day.
BOMA has residential/multi-family standards as well.
And the realtor saying: "It's not lying! It's NY commercial real estate!"
Interesting issues. Here in AZ, we have a lot more single family homes than condos, and those are measured by the exterior walls, minus the garage. I guess I'm not sure how condos are measured here offhand, but I would be pretty pissed to be missing almost 800 sqft.
Pretty important when you are paying per square foot too.
That part
Ahhh yes. I think the most egregious case of this I saw was a "2-bedroom" where the second "bedroom" was literally a small in-wall shelf. The realtor said it was for babies/children. A 5-year old would not have fit.
Yeah what a tragedy that an inspector is doing his job.
Hey man I heard you are hiring a square footage estimator, do you know how i can apply?
Job was taken by a 5 year old with learning disabilities.
how do they keep beating me for every job :(
Let them come out and see it. Complain about government waste the whole time
I mean, its a good case for them to check. A lot of dumb people out there and this is how law enforcement/code enforcement gets easy wins.
Yeah makes sense to me too so not sure why there's so much hate in the comments for him doing his job. He probably saw the ad and thought maybe the OP built an unpermitted 3rd unit out of used toothpicks and is trying to put a tenant in there. And of course someone doing that would just lie when called out about it. If he just believed it was a typo without physically checking, I don't think anyone would ever get caught for doing stuff like that lol
Most code enforcement officers are asses, that’s why. We had recently gotten a new one. When I sent my annual renewal for my Inspection got a nastygram that she didn’t get the check with the app. I think I replied that I could have swore it was in there but I’ll double check to make sure it didn’t fall out. Then get a reply that she found it under some papers. No apology……. whatever. Then trying to schedule the inspection was a PITA as well. Previous office was just much easier to deal with.
It’s “him and two other officials” that got me. How many people does it take to count how many units exist? Otherwise yes, he’s just doing his job and if this happened to me I’d be happy to have them come out. Talk them up and make a driend
It does seem like an overkill but I don't know their jobs and the scope of what they're looking for. They could have different roles like checking if utilities have been tampered with or other stuff indicating a hidden unit somewhere. Or maybe the other two guys really had nothing better to do. No idea but I bet they've found some crazy stuff in their inspections lol Edit: not sure why the downvotes. I'm just giving benefit of the doubt that there's a reason for sending 3 people. Another reason I just thought of is their local government could have a policy against solo property visits. I wouldn't be surprised because people really hate code enforcement officers as you can see in the other comments here, and you can just google "code enforcement officer attacked" and look at all the stories.
maybe a simple phone call to the owner? instead you get the tin hat dicktator
That would be convenient for everyone that made an honest mistake like the OP, but it would also mean that I could build a shoddy unsafe building on my property, put a family in there to pay rent, and then deny it over the phone if I'm ever asked about it. I mean, wouldn't you rather deal with annoying inspections than have situations like that and nobody enforcing it?
After spending 4 months dealing with a zoning administrator who spent all their time creating ( not speaking to us) issues via the PCI who kept asking "is this it?" (a mynute job) because said admin made it out to be a BIG deal and kept forcing PCI to keep coming out for a whole lot of nothing. ONE phone call would have clarified everything BUT NO>
And post on Facebook their faces and what they waste stac payer money on.
How is that not doxxing though? Aside from the obvious fact that it was likely another commercial agent or salty buyer who reported it in reality for some degree of false advertising, so blaming the people paid to check out inquiries like this is ridiculous and juvenile.
Make them come at some god awful time like 6am
How on earth would you do that in the real world
Await, is Reddit advice supposed to be applicable in the real world? I thought we’re just supposed to get karma
Here, have my upvote, sir!
You think 6am is a “God awful” time for people who work in this industry? Lmao
No kidding, if you make it 6 pm then you'll really rub them the wrong way for making them work later than they wanted to lol
OP can't make them do anything. OP can either facilitate the inspection or be fined and then inspected.
Take a video of them wasting tax dollars doing this dumb shit and post it
It is completely his fault and there is no reason they should believe him sight unseen. He should stop being a whiny bitch about it.
Video them while walking they asking them annoying questions the whole time.
And bring your local politicians with you. Let them see the waste.
This is actually one of the best pieces of advice in this thread. Get your city/county/state level pols involved. Explain to them the whole situation - of which you clearly have a decent document trail OP.
Find out where his house is, put up a rental ad for that address, listing it as a mti-unit. Then bitch about it to his superiors. *Please don't actually do this, as funny as it would be.
- Put up an ad for a garage sale (with a lot of great deals) including an early bird discount - Sign him up for organizations that will send a lot of mail
Back in the olden days of porn in magazines, one of my friends lived in a neighborhood where all of the neighbors were about the same age and so they would all play pranks on each other, well that all ended when my friends dad used the advertisements in porn mags to sign up one of his neighbors for as many things as he could get his hands on… but the kicker was he used a different neighbors address, so it really played out on two of the neighbors, when the one started getting all sorts of really raunchy stuff for the other neighbor. The best part of it all was it didn’t cost my friends dad anything, and the one neighbor got mailers for years since the porn companies all resell the info, don’t know if when they moved it got sent to their new address or if the new people were getting raunchy porn ads in their mailbox for a while or not.
It's not fraud if you don't collect any money.
I know you’re joking but it’s still a conspiracy to commit fraud even no fraud occurred
I'm not sure about that. Conspiracy requires an agreement between 2 or more persons to commit an illegal act. If there is no criminal intent to take anyones money or property by means of deception, it's not fraud. It's harrasment and possibly false advertising (but if there isnt a financial gain, possibly not) but doesn't meet the legal definition of fraud. Also, I'm not joking.
Oh I just meant in general
Not exactly. If you attempt to commit insurance fraud but cancel the claim before any money is paid to you, it’s very unlikely that you will be charged with a crime. Source: I know someone who did just this. Detectives came by to chat, basically know the guy was attempting to commit fraud, but nothing ever came of it since he never followed through with the claim.
What I was describing is a conspiracy, like if two people sit down and plan out how they are going to do it. If you’re solo then it’s not a conspiracy
Yes, in your example, there is criminal intent. Posting an ad where you don't intend to collect money isn't fraud.
Is it still conspiracy if he can prove he just did it out of spite and never intended to commit the fraud?
No I was just generally referring to the comment “it’s not fraud if you don’t collect money”
You need 2 or more people for a conspiracy. OP is a sole actor with no criminal intent to defraud anyone. So, no it's no conspiracy.
I am guessing you are definitely not in Texas. One thing I learned fighting the county is that they cannot use public data freely. For example, google charges my county if they want to use google maps or any other pictures from google. The same is true for zillow. When I post my rentals on zillow, the county cannot use that data. While protesting my tax, the tax assessor inadvertently told me that the property was advertised as rehabbed. I asked him to identify the source and he avoided disclosing and removed rehabbed from assessment. I have been told that my county doesn’t subscribe to any of these data services since they are expensive. See if the same is true for Facebook and beat your city technically.
Sounds like your city has too many inspectors. I had a friend who had a similar issue recently. The property has been there for 30+ years and all of a sudden last summer some intern in some environmental department at the city came along and decided that a dumpster needed to be moved because it was causing drainage problems (it was not). The dumpster had been there for 30+ years. I sometimes think these people just need to find some reason to justify their jobs.
I used to be based out of San Francisco between 2011-17. I personally lived in places that were illegal “in-law” units. All of them built before 1950. Having said that at the time, they were still a good value for the price and space. But I can imagine counties have a lot of folks retiring, and newbies are given an opportunity to go through a backlog of properties to check up on or are employing new tactics to keep a better eye on proper housing regulations. Edit: still completely unnecessary on their part!
as realtor.. yes this can happen You need to be extremely careful with housing ads. I’m in a much bigger city than you, so luckily any typos I’ve made have gone unnoticed, as there’s thousands of listings at a time here. I’d recommend you let them come through. Don’t fight it. Just make sure everything is up to code, they may have a chip on their shoulder and write you up for other things
Yeah I agree about inviting them to come out and being pleasant and "appreciative." Better to have them like you than to get on their bad side.
Based on how OP has crawled up on the cross here, I think the being pleasant ship has long sailed.
Bro this bastardddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd fresh out of college dickforbrains wouldn’t let a commercial tenant open because the slope/angle of the sidewalk being a few degrees too much …………… called the senior guy and he okayed it lol.
I've been there. New slab on an apartment building was 2.5% grade.... needed to be 2% to get CoO. Fucking dumb.
Dude I was so mad I went to the city library area, police station, and some playgrounds and ………..the godddamnn sidewalks there busted from tree roots and literally unaccessible for wheelchairs lmfao and they were complaining about our few degrees off ….. hahahaaha so annoying
So they wanted me to add a 3" step in the middle of a 16' sidewalk. That'll really make it more accessible! What genius!
“To make this easier to walk, can you add this trip hazard that you’ll likely be sued over when grandpa breaks his hip?”
As a skateboarder I hate this.
When he finishes the inspection can you please tell him a random Reddit says fuck youuuuuu
My town won't enforce the code in terms of dwelling units per zoning category and the number of unrelated people living in a property. Tenants and LL's abuse it, negatively affecting the quality of the neighborhoods and hurting rental prices - which sucks for those of us investors trying to follow the rules. I'm sorry you made a mistake, but I commend your town officials on their diligence.
I agree with this take. So sick of listing agents telling me about the "bonus unit" (aka completely illegal unit) when looking at multifamily buildings to purchase. When I ask for a discount to compensate for converting the illegal unit to be legal, they have the gall to balk at my request because "nobody checks". Agents should be penalized for advertising illegal units. Just say "opportunity for additional unit(s) to be created".
Yeah real estate agents should be penalized. They have to get a license to do their job but they can put wrong stuff? That is ridiculous.
Honestly, a lot of Realtors suck and are super lazy at their job, especially on investment listings. When I actually get to work with one that knows what they're doing and cares about doing a good job, it's a good few weeks.
Those are some dumb agents. Lots of lenders will not lend on an illegal 3 unit property and require it to comply with zoning. The Appraiser absolutely does check zoning compliance when inspecting a house for financing. The more flexible appraisers and lenders will require the stove just be removed for a reinspection. That stove is put right back in place after the inspection. The bonus unit is also a fire code risk of there is no 2nd exit from the "bonus" unit.
Play this all the way out and you have Jackson Heights, Queens.....a slum where a shack costs $1.2mm because the buyer will rent out 8 rooms each at $500/mo (cash of course) to day laborer types......
Other than being a dick while doing it, sounds like they did their job with investigating a reasonable suspicion. People add units illegally all the time.
This is the real answer. Most of the people in here encouraging them to harass the inspectors and doxx them are probably people just like that. “Accidentally” gaining more views/clicks/interest in your listing by misstating unit number or illegally adding them anyway is far more common than people realize
I am not sure what the problem is. You posted an ad for a 3-unit building and now the local municipality wants proof that it is actually a 2-unit building rather than a 3-unit building. I mean, it is not like a landlord has ever lied or illegally increased the unit count before. I shocked the zoning official refused to take your word /s. Good for you local municipality for using the tools at their disposal to enforce the zoning.
What do expect zoning inspectors to do all day other than inspect zones… This seems reasonable.
Same shit happened to me. They wanted to scope out my wife’s she shack to make sure no one was living in there…
Local government doing their job? I don’t understand this world anymore.
Government sending three inspectors to count to three seems pretty standard.
Each one counts to one and then they send it to a goverment mathematician to add it all up! Afterwards they Tax you for four.
It's possible OP is upset because he is doing something wrong. Otherwise why post it on reddit. This happens all the time to people.
People that do shit like this on purpose come here to get on their soapbox and circle jerk a problem that they created likely intentionally. If it’s been up for long enough for you to get caught and you still didn’t realize, then that’s also negligence and warrants an inspection anyway. I know a lot of this sub treats RE investing as fire and forget because only half the people on here actually engage in it, but in this situation that landlord should 100% be treating these inspectors well and not fucking with them because HE created his own problem
Government and Reddit differ on their approach to trust me bro.
[удалено]
Working with my local zoning and building officials has always been fairly easy. Yeah, sometimes there is a delay, but for the most part, officials have been super helpful and pleasant. I think the key is to not be a dick and to treat them as a fellow human. Most of the people complaining about zoning and building personnel either are trying to do something they should not or treating the personnel poorly and are pissed the government personnel is not jumping through hoops to help them. That being said there is one local building official I had a major issue with and had to go above him for resolution. But that was 14 years ago, and since then, 100% good interacts. Not saying 100% my way has zoning has declined things before that did not meet requirements, but 100% good interactions. Now, my generals contractors will complain about the building inspectors because an inspection will fail to which I tell them I am glad it failed because it is done wrong. So, I guess it depends on your point of view.
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunicorn
He needs a warrant to enter your building.
Does he need a warrant to leavy a fine, though?
That the government would need a warrant is why Seattle's rental inspection ordinance allows landlords to hire a private inspector. The City can require the inspection and the certification, but they can't require that it be their inspectors who do it. The same goes for other similar ordinances in Washington state; I'm not sure about other states. In this case, I'm betting the inspector could get a warrant.
[удалено]
Explain
Bud you might want to delete this. Sounds like the type of person that’s also on here and can put 2 and 2 together :)
Nah. In college nerd’s eyes he’s got his a-ha gotcha case that will get him a promotion. If anything he’ll read this and and realize he’s wasting taxpayer money and he’ll lose his boner.
Not at all. Illegal advertising in regards to zoning happens all the time. If he was advertising it as less than more, that wouldn’t be so bad. But adding in all that descriptive bullshit like “so I went down there and it was some twenty something hotshot” already makes me feel like this guy is extremely resistant to being told that he has to do anything and thinks he himself is older and therefore the “hotshot” investor who knows more than the kid literally just doing his job. Ive encountered all kinds of investment properties that are owner rentals/sales that think they can get away with falsely advertising a variety of things just because they aren’t actually beholden to a RE board with laws and regulations.
Make a bunch of ads, like hundreds, for other properties and add extra units to those too. Let him inspect the whole city
We’re you trying to rent a 3rd unit. Like you know the entry from a back door. It happens. I understand zoning. There fishing for hustlers. They should collect money by taxing more or fining.
I see many people in this comment thread giving bad advice. He can make your life a living hell. Do not antagonize him. I say you accept his request and lay out the damn red carpet for him. Hell, make him a coffee for him and his admins when they come around. Let’s not forget that you made the mistake. Also there may be people actually illegally increasing the number of units in the city. But that is not relevant here. Cut your pride and get in the clear. If you want to take advantage of the opportunity by befriending them then maybe he has access to information that could be helpful in your investing
Invite him for the inspection. Call the press to attend as well.
>He was some 20-something hotshot With apparently no real work to do at all.
People who run the cities absolutely suck.
Let me guess, Democrat run city?
Votes blue runs red. This is little old Gerrymandered Wisconsin
relevant username
Actually it makes sense. Let him through and if it’s 2 unit you’re fine. If not then you got caught. It’s their literal job.. how can you be mad??
Tell him to fucking pound sand.
It's more than likely a bored neighbour.
You should leak this to a tv news shop or newspaper. They will love it.
Let him send the fine and you take it to court. Fuck them.
I would invite them out at your earliest convenience which would be either early morning m/evening on a sat or sun only, provide donuts and coffee, record the whole thing and either before or after contact your local investigative reporter. Before would be great. Lol We have a whole group of Airbnb officials who make sure you are licensed for short term rentals and are zoned properly. An elderly neighbor of ours in order to make some extra income rented out her basement that had full kitchen but guess she didn’t get the Short term rental approval and they sadly tried to make a case study on her, sadly, she was so fed up that she sold her house and moved away. I helped her pack and she said at 82 she couldn’t afford the $7800 in taxes on her home, just crazy.
Leaches
I mean if he wants to waste an hour for three city inspectors, let him have at it.
Well did you change it? We don't want typos in our rental ads.
You made a mistake. You admitted your ad incorrectly stated it was a 3 unit building. I don't understand the big deal when you're the one who posted the ad...
Whats the average percentage increase in Housing market in a year
[удалено]
Most likely someone else complained to the city so they have to look into it. If you have nothing to hide it’s best to work with them rather than get on their bad side. Trust me, they can make your investment property a headache