Basement suite

[sandra]

Hi All, I got letter from City of Calgary saying that they will inspect my basement suite. There is tenant in there right now and his lease end June 30, 08.

Please feel free for any sugesstions of how can I prepare myself for this since this is the first time I got this problem.

Thanks
Sandra

 

[MONEY]

QUOTE (sandra @ May 23 2008, 04:46 PM) Hi All, I got letter from City of Calgary saying that they will inspect my basement suite. There is tenant in there right now and his lease end June 30, 08.

Please feel free for any sugesstions of how can I prepare myself for this since this is the first time I got this problem.

Thanks
Sandra

If it`s a legal suite, then you have nothing to be concerned about. You wouldn`t do something `illegal` would you?

 

[sandra]

QUOTE (MONEY @ May 23 2008, 05:02 PM) If it`s a legal suite, then you have nothing to be concerned about. You wouldn`t do something `illegal` would you?

Sorry I should have been more clear. the problem is it is an illegal suite.

 

[MONEY]

QUOTE (sandra @ May 24 2008, 03:01 PM) Sorry I should have been more clear. the problem is it is an illegal suite.
In that case they will tell you to remove either the full kitchen or just the cooking facilities (i.e. stove, microwave, 220-volt wiring). If the owners fail to comply, legal action may be taken.

 

[RebeccaBryan]

Sandra,

I`m not sure what the city does in Calgary, however, in Edmonton, because of the housing problem the city in general are pretty open minded.

My Mom just had her six-plex investigated by Capital Health, they told her that she had to do some renovations to comply. According to Edmonton City Bylaw the building was only supposed to be a four-plex, so before she did the reno`s that were requested by Capital Health, she went to the city to see if there was going to be a problem with it being a six-plex. Without much probem she now has a letter in writing stating that she is allowed to leave it as a six-plex.

In Edmonton, Capital Health is pretty sticky. You just roll with the punches and do what they request, and all is well. It`s costing my Mom a few bucks in renovations, however, it`s a great investment.

My Mom is just moving her tenants around, as she has 1 vacancy in the building, and doing reno`s one suite at a time. These are long time tenants, they love living there, they love their landlord and all is going as smooth as can be.

My advice is not to panic, be upfront and honest, roll with the punches, and whatever the outcome, there`s always a solution.

 

[sandra]

QUOTE (RebeccaBryan @ May 24 2008, 07:04 PM) Sandra,

I`m not sure what the city does in Calgary, however, in Edmonton, because of the housing problem the city in general are pretty open minded.

My Mom just had her six-plex investigated by Capital Health, they told her that she had to do some renovations to comply. According to Edmonton City Bylaw the building was only supposed to be a four-plex, so before she did the reno`s that were requested by Capital Health, she went to the city to see if there was going to be a problem with it being a six-plex. Without much probem she now has a letter in writing stating that she is allowed to leave it as a six-plex.

In Edmonton, Capital Health is pretty sticky. You just roll with the punches and do what they request, and all is well. It`s costing my Mom a few bucks in renovations, however, it`s a great investment.

My Mom is just moving her tenants around, as she has 1 vacancy in the building, and doing reno`s one suite at a time. These are long time tenants, they love living there, they love their landlord and all is going as smooth as can be.

My advice is not to panic, be upfront and honest, roll with the punches, and whatever the outcome, there`s always a solution.

Thanks Rebecca & Money, I was thinking what if after the inspection is done, few months later I try to put kitchen back, is it possibility or don`t even think about it?

Thanks

 

[RebeccaBryan]

Don`t even think about it.

 

[eiwilson]

Sandra,

I just got a similar letter from the City of Calgary for an inspection of an illegal basement suite in September. How did your inspection go? Any advice for me?

Thanks in advance!
Erin

 

[godlogl]

What is the Zoning?? R1 or R2

What year was the suite built? has it been subastantial renovvated,, or continously rented since then??

This will determine if it is legal or not??

If it is not legal or grandfathered, or in a R1 neighborhood, you may want to pull out the cooking facilites before the inspection, to solve the problem in advance. Then it would be your choice if you wnat to re install after.

 

[sandra]

QUOTE (eiwilson @ Aug 24 2008, 05:07 PM) Sandra,

I just got a similar letter from the City of Calgary for an inspection of an illegal basement suite in September. How did your inspection go? Any advice for me?

Thanks in advance!
Erin


Hi Erin,
They inspected my suite and requested me to move cooking facility, and gave notice July 21 they would come back and reinspect. (you can regotiate the date with the inspector if you are currently have tenants in suite). I did removed the kitchen, they came back reinspect and everything was fine. I paid upstair tenant some money as incentive to move somewhere else because I want to rent it as a whole house
My PM just told me that we have tenant for Sept 1 . The rent is not as high as when you suite them, enough to cover expenses but at least I can hold onto it instead of selling in this soft market.

Any questions, you can call me at 536-2219 will explain more details

Sandra Le