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Build small home on my property for parents

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LA_Artist

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California.

I live within Los Angeles County and my elderly parents live on the east coast. I would like them to move to Southern California but buying a home here is not easily affordable for them. An idea I considered is to build a small home for them on my existing property. I'm not familiar with what the local laws & codes are, how to determine them (correctly), or any other stages of this potential project. The only thing I was able to find so far is that new ordinances for Los Angeles (as of 2003?) are being considered which allow for "accessory dwelling units" (like small houses / guest houses) on an existing property so long as the land is at least 5,000 sqft and the proposed new structure is maximum 1,200 sqft of living space.

Here are the facts, I'd find it very helpful what all the steps are I would need to go through or be aware of:

- I have a mortgage on the property, so technically the bank still owns the house
- My current equity is less than 20%
- My land is over 7,000 sq ft and my current home is under 1,100 sqft
- I have neighbors on all 3 sides - left, right and back
- There is no clearance issue with any of the neighbors as none of their houses are close to my property lines but 2 of the neighbors have sheds/garages that are within 2-3 ft of the shared property line - no windows on their structures and a fence runs along all shared property lines
- I do not run a business on the property, it's residential
- It would be convenient if I could build the new structure to within 3 ft of the shared property lines - or else it might end up being too small of a structure
- It would be best if I could build 2 floors on the new structure
- I would like to also add an additional small driveway so I believe there would be some additional permit to construct that to touch the street
- I'm not sure how the plumbing / electricity / gas or other utilities would work - I would prefer to have it tied into my existing system
- I prefer not to subdivide the lot - that would make things too complicated, I would rather treat this like a property improvement (full-featured guest house) that overall increases the value of the land/property than to have a new subdivided plot that would make it extremely difficult if years later I wanted to sell the house/land/property
- Cost for construction would come from the parents, not my own funds

What am I in for? How do I investigate permits? What issues might I deal with in terms of the bank/mortgage? Is this something that others have done and what problems should I be aware of? Am I over-thinking this and should I just move forward with the idea?
 


FarmerJ

Senior Member
Most of what you would want to know your city should be able to answer for you. As to a second homes utilities your city is the place to find out since they may already have ordinances as far as city water and sewer taps go, AS to electric and gas ( if natural gas is available) you seriously may want to just have separate meters EG if home with master meter (meaning the home that second home is connected to ) burned down or some other act of nature destroyed the home the secondary home is now with out utilities. Sharing meters can be a problem in itself, Once your parents are gone what if you had another relative living there cousin Electro Hogg and his spouse the shower queen of the valley if there were watering restrictions or new fees for over x amount consumption you would end up being penalized on your bill , same with electric and if there is no meter to keep track of the second homes use and a future occupant was a freeze baby whose idea of reasonable electric heater or gas heat settings in the winter was 88 F etc etc , get the idea? Yes I do get it that just connecting secondary home to your homes utilities would be a lot cheaper. ( hint sub-meters -search on it)
 

John Se

Member
go visit your city planning and zoning people. If you have a good attitude they are always very nice folks to work with. They only want to help you comply with the local requirements and codes.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
go visit your city planning and zoning people. If you have a good attitude they are always very nice folks to work with. They only want to help you comply with the local requirements and codes.
You're not from around here, are you? :D:p
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
I would like to thrown I a few non-real estate law issues to consider...

If you are your parent's only child then there may be no other issues. However, if you have siblings, who would expect an equal share in any inheritance from your parents, then it could be problematic to have your parents paying for a significant improvement to your property, which cannot be sold to be divided between the siblings, after your parents pass away. Your parents would also have to file a gift tax return (however no tax would be due as its unlikely that they could possibly exceed their lifetime exclusion for gifting) as they will be gifting you the house.

There are potential ways around both of these problems, particularly if your parents have any kind of significant other assets, but it does not sound like they do.
 

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