What makes a basement rental legal?

[Anonymous]

We would like to renovate our basement but would first like to know if we could make money as a rental.

[Anonymous]

In Virginia if you put in a stove/oven it is an illegal apartment. If you don't it's okay. Some people just have a microwave, toaster oven and a burner appliance that sits on the counter, along with a sink, etc.

However, a basement apartment without a full kitchen, including a full size stove/oven, is not too cool and you can't get as much for it in rent. A lot of people do it anyway because you only get in trouble if somebody reports you to the county, and why would they?

[Anonymous]

You need to have a direct exit and a window.

[Anonymous]

You don't say where you are but in DC you need two egress/ingress points, the main electric box needs to be mutually accessible, you need 7 foot ceilings in the living space and 6 ft 8 in ceilings in the kitchen and bathroom and you need hard wired smoke detectors. There are a bunch of other requirements but those are the trickiest.

There used to be a DCRA blog about this with the requirements but I can't find it but this lists them (I think):

http://districtre.com/tools-2-use/dc-rental-basement-guidelines/

You are supposed to get an inspection from DCRA.

No zoning relief is required anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In Virginia if you put in a stove/oven it is an illegal apartment. If you don't it's okay. Some people just have a microwave, toaster oven and a burner appliance that sits on the counter, along with a sink, etc.

However, a basement apartment without a full kitchen, including a full size stove/oven, is not too cool and you can't get as much for it in rent. A lot of people do it anyway because you only get in trouble if somebody reports you to the county, and why would they?

Lots of reasons why they might. Maybe the illegal tenant is bothering them in some way--if the tenant parks in front of their house, or makes loud noises coming in at night or out early in the morning, etc. Maybe they just don't like illegal behavior in general. Maybe they just don't like the homeowner and want to get them in trouble.

[Anonymous]

If you are in MoCo you need to apply for and register the basement as as accessory apartment. You can find the requirements the basement must have on their website.

[Anonymous]

Airbnb, then just do the maximum to make it safe for yourself and guests. A long-term tenant will get you less than half of what Airbnb will bring in, plus, Airbnb insures your place up to 1m for guest damages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Virginia if you put in a stove/oven it is an illegal apartment. If you don't it's okay. Some people just have a microwave, toaster oven and a burner appliance that sits on the counter, along with a sink, etc.

However, a basement apartment without a full kitchen, including a full size stove/oven, is not too cool and you can't get as much for it in rent. A lot of people do it anyway because you only get in trouble if somebody reports you to the county, and why would they?

Lots of reasons why they might. Maybe the illegal tenant is bothering them in some way--if the tenant parks in front of their house, or makes loud noises coming in at night or out early in the morning, etc. Maybe they just don't like illegal behavior in general. Maybe they just don't like the homeowner and want to get them in trouble.

If it's a congested area like DC, I can see this being a bigger issue than out in the burbs. Most people don't make their basement apartment "legal" because it is basically illegal in most jurisdictions. And if the building inspector or county finds out about your illegal living situation, just don't let him in. Unless this is some type of crazy situation, I highly doubt the building inspector is going to swear out a warrant and then show up with the swat team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Virginia if you put in a stove/oven it is an illegal apartment. If you don't it's okay. Some people just have a microwave, toaster oven and a burner appliance that sits on the counter, along with a sink, etc.

However, a basement apartment without a full kitchen, including a full size stove/oven, is not too cool and you can't get as much for it in rent. A lot of people do it anyway because you only get in trouble if somebody reports you to the county, and why would they?

Lots of reasons why they might. Maybe the illegal tenant is bothering them in some way--if the tenant parks in front of their house, or makes loud noises coming in at night or out early in the morning, etc. Maybe they just don't like illegal behavior in general. Maybe they just don't like the homeowner and want to get them in trouble.

If it's a congested area like DC, I can see this being a bigger issue than out in the burbs. Most people don't make their basement apartment "legal" because it is basically illegal in most jurisdictions. And if the building inspector or county finds out about your illegal living situation, just don't let him in. Unless this is some type of crazy situation, I highly doubt the building inspector is going to swear out a warrant and then show up with the swat team.

This. I used to live next to an illegal boarding house. The owner had about 7 tenants in and out, most of them living there just a few months at a time. I wouldn't have cared if they were quiet or respectful, but they regularly smoked weed right outside, and it was stinky!

I reported the situation to the DCRA, and they basically told me that they went there to check it out a few times but there was nothing they could do because there was no one there ever to answer the door. I find that hard to believe as there are 7 tenants! But regardless, I think people were just refusing to engage the inspector.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Virginia if you put in a stove/oven it is an illegal apartment. If you don't it's okay. Some people just have a microwave, toaster oven and a burner appliance that sits on the counter, along with a sink, etc.

However, a basement apartment without a full kitchen, including a full size stove/oven, is not too cool and you can't get as much for it in rent. A lot of people do it anyway because you only get in trouble if somebody reports you to the county, and why would they?

Lots of reasons why they might. Maybe the illegal tenant is bothering them in some way--if the tenant parks in front of their house, or makes loud noises coming in at night or out early in the morning, etc. Maybe they just don't like illegal behavior in general. Maybe they just don't like the homeowner and want to get them in trouble.

If it's a congested area like DC, I can see this being a bigger issue than out in the burbs. Most people don't make their basement apartment "legal" because it is basically illegal in most jurisdictions. And if the building inspector or county finds out about your illegal living situation, just don't let him in. Unless this is some type of crazy situation, I highly doubt the building inspector is going to swear out a warrant and then show up with the swat team.

This. I used to live next to an illegal boarding house. The owner had about 7 tenants in and out, most of them living there just a few months at a time. I wouldn't have cared if they were quiet or respectful, but they regularly smoked weed right outside, and it was stinky!

I reported the situation to the DCRA, and they basically told me that they went there to check it out a few times but there was nothing they could do because there was no one there ever to answer the door. I find that hard to believe as there are 7 tenants! But regardless, I think people were just refusing to engage the inspector.

^ To be clear, the tenants are unrelated. It's not like she was renting to a 7 person family.

[Anonymous]

In D.C., you must have a Certificate of Occupancy.

[Anonymous]

Realistically, a big portion (most?) of basement rentals in DC are not actually certified legal units. At least that's how it looks to me in my neighborhood.

Practically speaking, I think as long as they are safe and livable this is probably not that big of a deal - as long as people know what they're getting into. Going through all of the DC requirements would cost a lot of money and as a result, rents would go up. I think that's why the city doesn't really go out of their way to enforce this although that's just me speculating.

Legally speaking, I think the way to get around this is to rent out the basement as a room in your house and then just "mutually agree" that some spaces are not common. I mean I am no tenants' rights lawyer and I'm sure that wouldn't hold up in court, but it's worth considering.

I just think it's worth weighing the risks and costs associated with NOT making it legal. It's still totally possible to rent it out, it just means you charge less and you take on some legal risk.

Some requirements seem more important than others to me. Points of egress, smoke detectors etc. are all pretty important; 7' ceilings feels like a matter of aesthetics.

I will probably get attacked for this reply but, shrug. OP I would make sure to consider all the angles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Realistically, a big portion (most?) of basement rentals in DC are not actually certified legal units. At least that's how it looks to me in my neighborhood.

Practically speaking, I think as long as they are safe and livable this is probably not that big of a deal - as long as people know what they're getting into. Going through all of the DC requirements would cost a lot of money and as a result, rents would go up. I think that's why the city doesn't really go out of their way to enforce this although that's just me speculating.

Legally speaking, I think the way to get around this is to rent out the basement as a room in your house and then just "mutually agree" that some spaces are not common. I mean I am no tenants' rights lawyer and I'm sure that wouldn't hold up in court, but it's worth considering.

I just think it's worth weighing the risks and costs associated with NOT making it legal. It's still totally possible to rent it out, it just means you charge less and you take on some legal risk.

Some requirements seem more important than others to me. Points of egress, smoke detectors etc. are all pretty important; 7' ceilings feels like a matter of aesthetics.

I will probably get attacked for this reply but, shrug. OP I would make sure to consider all the angles.

I agree that DC definitely looks the other way on these. And I won't reveal how I know this but they will only inspect a basement units legality if they get a complaint from the tenant about a safety issue. And if you aren't a commercial landlord they don't worry about the C of A though you are supposed to have one. But that could also be DCRA incompetency.

The ceiling height was what kept us from legalizing our unit - apparently it is an old fire code thing.

The big hitch to your suggestion about doing it as a room rental and doing it off lease is you might have trouble evicting someone. When I had a tenant I had very specific language about what the lease covered - the exact parameters of the unit, what shared things they had access to, where they could store stuff, use of the yard etc in case I ever had to do an eviction which fortunately I did not.

[Anonymous]

The tenant speaks English

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Realistically, a big portion (most?) of basement rentals in DC are not actually certified legal units. At least that's how it looks to me in my neighborhood.

Practically speaking, I think as long as they are safe and livable this is probably not that big of a deal - as long as people know what they're getting into. Going through all of the DC requirements would cost a lot of money and as a result, rents would go up. I think that's why the city doesn't really go out of their way to enforce this although that's just me speculating.

Legally speaking, I think the way to get around this is to rent out the basement as a room in your house and then just "mutually agree" that some spaces are not common. I mean I am no tenants' rights lawyer and I'm sure that wouldn't hold up in court, but it's worth considering.

I just think it's worth weighing the risks and costs associated with NOT making it legal. It's still totally possible to rent it out, it just means you charge less and you take on some legal risk.

Some requirements seem more important than others to me. Points of egress, smoke detectors etc. are all pretty important; 7' ceilings feels like a matter of aesthetics.

I will probably get attacked for this reply but, shrug. OP I would make sure to consider all the angles.

The problem with renting it out illegally is that it becomes next to impossible to evict a bad tenant. Also, if something were to happen (fire, break in), you're liable.