Reply to Steps for making your basement apartment legal in DC

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Wait, I don’t need to get a certificate of occupancy if the rental unit is in my home?[/quote]

OP here. If it is in your house and your house is zoned single family dwellings you CANNOT get a CofO. You have an accessory apartment in a single family dwelling.

Check the website and check the codes I cited. That is what is applicable in a single family dwelling.  The CofO is for multi family dwellings which mine was not.

Yes it is confusing. And I don’t think have the people in DCRA know what to tell you. I worked with a woman Kathleen Beeton who was deputy zoning administrator. She and one other fellow walked me through step by step. There is a fellow with the last name Nero too who knows all the steps. The important thing to say is you have an ACCESSORY apartment. You have the right to rent out your accessory apartment if you meet the conditions I mentioned.[/quote]

OP, this is not entirely accurate information.  We were zoned as a single family unit but went through DCRA to get our zone changed (into multi-family unit) and a C of O for our basement apartment.  So, you can get a C of O, but you need to change the load of your house.  We did this a few years ago by going through the HomeOwner's office in DCRA.  We did have to get architectural drawings and a building inspection.  I'm not sure the architectural drawings were completely necessary (it was never clear if they needed them and it depended on who you talked to at DCRA on any given day), but our architect helped us spot an issue with a regress window that we were able to address pretty easily before submitting our permits.

OP, I'm still not sure what "accessory apartment" without a C of O means in DC.  Are you able to legally rent it out? [/quote]

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