Am I allowed to create a Multi-family rental on a rural property?

Question

I have an opportunity to buy a (technically) rural 15acre property with a very old home under market value. We are allowed/planning to build another house on the property within the next 5 years. My question is how to figure out whether the city will allow us to rent both houses out as long-term rentals. I know if we lived on the property that we could rent the other out, as there are several folk on the same street who do so. Can anyone point me in the right direction to figure out the laws/building codes/whatever I need to know before committing to this purchase? Thank you in advance!

Armen Agadzhanov · Answer

Ahna,

I'm happy to look into this for you, I'm currently in the property management industry. Have you ever managed an investment home in the past?

Carini Rochester · Answer

Talking to a person at the town hall will probably be much more helpful than reading and trying to understand the zoning rules on your own. You'll miss something, misunderstand something, the sentence will appear to mean one thing when really it means something else. Talk to the person who reads, interprets, explains, the zoning ordinance every day for a living. Often, even if a particular use or density is not allowed, if done well can be allowed by getting a variance. The town's Zoning Board of Appeals (or some similar board) can hear and decide on an application for a variance.

Ahna Van gaest · Answer

Thank you both for your replies. I’ve read through the online zoning requirements but there’s no mention of density requirements, so I’m still missing something here! At least I know what I’m looking for now. I’ll go ahead and call and see what I can find out.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Zoning laws determine what is allowed on any parcel of property.

you may also have a homeowners association that can further restrict what is allowed. For example, the zoning may allow for short-term rentals, but the homeowners association only allows long-term rentals. Hey homeowners association can make the rules more restrictive, but they cannot make them less restrictive.

contact the planning and zoning office for your county or city and they should be able to tell you what is allowed on any particular parcel.

Jeff Copeland · Answer

You would need to contact the Planning/Zoning department in the municipality where it's located (City government if there is one, County government if it's not inside City limits) and confirm the zoning of the parcel, and the permitted uses, setbacks, and density requirements for that particular zoning designation.

Sometimes some of this can be found online. Lookup the zoning for the parcel, and then find the zoning matrix or land use matrix (nomenclature will vary from place to place) to see what the permitted uses are.

Am I allowed to create a Multi-family rental on a rural property?

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