In CA, how many units make it Commercial Multi-Fam?

Question

in nyc markets, any property with 2 residential units is considered '2 family' and any with 3 or more res units is treated as a multifamily plus requires a commercial type sprinkler system, and any property with 4 or more family as totally COMMERCIAL.

not sure yet of how it goes here in CA..

- is there a sprinkler system requirement over a certain # res/com units in cali?

- is a mixed-used property that consists of 1 store on the ground floor and 1 res  unit on the top floor considered commercial? is it considered multifamily? or would it need to have at least 2 res units to be 'multifamily', or 3?

oh and ins a property with 4 res units bt o com unit, still considerable as commercial in CA?

Marcus Curtis · Answer

For financing purposes, 5+ units is considered commercial. 4 units or less is considered residential.

For code requirements it is state specific in most cases and I am unfamiliar with code requirements for this asset class in California. You might consider reviewing this link: http://www.hcd.ca.gov/codes/mhp/CombinedPages4300t...

Here in Minnesota we have an issue with municipal (city) governments attempting to enforce stricter codes than that of the state fire code. The most recent case on this was Morris V. Sax in which the court determined that municipalities cannot make requirements more stringent than the state code. This has been battled in other states as well.