Help!! Legal advice for landlord!

[Joo Yoon]

Hello!

So I have acquired a property in Allentown, PA that I had originally thought would be able to convert legally to a 3 unit residential but it turns out because of a couple of issues it can't. The property consists of 2 units legally. The bigger unit has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths with a separate entrance. It is an in-law suite.

My plan is to sublease the in-law suite. I wanted to figure out how to best go about doing this and had many questions as to the negatives of this strategy. Here are the questions that I have.

1) What happens if the subtenant does not pay rent? Can I evict them directly as the landlord or must the original tenant do this?

2) Is there a way to structure so that I have 2 separate leases with both tenants? (This would obviously be the best case scenario) I heard possibly using the number of occupants allowed that this might be possible? If so, how do I check?

3) As the unit does technically have it's own address, will it be a problem if the subtenant uses that address for legal registration?

4) Can the landlord collect rent directly from both tenants?

5) What other options would I have, if any?

Thanks for all your help in advance!

Joo Yoon

[George W.]

I think the best legal advice would to be listen to law and stick with two units. Anything else is kinda asking for trouble. 

That being said is there anyway you can make the inlaw suite part of the smaller unit? Maybe that would help you gross more rent. 

Lastly was this inlaw suite always setup as a third unit? If so maybe you're grandfathered into the zoning? That's a question for your local building dept/zoning board. If not maybe you can get a variance to use it as a third unit.