Chicago basement Airbnb

[Nat Solomon]

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a two flat with a partially finished basement. I ideally would like to finish the basement as an Airbnb (my ward does allow them), while I live in the upper two units and eventually deconvert to a SFH, but am wondering if it will make sense financially to do so with Chicago's new regulations in place.

For those of you that have gone through the registration process with the city since the new regulations in 2021, does the city inspect your space? The basement currently has one exterior entrance as well as an egress window, but I'm not sure if it would need another entrance. Since I don't think the basement would qualify as a legal unit, I'd be renting it as part of a shared space in a SFH. Can the basement be considered part of a SFH if it does not have an interior stair to the first floor? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[Mark Ainley]

@Nat Solomon we are looking for an expert guest on short term rentals in Chicago...if you know someone or anyone that sees this please send me a DM so we can educate our listeners locally.  

@Tom Shallcross