Rental License / Land Use Question

[Andreas S.]

Hi all,

I am looking to invest in Philly and have a couple questions about the rental license and zoning. The property I'm looking at is a triplex but the zoning is RSA5 and land use is Y50 Mix Ofc/Store, Apt. There might have been a storefront unit at some point but it's now setup as a pure residential unit. The current rental license is only for 2 residential units, so the third unit - the old storefront, is not registered currently. My first question is, for a land use that is a mix, can you use it for only residential? Secondly, would anybody have an estimated timeframe on how long it takes to get the rental license and potentially the variance?

Lastly, is there anywhere place where you can find if a property has a variance on it? It doesn't seem like the Atlas tool is much help with that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!