All Forum Posts by: Lana Lee

@James G. Thanks for your suggestion. I would like to get to a point where I'm not as involved. The property management fee is a hit but you're right my time could be spent focusing on bigger ventures! 

$110/month... for what? What type of property? SFH? Multi? If Multi, how many buildings/units? Square footage?

If the balcony is safe and legal (railings are high enough, it's properly permitted, etc.) I'd leave it. They definitely bring value, if not directly in rent, then they likely help the unit rent faster or retain tenants longer. People love outdoor space in the city. You have to judge what you're comfortable with though. If your husband will lose sleep over this at night, then lock it up and don't let anyone use it. It's not worth losing sleep over! 

What makes your husband think the balcony is a liability? Is it poorly constructed or in need of maintenance? As long as it's safe and up to code, I'd consider allowing use. If it's a common balcony to both units and you're renting to lower income tenants, I'd probably close it off though. Even with our professional tenants in better buildings, shared roof decks are often problematic with noise, parties, trash, using each others equipment, etc. If it's only accessible to one unit and it's safe, I'd likely allow its use. 

If you're worried about the safety of it, let's say it's cantilevered and you're worried it could collapse, I'd hire an engineer to look at it and determine whether it's safe or not. If they say it's safe, get it in writing from them so you have a paper trail to cover yourselves. Hope that helps. 

@Lana Lee

You can try calling and start with 311. However, the best bet is to go there in person. 

@Kevin Branin

I agree about the revenue and not only for commercial property. The property zoned CMX but it doesn't make it commercial for financial point of view. Also @Lana Lee mentioned that there is already two rooms with locks. So no need to build anything. 

@Lana Lee talk to L&I and see what use you can get for the property without applying for variance. There is a possibility that you can get a new occupancy cert for 2-unit + commercial space. If not, then I think you'll have more luck renting the basement rooms as storage. 

I have a recent purchase CMX-2 as well and now need to decide if I want to have it as a 2-unit residential + commercial store front (I do not need to do a variance for it, just need to apply for the cert). Or if I want to ally for a variance to use it as a 3-unit residential (which it was used as for at lease last 15 years)  

Finding revenue generators is key in commercial property. Framing out chicken wire storage is cost effective. Just make sure your basement is dry, well lit, and free from mildew. Tenants won’t want to pay to store in a dingy basement as all items will smell like mildew.

@Lana Lee

If your property zoned as CMX-2 it doesn’t give you a right to use it any way you want. The only used allowed is the current use of the property which you should see on the city certification. If you want to have anything different in the property from current use you will need to obtain new use certificate and in a lot of cases that means that you will need to get a variance (depends on your proposed use and permitted used in the area)

However, since it’s CMX-2 you can try to get a use for a business space for the basement and rent it out. That may intel a lot of mechanical changes in the property since commercial spaces have different code requirements.

Without changing any use, you can make those rooms into storage units for tenants and charge additional fee for them.

Cheers, 

Yuriy