What makes an apartment illegal?

Question

I just wanted to see what types of things would make an apartment illegal. I heard that only have one water meeter between two residence is not allowed. Also, where can i get a certificate of occupancy to see if the apartment i am renting is in fact legal.

Answer 1

It's a common sense thing.  If the neighborhood is zoned so that each house has one family, it is called Single Family or R-6 zoning. If you want to rent out a room in the house, that would usually be legal.  But that house would only have 1 kitchen to be shared.   If you want to rent out the basement as a separate apartment, those tenants need a kitchen. They don't want to share yours.  So the landlord builds a kitchen without a building permit.. if he asked for a permit they wouldn't allow it. He's not supposed to set up 2 "houses" on his lot.  If his house had a R-2 zoning, he could do it.  But he doesn't have that.  So he is cheating.  He would argue that he's not really hurting anyone.  But now there will be twice as many cars parking on the street. Twice as many people coming and going all day.  Twice as much trash for the city to haul away.  All things that seem small but make the  city a worse place to live.  So the government steps in and helps in a situation where the neighbors can't do it for themselves.  And somehow it all works. Most of the time. /

Answer 2

Most of it depends upon your local fire code, things like only having one exit/entrance, no independent smoke detectors, windows being too small (for a person to emergency exit through)...that kind of stuff.

Answer 3

It is legal and normal (in most places) to have two or more apartments connected to one water meter.

Your local building department will have a copy of the certificate of occupancy and/or building permit (if any).

If the apartment was built without a building permit then it is illegal.

Answer 4

One water meter between two residences is legal as long as the landlord is paying for the water.  One electric meter between two residences is legal as long as the landlord pays for the electric.

Not all jurisdictions issue certificates of occupancy.  What makes an apartment legal or not depends on where you are.  Having access to water and electricity are usually requirements to be legal.  In New York City and many northern communities, heat is mandatory.  Some towns in Arizona require air conditioning.

Answer 5

Contact your local office of Licenses and Permits. Each jurisdiction has specific requirements regarding the legality of a rental and issuing a rental license. Your landlord is supposed to have the license prominently displayed somewhere for all to see.  

Answer 6

Does it really matter to youo if your apartment is legal?  If it is an illegal suite, it is your landlord that has broken the law -- not you.

Where I live, illegal suites are quite common.  the police and the municipality know about them.  Since we have a housing shortage, no one will stop an illegal suite unless someone complains.  And the complaint needs to be more than "it isn't zoned to have a rental unit".  They'd have to show that the suite was unsafe, or the extra cars on the street were creating an unsafe situation.