County Weighs Plan to Rid Some Homes of Illegal Additions Before Sale

A new zoning compliance program being considered by Los Angeles County could force homeowners in unincorporated areas to undo many room additions and garage conversions before being allowed to sell their properties.

According to a proposal being considered by the Department of Regional Planning, home and condominium sellers would have to pay the county for a report showing would-be buyers the authorized use, occupancy and zoning classification of properties. The ordinance also would require an exterior inspection of the premises by county inspectors, who would be able to ascertain, for example, if a garage has been illegally converted to an extra room or guest house. Sellers currently have to disclose such illegal conversions and additions, but buyers can choose to ignore violations and acquire the property as is.

Advocates of the county’s so-called certificate of zoning compliance concept argue that property inspections in advance of a sale will help cut down on illegal uses and discourage improvements that owners will eventually have to rip out. Critics, including the Los Angeles County Boards of Real Estate, counter that government is too meddlesome already and that adding more bureaucracy to home selling is not what the anemic residential real estate market needs right now.

About a dozen cities in Los Angeles County have programs similar to the one being considered by the county. The city of Los Angeles has what it calls a “truth in real estate program” requiring a seller to furnish to buyers a so-called 9A report that details zoning, use, occupancy and pending liens and assessments. The city neither has nor is it contemplating a certificate program that would require on-site inspections, said Art Devine, executive officer at the city’s Department of Building and Safety. “The transfer of property with zoning violations happens all the time,” Devine conceded, but the city doesn’t have the resources to pursue every scofflaw in Los Angeles.

“The county’s proposal would be very onerous for homeowners,” warned attorney Anita Zusman Cohen, a legislative advocate for the Los Angeles County Boards of Real Estate, which includes the San Fernando Valley Assn. of Realtors. “It would be an extra burden that many sellers just can’t afford,” she said. “We think it’s a terrible idea.”

Many zoning violations are relatively innocuous, yet very expensive to fix, Cohen said. And, while there is a growing problem with illegally added units and garage conversions, the answer to the problem may be to make it easier for these additions and conversions to comply with zoning laws.

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In the city of Los Angeles, for example, it’s usually illegal to operate a business out of a home. Rather than keep most home offices illegal, many people are advocating that they instead be encouraged as a way to cut traffic and pollution. “If people need to work at home or turn a garage into more living space for an extended family,” Cohen asked, is that so bad?

“At a time when the real estate market is weak and vulnerable, this will slow escrows, produce anxiety for property owners and it may thwart sales for property owners that do not have the resources to address zoning violations,” Cohen said.

Rudy Lackner, administrator of the land-use regulation branch of the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning, said realtors are complaining too much. “We had hearings with many different organizations represented,” Lackner said. “Not one sided with the realtors’ position; they’re just fearful that a zoning compliance program will deter certain sales.”

The current proposal is toned-down from one that would also have required homeowners to comply with a much longer list of building and safety requirements, Lackner said. But some sort of program is necessary to weed out illegal units in particular, Lackner added. “It costs the county money to provide services to bootleg units. The current situation is draining society with over-parking and overcrowded schools,” Lackner said. Further hearings are being planned for the spring.

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Veronica Lopez, a member of the county’s committee that has been studying the certificate of zoning compliance, said she is convinced that inspections before a sale will help improve the conditions of the county’s housing stock. She said she hopes that adoption of the program by the County Board of Supervisors will help spell the end to illegal garage conversions and extra housing units.

“These illegal uses are usually unsafe, unhealthy and unseemly,” she said.

The city of South Gate, where Lopez serves as building programs manager, had a similar program in place during part of the 1980s. “We got rid of approximately 1,200 garage conversions and illegal units,” Lopez recalled. ‘It really cleaned up the city.”

The program in South Gate has since been canceled.