I have some interest in my next house being on a large enough property to build a detached "In-law suite". Alternatively being able to renovate a basement into a separate living area.

I know some municipalities across the country do not legally allow this, or make the permitting process awful. I'm not sure about the particular rules for the triangle though. Can anyone point me in the right direction on where I can research the rules for each city/county?

IseWolf22 said:

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I have some interest in my next house being on a large enough property to build a detached "In-law suite". Alternatively being able to renovate a basement into a separate living area.

I know some municipalities across the country do not legally allow this, or make the permitting process awful. I'm not sure about the particular rules for the triangle though. Can anyone point me in the right direction on where I can research the rules for each city/county?

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Love where your head's at, ISE. Great way to help family or generate easy rental income.

When we added on years ago we did a full service utility apartment/MIL suite in our basement that we've rented out the last 11 years. Easiest money we make every month, have had great tenants that have invariably become friends, and have built-in dog and kid sitting in a pinch (and someone watching over the house when we're out of town).

There can be a lot of winning with this approach, you just need to screen the **** out of your applicants if you rent it out. Obviously for credit/criminal but also for personality/fit since they're sharing walls or floors with your family. Gotta be a really easy, good, comfortable fit. It's really attractive to young professionals and law school students, most often women or young couples, who feel a lot safer and more "at home" living with a family instead of in a rando apartment complex or rental house, and also want to be in a great location without breaking the bank.

For work I'm also currently building two ADU's above detached garages on houses we've already sold where the buyers wanted to add the garage with apartment above for rental income and future capacity for family.

I'm intimately familiar with Raleigh's regs but not at all with most other municipalities. There may be some general questions useful for others looking to do this but happy to just IM or jump on a Zoom or call or whatever if most of your questions are specific to your family's circumstance.

Civilized said:

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IseWolf22 said:

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I have some interest in my next house being on a large enough property to build a detached "In-law suite". Alternatively being able to renovate a basement into a separate living area.

I know some municipalities across the country do not legally allow this, or make the permitting process awful. I'm not sure about the particular rules for the triangle though. Can anyone point me in the right direction on where I can research the rules for each city/county?

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Love where your head's at, ISE. Great way to help family or generate easy rental income.

When we added on years ago we did a full service utility apartment/MIL suite in our basement that we've rented out the last 11 years. Easiest money we make every month, have had great tenants that have invariably become friends, and have built-in dog and kid sitting in a pinch (and someone watching over the house when we're out of town).

There can be a lot of winning with this approach, you just need to screen the **** out of your applicants if you rent it out. Obviously for credit/criminal but also for personality/fit since they're sharing walls or floors with your family. Gotta be a really easy, good, comfortable fit. It's really attractive to young professionals and law school students, most often women or young couples, who feel a lot safer and more "at home" living with a family instead of in a rando apartment complex or rental house, and also want to be in a great location without breaking the bank.

For work I'm also currently building two ADU's above detached garages on houses we've already sold where the buyers wanted to add the garage with apartment above for rental income and future capacity for family.

I'm intimately familiar with Raleigh's regs but not at all with most other municipalities. There may be some general questions useful for others looking to do this but happy to just IM or jump on a Zoom or call or whatever if most of your questions are specific to your family's circumstance.

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This is great info. To be clear, we would not be be renting this out. My in-laws would be living there. Part-time to start (they have a small house in Carolina Beach), but full time later on. They've made it clear before we got married that they wanted to live very close to their grandkids and avoid living in a group home. I'm fine with this, as long as there is a substantial barrier between houses. My strong preference is a small, stand alone unit or a garage attachment.

Just to be clear, the relevant regulations would be on the city level and not the county? Like Holly Springs, Cary, etc. may have different rules than Raleigh? I think we are going to start looking later this year so this is pre-work to find the areas and neighborhoods that we want to watch. I'll probably make a post in the future asking about weighing schools.

IseWolf22 said:

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Civilized said:

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IseWolf22 said:

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I have some interest in my next house being on a large enough property to build a detached "In-law suite". Alternatively being able to renovate a basement into a separate living area.

I know some municipalities across the country do not legally allow this, or make the permitting process awful. I'm not sure about the particular rules for the triangle though. Can anyone point me in the right direction on where I can research the rules for each city/county?

---

Love where your head's at, ISE. Great way to help family or generate easy rental income.

When we added on years ago we did a full service utility apartment/MIL suite in our basement that we've rented out the last 11 years. Easiest money we make every month, have had great tenants that have invariably become friends, and have built-in dog and kid sitting in a pinch (and someone watching over the house when we're out of town).

There can be a lot of winning with this approach, you just need to screen the **** out of your applicants if you rent it out. Obviously for credit/criminal but also for personality/fit since they're sharing walls or floors with your family. Gotta be a really easy, good, comfortable fit. It's really attractive to young professionals and law school students, most often women or young couples, who feel a lot safer and more "at home" living with a family instead of in a rando apartment complex or rental house, and also want to be in a great location without breaking the bank.

For work I'm also currently building two ADU's above detached garages on houses we've already sold where the buyers wanted to add the garage with apartment above for rental income and future capacity for family.

I'm intimately familiar with Raleigh's regs but not at all with most other municipalities. There may be some general questions useful for others looking to do this but happy to just IM or jump on a Zoom or call or whatever if most of your questions are specific to your family's circumstance.

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This is great info. To be clear, we would not be be renting this out. My in-laws would be living there. Part-time to start (they have a small house in Carolina Beach), but full time later on. They've made it clear before we got married that they wanted to live very close to their grandkids and avoid living in a group home. I'm fine with this, as long as there is a substantial barrier between houses. My strong preference is a small, stand alone unit or a garage attachment.

Just to be clear, the relevant regulations would be on the city level and not the county? Like Holly Springs, Cary, etc. may have different rules than Raleigh? I think we are going to start looking later this year so this is pre-work to find the areas and neighborhoods that we want to watch. I'll probably make a post in the future asking about weighing schools.

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The permitting entity would be the delegated authority (City/Town) if inside a city or ETJ; the County regs would govern if not in City limits.

Holly Springs and Cary and all other municipalities most certainly have different regs than Raleigh; what the differences are, and how consequential, is impossible to say until you dive in.

As you may know, the development community and many residents fought the Raleigh City Council for years to legalize new granny flats (detached full-service accessory units). Old flats were grandfathered and you could do an attached ADU with certain stipulations (like we did in our house 11 years ago) but the City hadn't allowed new granny flats in decades. The Council turned over last year and the new council is for smart development (not in developers' pockets but also not with a strong anti-growth/anti-development bias like the outgoing Council). The City finally did the right thing and allowed new ADU's to be permitted a few months ago.

ADU's are so smart because they're a small, sensitive way to drive density. As the Triangle grows, we can choose sprawl or density but we have to choose. Not doing things we can reasonably do to drive density is to choose sprawl, which is far worse in the balance, I think. I'd much rather see a dense urban core than us turn into Atlanta 2.0 (at least in ways regarding traffic/sprawl/development).

Civilized said:

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The permitting entity would be the delegated authority (City/Town) if inside a city or ETJ; the County regs would govern if not in City limits.

Holly Springs and Cary and all other municipalities most certainly have different regs than Raleigh; what the differences are, and how consequential, is impossible to say until you dive in.

As you may know, the development community and many residents fought the Raleigh City Council for years to legalize new granny flats (detached full-service accessory units). Old flats were grandfathered and you could do an attached ADU with certain stipulations (like we did in our house 11 years ago) but the City hadn't allowed new granny flats in decades. The Council turned over last year and the new council is for smart development (not in developers' pockets but also not with a strong anti-growth/anti-development bias like the outgoing Council). The City finally did the right thing and allowed new ADU's to be permitted a few months ago.

ADU's are so smart because they're a small, sensitive way to drive density. As the Triangle grows, we can choose sprawl or density but we have to choose. Not doing things we can reasonably do to drive density is to choose sprawl, which is far worse in the balance, I think. I'd much rather see a dense urban core than us turn into Atlanta 2.0 (at least in ways regarding traffic/sprawl/development).

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Interesting. I actually did not know that the Raleigh council only made this change recently. One of the biggest reasons I'm asking this here, is trying to google info on what is allowed didn't turn up many results. If Raleigh allows ADUs, but Holly Springs does not, I'll probably need to exclude Holly Springs from the search.

Google the zoning ordinance for the governing authority you are looking in... it's tedious reading trying to find what you are looking for in them sometimes, but it'll address it. Easiest way is if they reference it in the Table of Uses, but a lot of times you have to go into the ordinance text itself for the residential zoning designations to find those type of details.

You can go to each Town/City Unified Development Ordinance and/or their Long Range Plan to see if you can locate that information. That can be tedious, often frustating work, and I am a local elected offcial and can testify that it can be confusing and aggravating.

I would suggest that you call the Planning Department of the towns and cities that you are considering and ask to speak with someone in the Planning Department who can answer your specific questions. And always write down the name of the person you are speaking with for future reference. IMO, this is much easier than scrolling thru the ordinances and documentation in a UDO.

And another word of advice...make sure that, despite what you may read in an ordinance or regulation, you speak to a live human being before you start to make any construction plans for any additional buildings on your property. Each and every situation may be a little bit different, with set-backs and utility connections and possbile landscaping.

Last but not least.....any neighborhood convenants may supercede any local municipal ordinances and regulations. Neighborhood convenants rule, whether we like it or not.