How is a Property Zoned? Licenses and Inspections in Philadelphia

There are endless things, which can be written about the title I have chosen, but I will keep this simple and to the point. As part of your offer, when purchasing a property, you want to make sure that there is a zoning requirement listed as a contingency. Therefore, if the Licenses & Inspections certification comes back with zoning that is different from what you have required on the Agreement of Sale, you are not obligated buy the property.

Recently, I had an offer accepted on behalf of a buyer for a RESIDENTIAL DUPLEX. It was advertised as a DUPLEX. It was laid out as a DUPLEX. I had no reason to think it was not a DUPLEX; they are all over the City of Philadelphia. When we received the L&I certification from the sellers, the property was zoned as a SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL property, and the block was zoned for SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL properties alone. The sellers thought they had purchased a DUPLEX. Now, the reality was that many of the properties, on the block, were set up as DUPLEXES. The tax assessors listed them as DUPLEXES on the tax roll to get a higher tax rate, but they were still zoned as SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL properties.

The process to get it corrected, in brief, was as follows: first, apply for a zoning change; second, get turned down, because the block does not allow duplexes (this process takes about 30 days); third, apply for an appeal. The appeal requires architecturals, forms, plus property considerations like the size of the back yard versus the number of units . If you opt to pay the additional fee for the process to be expedited, you are talking about 2-3 months for the appeal process. Otherwise, it will take at least 4-5 months. There is no guarantee in the end that you will get a satisfactory result.

Now, today, I went to check on two garage spaces. I knew ahead of time that one was zoned "G2" and one was zoned "R10A". Yesterday, I printed a 43 page description of what G2 meant. It was Greek. I was not sure what was permitted and what was not. I called zoning they walked me through the 43 pages and I circled the two lines, which applied to the use my prospective buyer has in mind. It is allowed.

Today, I went to the Municipal Services Building, and down into the concourse level to Licenses & Inspections. I requested the files on both properties. There were none. The G2 seems to be fine regardless. The R10A, however, would need to go through the same process that needed to be gone through with the above duplex. It makes no sense. The owner, before the current seller, was an auto mechanic and used it for his shop. The building looks like a space for a business like an auto mechanic . However, there was, as suggested by the employees at Licenses and Inspections, probably a city ordinance that changed the zoning on the entire block.

Then, I tried to find out what R10A would allow. I could not find it in writing, but learned while at Licenses and Inspections today that the only real exception, to this type of residential zoning, would be a work/live situation for a medical doctor. At least, this is what I understand.

Now, there is no way the property in question is a residential property. We are still, through political connections, trying to find out if the prospective buyer could put the building into the use that he has in mind. So far, the answer seems to be yes. But we have nothing in writing. And are waiting on return phone calls.

The point in providing this information is to tell you to be very careful when buying something other than an obvious single family residential property. Know what the zoning is and know if the use about which you are thinking is permissible. Do your homework! Don't waste time being under contract and having two or more months go by to find out you cannot use the property how you had imagined.