Development Support Services
Coliving Counsel can support you in deciding how to develop your property in a manner suitable for coliving or co-ownership.
We help you determine how to develop or zone your property for communal housing. We help you consider these options:
lot splitting and subdividing ministerially under California laws like SB 9, the Starter Home Revitalization Act, SB 684, and SB 1123,
lot splitting, subdividing, and adding dwelling units on the same lot via local missing middle housing laws and small-lot subdivision laws,
building accessory dwelling units (“ADUs”),
retrofitting residential or commercial properties,
shared housing buildings per AB 682,
group housing, rooming houses, congregate residences,
and the relationship between “functional family” rules and development options, including local variants like San Francisco’s Shared Housing Reform Act.
Client Story: ADU sale + SB 684 development
Question: I have a property with a single family home and a detached ADU. I’d like to sell the ADU. I’m in Berkeley, which has adopted AB 1033, allowing ADU condo sales. After selling the ADU, I’d like to develop three more units on the property using SB 684.
Answer: You can sell the ADU as a condo unit or as part of a space assignment tenancy in common agreement. AB 1033 makes it seem like tenancy in common is off limits. Yet case law clarifies that AB 1033 can’t make it off limits.
Unfortunately, SB 684 is not available because your property is in a special flood hazard area. However, the fee-simple lot subdivision provision of the original Starter Home Revitalization Act applies despite flood area status.
Let’s consider the relative difficulty of further development after selling the ADU as a condo unit versus selling it as part of a space assignment tenancy in common. Then, let’s consider the development possibilities afforded by the Starter Home Revitalization Act.
Client Story: Berkeley development options
Question: We’re three couples trying to decide between buying a triplex in Berkeley or buying a duplex and adding a unit. What options are available for adding a unit in Berkeley?
Answer: You can add an ADU, a dwelling unit on a new lot, or a dwelling unit on the same lot in Berkeley. You can make all of these additions essentially ministerially in Berkeley. State law authorizes ADU addition, and Berkeley allows ADUs up to 1,200 sq. ft. Berkeley’s upzoning renders the Starter Home Revitalization Act useless for adding one unit to a lot with a duplex. Further, Berkeley’s upzoning renders SB 684 more difficult than Berkeley’s own Middle Housing Infill Project ordinance. I would use Berkeley’s MHIP program to adding a unit on a new lot. Berkeley’s Middle Housing Zoning changes make a new dwelling unit on the same lot possible in much of the city with just an administrative zoning certificate.
Let’s consider the way these development options relate to your arrangement choice. Let’s also consider the relative difficulty of lot-splitting versus adding a unit to an existing lot from a financing perspective.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Coliving Counsel generally provides development support clients with a memo explaining the development support options available based on the facts of your situation and your goals. This memo is written at a 10th grade reading level, per our readability guarantee. We find that a memo works particularly well for groups embarking on development for the first time, like friends and family groups. It helps every group member come to a shared understanding.
For more experienced development clients, like community land trusts, commercial coliving operators, and architecture firms, Coliving Counsel will provide a choice between a memo and hourly advice.
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You might already have an ownership arrangement in mind for the property you plan to develop. In that case, you won’t need an Arrangement Choice component unless that arrangement isn’t viable for some reason.
If you’d like to understand various ownership arrangements suitable for your property, I’ll add an Arrangement Choice component to your Development Support memo.
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For co-buying clients looking to both buy and develop, I recommend hiring an architect after working with Coliving Counsel. Your Development Support Memo will explain the general options available in the cities where you’re looking to buy. It will explain the lot sizes you’ll need to look for if you want to employ particular state or local laws. However, you’ll need an architect to verify the general rules as applied to a particular lot.
For clients who already own a property and are looking to develop additional units, it can be helpful to hire an architect alongside Coliving Counsel. Coliving Counsel can let you know which state and local development pathways are available for your property. Coliving Counsel can work with your architect to verify the applicability of the options to your property and have sketches made.
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Coliving Counsel helps you understand the legal pathways available to achieve your goals. Coliving Counsel takes into account the relative permitting and entitlement difficulty of various legal pathways when making recommendations.
However, you will need to have an architect or land use attorney obtain permits and entitlements to allow your project to move forward.