Development Support Services

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Coliving Cousel 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

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  • Question: I have a property with a single family home and a detached ADU. I need to sell the ADU this year for financial reasons. I’m in San Jose, 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. I’m open to converting the single family home to a duplex or halfplex.

  • 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.

    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.

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Client Story: San Francisco Shared Housing Reform Act

  • Question: My coliving company is expanding into San Francisco. We buy three unit properties and add a large shared kitchen. We use room-by-room leases. Would our setup fit within the Shared Housing Reform Act framework? Would it require group housing permitting?

  • Answer: The Shared Housing Reform Act defines a household as a group that shares a living expense, enters through a common corridor, and has 24 hour kitchen access. It removes the rule that a household must control its membership. That allows coliving operators to control membership. For existing residential uses, it has no lease limit. For new uses, it has a nine lease limit.

    So, you can buy properties with existing dwelling unit uses and continue that use classification.

    You can buy properties without existing dwelling unit uses and establish dwelling unit uses subject only to a nine-lease limit.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • I typically provide a memo based on the facts of your situation.

    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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