Can A Home Rule Village Keep Me Fom Renting My House?

Question

I own a rental house with an upstairs apartment that I also rent. The village sent me a notice saying that that house has to be owner occupied to be able to rent the second floor apt. I have tenants in both units. They claim this ordinance was passed in 1995 before I bought the house. My lawyer thinks the rule is illegal and suggests I sue. But this will take me 5000 to 8000 dollars and 12 to 18 months to get to court. If I knew I would win I would do it. But having been involved in property lawsuits before, I don't trust any judges to rule for what should be right. Do I have a good case?

Answer 1

Which state/county?

The home rule village rules are on the net tell me which one I'll look it up.

Answer 2

Well, if you dont retain your lawyer to fight it then the village could potentially file a lien against your property for what ever dollar figure they allowed to under the ordinance in question. Perhaps, you could contact what ever county commissioners office or housing authority in your area to see what it would take to get the ordinance overturned. Your attorney just saying it's illegal normally is not enough. Hope this helps and good luck!

Answer 3

Since you already have a lawyer on the case, I'd take his advice and go with whatever he says. It's likely that you could recover your legal costs in challenging this law if you are successful and your attorney can advise you on that issue. I'd say that your lawyer is pursuing this both as an illegal restraint of trade as well as a basic property rights issue but that's just my layman's guess.

Answer 4

If the rule was in place when you bought the property, you must abide by it. If it wasn't you might be able to pass through by invoking a "grandfather" clause which allows you to revert to the use of the property at the time it was purchased.
Doesn't look too good, though.