False information on listing

[brianqin1943]

Jurisdiction

Washington

I purchased a rental property 2+ months ago. And just find out the information on listing is quite different than the records in City. And city's records are also different than records on county's website.

• On the listing, it stated the property is a fourplex (triplex+ detached single dwelling unit with office) with 5 rentable units (office has separate entrance and standalone kitchen and W/D). There were tenants living in all of the 5 units.
  
• The square feet on listing is the sum of the triplex+ detached building.
• On the appraisal report, it's also showing "fourplex" with rent estimate for each unit.

The city told me legally there is only two rentable units on the land (Duplex) based on the zoning requirement (R-10). The 3rd unit on the "trip-plex" building doesn't permit to be a standalone unit, and it should be the addition of the duplex. While the detached building should be garage (no residential allowed).
This basically means the 5 rentable units now becomes 2.

On county's website, the property is described as: building 1 is triplex and building 2 is garage conversion. But city said the property is under city's jurisdiction.

Another information is: my neighbor has similar size of the land under same R-10 zone, and there is a 6 units apartment sitting on the land (both physically and also shown on county's website).

Questions:
1. City said there is no way to legalize the other units, since zone requirement only allow 2 units. If this is true, can I sue the seller/agent for false information? My purchase decision was based on 5 or at least 4 rentable units.
2. Why it's allowed to build 6 units apartment for my neighbor which is under the same zone and similar size of land? Anything I can do to request permit to convert my units to apartment?

 

[zddoodah]

can I sue the seller/agent for false information?

Anyone can sue anyone for anything, but the ability to sue is irrelevant to the likelihood of suing successfully. Only an attorney who has reviewed all of the relevant paperwork, including the contract for sale of the property, will be able to advise you intelligently about the likelihood of success of any lawsuit.

I don't really follow your second question, but I suspect only an attorney familiar with the local zoning laws will be able to answer it competently.

As an aside, it's kinda hard to believe you didn't investigate all of this before you agreed to buy.

 

[army judge]

Questions:
1. City said there is no way to legalize the other units, since zone requirement only allow 2 units. If this is true, can I sue the seller/agent for false information? My purchase decision was based on 5 or at least 4 rentable units.
2. Why it's allowed to build 6 units apartment for my neighbor which is under the same zone and similar size of land? Anything I can do to request permit to convert my units to apartment?

Before I buy real estate, even though I am an attorney, I always retain a real estate attorney to advise me during each transaction.

I bought a home in Belize a few years ago, retaining an attorney licensed in Belize to assist me.

A real estate salesperson is nothing more than a salesperson, even if he/she uses the title real estate broker or real estate agent.