Splitting a building

[maat55]

My uncle owns a 17,000 sf building, I rent about 5,000 of it. I would like to buy my part of the building. It has separate electric, but we share the water and gas. I'm sure we can separate the gas. Sharing the water is not a problem.

Do any of you know anything about splitting a property into two properties? Getting separate deeds is needed. Any ideas?

[simpleyme]

I am not sure how about going to your cities planning department and asking them? I bet it differs wildly from city to city by quite a bit

I know some place apartments can be turned into condos if they have enough off street parking

i have a multi use triplex and "if " I wanted to divide it the city would have a problem with me sharing water as they have a minimum charge of 70 bucks, they would make a extra 1800 a year by making the water bills be separate

in our back apartment the previous owner had the gas meter took out, we asked about getting it reinstalled and it was about 7K to get them to install a new line and meter;-0

a real estate lawyer may be a good Idea as well ,we have used one several times and have not been disappointed

[disneysteve]

I agree with simplyme that this is probably a more complex issue than you may think. There are zoning issues, legal issues, utility issues, tax issues, etc. I think the very first thing you need to do is consult a good real estate attorney in the area to find out if it is feasible and what would be involved.

[maat55]

I've made an apointment with a lease management company to see what my options are for just buying the whole property and leasing what I don't use.

He said it is possible to separate the building if desired. I guess I will know more on monday.

Thanks guy's

[humandraydel]

Why do you want to buy the building? My initial thought was something along the lines of a partnership between you and your uncle where you "own" 5/17th's of the building. Something like this may be easier to manage than buying the whole building and leasing some of it out.

[maat55]

Buying part ownership is interesting, my concern would be the fallout after he passes. He is 72 and ready to retire. I need to be able to finance my portion with the cost of having it reroofed. I have a lot of plans for fixing the property up, that might be hard to figure the worth of. I think full ownership would be best. He is willing to rent from me till I replace him or sell his part.

Part ownership for the short term is something to look into. Thanks