Welcome back guys. It's Jasben with the LiveInnerCity real estate team.
And today I'm with my very important assistant.
She's very, very helpful all the time.
It's Lily. Say hi! Thank you.
Go play! (Aww).
Thank you.
See, she keeps my happiness level up all the time. Today,
we're going to talk to you about legalizing your basement suite,
and one of the most important aspects if you have a walk-up entrance.
So let's show you. It's a beautiful day today in Calgary,
but if you have a walk-up entrance,
which means it starts below grade and walks up to-grade,
this is what's going to happen.
You need to have a roof over that. Why?
Because if you have a window nearby...it's
safety for someone who is exiting because of fire and it's part of
fire code, actually.
So what happens is if - there's a fire and the glass gets
blown out and someone is exiting this entrance,
they might get cut with glass and make them unable to leave the
property in a safe manner so that they can avoid
the fire itself.
So that's why it's really important to have that.
And that's why it's important and why the city has said that legalizing your
basement suite require this.
So right now we have a roof being built at one of my client's place.
This has a slight slope, so that water can run off nicely.
And there's going to be shingles on there. There's the shingles right there.
Okay. Plywood would go on top of these beams, these two by fours.
And of course lumber price has gone up slightly.
I'm joking. When I say it's slightly, it's very sarcastic. I mean to say,
but this project is caught in my client about $2500 - $3,000.
It normally would cost a little bit less. But that's just a simple fact.
However,
there are cost savings involved when choosing to do legalization now
before December 31st, 2021.
Now what's important here in this one is there are some exhaust vents here for
the hot water heater and the furnace.
And we need to relocate those up to the roof here it's that
there's no blockage and they can exhaust out properly.
One other thing I wanted to point out is this is a bi-level property.
And what I mean by that is,
and how you can tell that property as a bi-level is that if you
enter from the front entrance,
typically you'll see half a flight of stairs going upstairs
and half a flight going down, which is different from a bungalow.
When you enter it's actually there are no stairs.
And then there are stairs that go down to the basement.
And what's what's useful in a bi-level for legalization,
is that typically you're going to have egress windows in the bedroom,
in the basement already,
because it's not as deep in the ground - the property itself.
And normally in a bungalow, for example,
you're going to have...it's going to be a little bit lower,
perhaps a smaller window that you'll have to increase the size of.
And then it will be dug in down to create the egress
and you'll have to have a certain amount of clearance.
So clearance where my finger is away from the window. So you can build a window.
Well, usually it's done with four by fours or perhaps the aluminum
corrugated sheets.
And that will create the bigger window for egress
so that you can have a legal egress window.
Another cool thing I wanted to share with you about this project is our client
is actually using the full property for their own use.
And you might be asking yourself, well,
why are they legalized in the basement suite? Because right now,
before December 31st, 2021, you only have to bring it up to fire code.
Whereas after that, you're going to need to bring it up to a building code.
And one of the requirements for building code is actually you need to have two
separate heating sources for up and down,
which may mean an extra furnace,
an extra duct work to create the two zones and separate thermostats to
control as well.
So that's a significant cost that you want to avoid for sure.
And one of the things that are,
we had recommend to a client in regards to legalizing a basement suite now is
that you're going to add value to the property,
whether you choose to sell it later, or, you know,
possibly create a rental investment later.
And that way it's already legal suite in the basement.
And it's a lifetime registration into that registry through the city of Calgary.
So, and one time fee, I mean, why not? You might as well do it.
You're adding value,
but every property is different and a different state of readiness for
legalizing the basement suite. That's the important part.
And that's what we help our clients with.
If you're looking for a project and/or to purchase your
next rental investment, even for your own use first,
then definitely contact us and we'll be able to help.
Again, my name is Jasben Lai with the LiveInnerCity real estate team with my
trusty assistant Lily here.
And we are here to give you the best Calgary real estate content
and about real estate investment.
So if there's any questions that you have put that in the comment section below,
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