our house needs your advice and help

oh geez - this is a really shitty stressful situation! you have my utmost sympathy.

one potential worry is whether the apartments and venue are legal with the city. if you get the law involved, would they come in and say that no one's supposed to be living there and/or you can't have shows there.

where in California does your landlord live? Not suggesting paying him _that_ kind of visit. But if you have to serve him papers, i dunno.

Also, it makes me wonder about his relationship w/his ex-gf.

the relationship with the ex is increasingly O_O the more I learn about it.

thanks to everyone for all the lovely starting points and advice, etc. we're all really confused and unsure of what to do. complicating matters is that our house functions as a venue somewhat illegally and we're worried about being investigated and shut down. it feels like we're walking a tightrope.

worse, we're apparently registered as a one family home - we are definitely 5 apartments with 5 separate "families." this is his fault, though - not ours. but again, we're afraid.

we will prevail though. we kick ass at raising money/throwing benefits and stuff. also, he's dumb.

fuck yeah, kick his ass!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBohdltpVUY

This is the song everyone likes to listen to

obv different cities have different rules and practices, but I would think (based on my experience with somewhat similar situations) that if you have a licensed contractor that's cool with you, he/she would be authorized to get permits for the repairs, and that gov't officials would be less likely to give you trouble, require inspections that could get you in trouble, if it's an emergency repair, as opposed to "new construction" or something along those lines.

basically, the two big problems as I see it are:

1. getting the money to make the repairs
2. getting the repairs done w/proper permits which sometimes require authorization from the property owner

re 2) this is where the 'house' part of it could come in handy. a house may not need a permit to get a new roof

re: the illegality of the living arrangement - that shouldn't stop you from looking around for a lawyer for some expert legal advice from someone in the area. Most lawyers will advise you that your living situation is illegal, etc. etc. but they aren't going to call the cops and have you shut down.

If you are seriously considering buying the building yourself, however, you definitely need to talk to a lawyer and find out what kind of liability you're opening yourself up to. In some municipalities, single family homes cannot have more than one stove, for example, and a violation can carry a significant fine for the property owner. I'm not saying don't buy it (I wouldn't, but I have a higher aversion to that kind of risk) but at least do so knowing exactly what you're getting into.