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My mother is elderly and disabled. I live in New York State. The apartment would be attached to my garage -- close, but still allowing independence. Any advice would be welcome.

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1. Please be aware that if you use your mother's money to build the apartment, and she later needs Medicaid, the apartment cost will be viewed as a gift to you since you will have the benefit of the add-on after she moves out.
2. If you are charging her rent, that makes you subject to a whole variety of tenant laws including eviction, maintaining property to a certain standard, etc.
3. Some residential areas are NOT zoned for multiple dwellings (a separate added on apartment can qualify as that). As GA said, if you try to simply build it on you may find a host of legal inspection and building permits required. If you have an older home, that can bring you into a need for current electrical and handicapped access building requirements that older homes are exempt from UNTIL you begin significant modifications.
4. You might cause any homeowner property tax exemptions to be compromised by added income producing property to a residential one. Your current homeowner insurance may not allow you to have both your home and the apartment covered under the same policy.
5. You will not be able to deduct housing expenses for your parent on your or their tax return as health/medical expenses.
Get an elder care lawyer experienced in your state to talk about all of this before you start! please, so you don't cause yourself headaches and depending on her condition Medicaid nightmares.
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We sound like a bunch of negative Nancy's, don't we? There is a couple of things that might be good. Your mother will have a place to stay and your property value will increase.
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Don't start this project without talking to the local building inspector. Tax advantage? No, just the opposite! You will need to pull a building permit and the property will be reassessed at a higher market value after the addition goes on. Your property insurance will also go up.
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On the down side of renting the space to mom - you'd have to claim it as income.
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I don't know if there would be any benefits. It may increase your property taxes when the appraised value of your house goes up. FreqFlyer and GardenArtist had some good advice about things to do.
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Have you checked with the building, inspection and zoning departments to confirm that you can do this in your area? I'd say that's the first step before anything else.
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Only tax benefit would be if you are your Mom's landlord and she is your tenant paying fair market rent, then you could take certain business tax deductions. You would need to consult a CPA.
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