Our listing at 2415 NW Lovejoy Street is nearly 8000 square feet including the basement and has seven bedrooms.  During a recent open house I was asked, “what about turning it into a bed and breakfast?”

The City of Portland has an answer for that: a permit is required.  A buyer purchasing a property that they intend to use as a bed and breakfast would want to write that permit approval is a contingency of the sale.  It’s a process that the buyer would have to go through at their expense and time.  In part (I added the emphasis):

[Portland’s] building code distinguishes between residences with “transient” residents versus “permanent” residents. This means that a bed and breakfast with a single guest room is actually no longer classified as a single family residence, but rather as a hotel. Through the building code appeals process, it may be possible to convert a house to a bed and breakfast without meeting all of the requirements for a new hotel, so long as the b & b operation doesn’t include renting space out for parties, weddings, receptions, meetings or similar uses.

The appeal will look at whether the existing house meets basic life safety conditions such as required escape windows from bedrooms. If the appeal is granted, hard wired interconnected smoke alarms will be required. The appeal will specifically limit the bed and breakfast to five or fewer for-rent guest rooms, with no more than ten guests all together. And the appeal will require that the building owner record a covenant that enforces the five guest room/ten guest limit. For more information, speak to a Life Safety reviewer at 503 823-1456 or visit the Development Services Center.

The process isn’t an “over the counter” permit which means that you will not walk in and out in one day with an approval in hand.