This was a concern to the buyer as she would be rehabbing these old houses, and would need permits. If the city didn't recognize the existence of the houses, she would be unable to pull permits for her work. The Bureau of Development Services did say, if we could prove the houses existed prior to 1928 (when certain zoning and building regulations were codified), we could go through a process to, in a sense, grandfather the houses in. They provided a list of acceptable evidence:
Utility bills
Income tax records
Business license
Listings in telephone, business or Polk directories
Advertisements in dated publications
Building, land use or development permits
Insurance polices
Leases
Dated aerial photos
Insurance maps that identify use or development (Sanborn maps)
Land use and development inventories prepared by a government agency.
Mind you, the zoning allows two houses, so the issue was not about zoning. And the seller had been paying taxes on two houses. The issue was whether or not these particular houses were allowed to exist.
As the buyer had already been unable to find the permits at the Bureau of Development Services, I knew we had to look elsewhere. I plotted a whole day, if necessary, to this project, and set off for downtown; City of Portland Archives and the Oregon Historical Society were to be my first two stops.
Basing my starting point on which office closed sooner than the others, I started at the City of Portland Archives, located at 1800 SW 6th Ave #550 . I read their policies; no pens, be prepared to put your purse or bag in a locker, no flash for photos, no food or drink. I found my way to the 5th floor office atop a Portland State University building and was greeted by a locked door. I was let in by a staff member and then buzzed in to the public room; imagine a small library room, with glass windows looking in on the actual archives. The staff person was super welcoming, helped me get signed in and to stash my bag in a locker.
The staff person who helped me was so helpful, and enthusiastic about her job. As I described what I was looking for she thought of the various ways we could get at the data. We ended up finding a variety of data to show they houses both existed prior to 1928. We found a card catalogue index card of permits for both houses, dated appropriately. The Multnomah County Library has, on line old maps, which the archivist accessed for me.
There are beautiful old books of hand drawn maps for each tiny section of a neighbourhood. In these, I found the name of the owner of the subject properties, with which we could then cross reference. And remember, many of Portland's streets are renamed when the cities of Portland and East Portland were combined. Luckily, I new the historic name of the street on which the properties are located. Looking at the old maps can be disorienting; SE Powell wasn't very big. and dead ended in the Brooklyn neighborhood because...no Ross Island Bridge ( it opened in 1926).
From here, there is a process whereby we submit they evidence I found (in the city's own archives), and pay a $1100ish fee for the city to review their own documents and "approve" the two houses. As part of our negotiations with the buyer, the seller will do this before closing. Mind you, I'm thankful for the archives and how extremely helpful the staff there were. I am a bit perplexed at paying a fee for the city to look at their documents I rounded up, so they can, in a sense, correct their own error. The alternative would have been a huge reduction in the sale price, or losing that buyer.
If you've been in a similar position, or have run into road blocks on property information, remember, the Bureau of Development Services has incomplete files, and portlandmaps.com, while super helpful and convenient, has limited historic information.
I'm not an expert (at all) on property research, but if you have questions, I'm glad to help.
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