Assessor candidate Hara lacks permit for home remodel

Lloyd Hara, a candidate for King County assessor, remodeled his Queen Anne home to create a basement apartment but didn't apply for a city permit, he acknowledged at a candidates forum Wednesday.

Hara, who is a Port of Seattle commissioner, said he did not fully understand the rules and said he would be going to city offices to apply for a permit.

"I thought it was grandfathered in," Hara said in response to a question from a Seattle Times reporter at a candidate forum at the Seattle Yacht Club. "I will be down applying for a permit from the city of Seattle."

Hara said that his son and a friend made improvements to a portion of the basement around 1988, that it had a "kitchen-type unit" in it, and that it was currently rented out. Later, he said he made modifications to the apartment around 2005, including adding a separate entry door.

Based on Hara's comments, he appears to have an illegal dwelling unit, said Bryan Stevens, a spokesman for Seattle's planning department, which has no record of issuing a permit for basement remodeling at Hara's address. The department will be sending an inspector to the property to investigate an anonymous complaint it received Tuesday about the basement unit.

Robert Rosenberger, one of the other four assessor candidates, issued a news release on Wednesday before the forum saying, "If we cannot trust Mr. Hara in paying his fair share of the property tax, how can he be trusted to oversee the taxes of others?"

City officials say there are a few instances of apartments in older homes that can be grandfathered in. Since 1957, homeowners have been required to get a permit for any apartments added to their home. While renting a room out doesn't require a permit, if a remodeled living space has a separate entry, kitchen and bathroom, an owner needs to obtain a construction permit to establish its use as an attached dwelling, Stevens said. Illegal dwelling units are "believed to be fairly common" he said.

Hara said in an interview that he rented the apartment out initially to his son after his college graduation, then to his daughter. He wasn't sure which year he then began renting to nonfamily members — either 2005 or 2006. "So it's been fairly recent," he said.

Told that former tenants had reported staying there in 2004 and 2001, Hara said, "I'll have to go back and look."

He first reported rental income in 2006 on his filing with the state Public Disclosure Commission while a Port commissioner. He said in an interview after the forum that not reporting income in his 2005 filing may have been an oversight.

Lori Anderson, a commission spokeswoman, said that Hara should have reported rental income in his 2005 filing if someone paid him more than $1,500 in rent in the prior 12 months.

The basement apartment in Hara's home on Smith Street has a separate entry, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, laundry and living room, said Jamie Vollrath, a teacher who lived there from 2006 to March of this year.

Hara acknowledged that tenants share the same mailbox with Hara and his wife.

That can make it hard for city code inspectors to verify the existence of an attached dwelling that hasn't received a permit, even if someone reports it. City inspectors don't have the authority to go inside a home or on the premises without the owner's or tenant's permission.

Former tenant Lucas Peck said he stayed in Hara's house as a law student in summer 2001 and that another student rented the basement at that time.

Hara successfully challenged his 2003 assessment, reducing the valuation of his home from $933,000 to $765,000.

Starting in early 2004, Vollrath's brother, Daniel, said he rented the basement from Hara for about two years. Daniel Vollrath said he had his own entrance to come and go as he pleased.

"He was always a good landlord to me," said Vollrath, who has since moved to the Midwest.

Jamie Vollrath said he moved into the basement unit in March 2006.

He had to park on the street. City code requires that accessory dwelling units have off-street parking unless an exemption is granted. Hara acknowledged Wednesday that he didn't provide a parking spot.

Jamie Vollrath said he and his wife stayed for three years because his rent never went up: He said he paid Hara about $900 a month.

Records show that Hara obtained a permit in 2004 for a master bedroom and bath remodel. That permit triggered a January 2005 inspection by the King County Assessor's Office, which found a finished basement. After that work, Hara applied for a home-improvement exemption and got the assessed value of his home reduced by $25,000 for 2006, 2007 and 2008. Property owners can receive such short-term exemptions to offset the costs of major home improvements, according to the Assessor's Office.

Hara served as King County auditor, treasurer for the city of Seattle and regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency before being elected a Port of Seattle commissioner in 2005. His term ends this year, and Hara announced a bid for assessor to fulfill the remaining term of Scott Noble, who resigned in June. Noble was sentenced to eight months in jail for causing a head-on collision on Interstate 5 while intoxicated.

Hara issued a statement Wednesday night apologizing to his supporters and taxpayers for his failure to get a permit and to report income to the state.

"I'm embarrassed to learn from The Seattle Times that I didn't have the proper permits for a basement apartment once used by my son and later others. "I've taken immediate steps to get the proper permits and amend my financial disclosure form with the Public Disclosure Commission. I did report rental income to the IRS.

"While the timing of this is peculiar, there are no excuses. I was wrong. I'm fixing it. I'm truly sorry."

Seattle Times researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com