For my old house, the previous owner had built out the basement unit beautifully, with a full bath, large full bedroom, and large living room, and 9' feet ceili

For my old house, the previous owner had built out the basement unit beautifully, with a full bath, large full bedroom, and large living room, and 9' feet ceiling that made it look like a normal living space. When I bought the place, I was thrived. It's like a separate unit. But I checked the city's plan, the build-out was not in the plan, so it was built illegally. Years later when I sold it, I decided to go through the process to bring it up to code. It was a painful and onerous process. Dealing with the city planning department and to be compliant with the regular building code plus the city's own petty codes made me wish I didn't start the process. At various stages of the process, I was at the point of fuck-it and just gave up. Finally got it done after 9 months and extra money. I can certainly understand why people just do it without following the regulation.