I found a studio being advertised on the housing/apartments tab of Craigslist. It looks like a great place and has an even greater price. I sent an email inquiring about it and sold myself as the model tenant I am. I got a call the next day from the landlord who seemed friendly but told me they had something they needed to let me know about the place. They said when they bought the building years ago they believed it was residential and had people living there on residential leases for years. One way or another (I'm not sure how) he found out through the city that the building was actually coded as commercial. I asked if that meant I'd have to sign a commercial lease and he said yes. But he said he had a tenant who has been living in the space for years and it's never been a problem. I asked if there was any way legally the fault could come down on me and he said only if there's a building inspector there who sees you have a bed and since inspectors need to notify weeks in advance, he'd let me know. He even offered to help move my bed out of the space if that were to ever happen.

Now all of this was starting to sound too good to be true to me but if it really works out the way he's said then it would be an incredible deal on an awesome place. I've already asked if I can speak to the current tenant to do a landlord reference but who knows if this guy will give me the actual tenant's info.

Ultimately my question is, what are the holes in this? Where's the scam? And what do I need to be careful of? I've thought about how I lose some tenant rights and protections since it's not a residential lease but I don't know what those specific rights are. I'm worried this landlord could go back on his word and come in and say I'm in violation of the commercial lease by having a bed - in which case maybe I just get a futon for plausible deniability? But it also seems like there are multiple units in the building with multiple tenants living on commercial leases so it seems like he's putting his business on the line.