Double LEFT JOIN - sql

Question

I want to receive property name and units count and specails count. I have this query:
SELECT
`property`.`property_name`,
COUNT(unit_id) AS `units_count`,
COUNT(special_id) AS `specials_count`
FROM `property`
LEFT JOIN `property_unit` ON unit_property_id = property_id
LEFT JOIN `property_special` ON special_property_id = property_id
WHERE (property_id = '1')
GROUP BY `property_id`
ORDER BY `property_name` ASC
But it is not working properly. If I have one of these left joins - it's ok, but if I have two, I get this result:
["property_name"] => string(11) "Rivers Edge"
["units_count"] => string(1) "2"
["specials_count"] => string(1) "2"
Specials count is 2 and units_count is 2, but units count is really '1'. How can I get correct counts for it?
P.S: for those who know Zend Framework:
$select->setIntegrityCheck(FALSE)
->from(
'property',
array(
'property_name',
)
)
->joinLeft(
'property_unit',
'unit_property_id = property_id',
array(
'units_count' => 'COUNT(unit_id)'
)
)
->joinLeft(
'property_special',
'special_property_id = property_id',
array(
'specials_count' => 'COUNT(special_id)'
)
)
->group('property_id')
->order('property_name');

Answer 1

Try this:
SELECT
`property`.`property_name`,
COUNT(distinct unit_id) AS `units_count`,
COUNT(distinct special_id) AS `specials_count`
FROM `property`
LEFT JOIN `property_unit` ON unit_property_id = property_id
LEFT JOIN `property_special` ON special_property_id = property_id
WHERE (property_id = '1')
GROUP BY `property_id`
ORDER BY `property_name` ASC
EDIT:
You shouldn't always use distinct - it happens to be the right option in this case.
select count(fieldname) returns the number of times that fieldname is not null; select count(distinct fieldname) returns the number of distinct values of fieldname.
In the original query, property_unit and property_special aren't joined to each other, only to property - so for a single property that had 5 units and 7 specials, 35 rows would be returned; therefore count(unit_id) and count(special_id) would both return 35. Since there would be 5 distinct values of unit_id and 7 distinct values of special_id (because these fields uniquely identify their records), count(distinct ...) returns the correct values in these circumstances.

Answer 2

Your SQL should be something like this:
SELECT
`property`.`property_name`,
COUNT(property_unit.unit_id) AS `units_count`,
COUNT(property_special.special_id) AS `specials_count`
FROM `property`
LEFT JOIN `property_unit` ON (property_unit.unit_property_id = property.property_id)
LEFT JOIN `property_special` ON (property_special.special_property_id = property.property_id)
WHERE (property.property_id = '1')
GROUP BY `property.property_id`
ORDER BY `property.property_name` ASC