I have a property under contract that has an unpermmited addition. I have contacted the building dep. to find out what I need to do to get the permits that I need. Hopefully everything was built to code.
My question is will I be able to get funded if I try to close before the permits are issued. I should have a good idea if I even can get the permits before we close. There is an extra room and bathroom that are not on the records.
Any help or ideas will be much appreciated.
J
I’d have to guess that this issue varies by city and state. Around here, as long as the house doesn’t infringe on the property line setbacks, no one seems to care. (“No one” being lenders, title companies, appraisers, etc.) Even if the house does infringe on current setbacks, they often don’t care-- basically, if someone got away with it, and it was a long enough time ago, they consider it “grandfathered in.” There’s a house 2 doors down from my current project that has about 85% impervious cover on the lot. The reg’s call for a max of 45%. But its been that way for a long time so it’s ‘grandfathered in.’ You could buy it now, rehab the existing structures, and the city inspector wouldn’t care as long as any new work is done to code.
You have 2 issues with this (I think). First, you do want to make sure that the house is safe and up to code. Secondly, you want to make sure that the financing will go through.
If you live in an area that mandates pre-sales Certificate of Occupancies be issued, OR other mandated inspections, this may/will hold up the closing, until these inspections take place and the condition is cured.
Most areas do NOT mandate this. Therefore, most lenders will (as the previous poster noted) just make sure that the setbacks are OK, and move forward with the closing.
The bigger issue is whether the home is safe and functional. It is not correct that things are “grandfathered”. Every jurisdiciton that I am aware of required permits and inspections on new bathrooms! Just because it is complete, doesn’t mean that permit process is cured. It isn’t. That being said, there are many (especially rural) areas where the enforcement is non-existent.
You should obviously pay the money for the inspections (private). You have already contacted the building department (I’ll bet the current owners loved that). Follow the advice that you are given.
It can be tricky. “Codes” change all of the time. A home that was built just 5 years ago could be out of code compliance today, and still be considered “ok” if they PASSED THE INSPECTIONS WHEN BUILT. If the additions where built without permits 5 years ago, and they would have been code-compliant at that time, it won’t count because there where no inspections! They may make you bring the addition up to a current code level. You could pay for a pre-inspection for building, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, just for the addition, and let the inspector tell you what they want to see. This isn’t as much money as you may think.
If the inspector doesn’t seem concerned (lax enforcement), I would MAKE sure that your private inspector is very qualified and scrutinizes closely; pre-sale, to make sure that it is safe and functional.
Just my two-cents
Thanks for the imput. I just met with a city building inspector. I have to submit plans of the addition and schedule another inpection for plumbing, mech., elec., & building. He says the plans are no big deal. i can go to the building dep. and they have premade plans for additons and I guess I just have to filll it out and sketch out the addition. There is a $100 fee but I got the sellers to pay.
They said they bought the house with the garage converted already but their relatives that were living there built the rest, which is basically the patio enclosed. Seems like the enclosed patio is the main issue. It would work pretty well into the floor plan just to open it back up removing the exterior door and making a cutout in the wall they built, stucco it all up and call it a patio again.
That leaves the bathroom they added, I will definately have to get that permited and to code. Right now it doesnt show on the records, so if I can get it permited it will add to the value.
Thanks again and I will keep you posted, J