homes with violations? (Cleveland, Euclid, Cleveland Heights: sale, real estate, foreclosed)

[twokatz]

I've been looking at Real Estate in the Cleveland area and I see some boast that they are violation free or that buyer will assume violations. What does this mean? I've never seen this anywhere before.

[BELLA1006]

Many cities have point of sale inspections where they inspect your home to make sure certain things are up to code. If there are violations the owner can either repair the violations or the buyer can assume the violations and have to fix within usually 30 days.

[Gypsii]

Violations occur when the city itself comes in and gives a citation for either structural issues with the dwelling itself or the exterior appearance of the property does not meet community standards (i.e. overgrown lawn, broken down vehicles on property, etc..). Usually the city is alerted by frustrated neighbors, etc... In other cases properties such as HUD or foreclosed bank recoveries have been vacated and left to some degree damages by the prior occupants.

When a owner receives a violation from the city, he or she is given a certain amount of time to repair the dwelling or to address the issue cited. The majority of the time the owner will simply decide to sell the property rather than sink more money into it.

An inspector cannot issue a violation, only the city official can. Violations are filed with the courts so, again, if you purchase a dwelling that has violations, either you or the current owner will need to contract who of you will be legally accountable for insuring that the proper corrections are made.

[SvetlanaS]

Happily, there are cities in Greater Cleveland without any Point of sale inspections. If you buy in Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, Mayfield Heights, Euclid and some other cities, POS require inside and outside inspections. Bad thing is that if the sellers do not correct all violations, city requires substantial escrow funds to be deposited. Escrow money may be released only after city reinspects the property to make sure all violations removed.
Some cities (like Twinsburg) have exterior only inspections. Some great cities like Solon, Aurora, Mayfield Village, Highland Heights do not have any POS.