[sannysw]

We made a big mistake when we remodeled our house in 2008. We had a friend help remodel the kitchen, including tearing down a wall between kitchen and living room, putting new cabinet/floor in the kitchen, building an island, he also did a lot of wiring/plumbing work. We did not at all realize at that time that we needed a permit for all these work. (We were very new home owners). Now we are thinking to sell the house, after talking to a few professionals, we are worried that we might be screwed!

My questions are:

1) If we do not get the permit, will we be able to sell the house at all? Or this issue will certainly be found out during home inspection?

2) If we go to the town to make up for our mistake now before we put the house on market, what a disaster are we geting ourself into? How much will I be fined, and what process do I need to go through now to get everything inspected? Will they ask me to tear everything apart in order to do the inspection?

Any help form any of you is greatly greatly appreciated!!

[willow wind]

Good questions

In general ;

You do not need a permit for minor electrical or plumbing work - like replacing a standard electrical outlet with a GFI outlet, replacing a ceiling light or putting in a new sink.

You do need a permit for any brand new electrical work and any new plumbing work. Such as it if you added additional wiring to what was there or moved plumbing around in the room by relocating a sink, etc.

You probably don't need a permit for new cabinets if you stayed in the same footprint. A permit is not needed for the island or new flooring.

Removing the wall may or may not be OK. If it is a load bearing wall, then you needed a permit.

Now how to fix this. Each town or city has its own procedures and its own local building code. There is a basic state code, but local code can be more stringent.

Best to call the local building inspector and ask. It's very unlikely you would be fined. More likely you will have to take out any permits suggested then have the local building inspector come over to inspect it.

Will it hurt you to sell your home ? Most likely the appraiser for the buyer's bank or mortgage company will pick up on the lack of permits . You're probably going to use the new kitchen as a selling point, so it will be noted in the multiple listing page the real estate agent uses, thus the appraiser will know. The appraiser will also note the age of the house and will put two and two together if the kitchen is much newer than what would be typical for the age of the home. Any home inspector will also note any conditions not up to current code.

[sannysw]

Thank you so much Willow... We do want to get everything right... feeling like commiting a crime not having a permit! Thanks for all the suggestion..

Anyone knows how strict or 'cruel' the city inspectors generally are? I have heard horrible stories that they come to your house and ask you to tear apart all the walls for inspection...??!!

[mels]

Different towns/cities, different attitudes. In my town the inspector is very nice and reasonable. I have heard horror stories from people in other towns (read: East Lyme).

[sannysw]

Ugh... thanks Mels... God bless me for getting a nice and reasonable one!!

[kdog]

Call around to a few large construction companies and find one who will do a private inspection report for a fee (usually a few hundred dollars). If they like your work, they'll sign off on it and give you the stickers that they'd normally attach to your building permits which say the work passed their inspection. Realtors will allow those as evidence that the work was done to code. No need to involve the city at all that way.

[CTMainStreet]

Many people choose to wait for the buyer to do so but you can also have your home inspected by a home inspector before listing. Typically, this is something the buyer does eventually but it is beneficial for the seller because it helps to unveil any potential future issues that a buyer may come forth with and ask you to fix in the future.
If you have one before, you will have already taken care of any potential issues and there won't be any surprises that could lead to the deal falling apart. I've been finding that in today's market, homes are staying on the market a bit longer, buyers are pretty picky and want to find a home that needs little to no work so it's best to be prepared.

[sannysw]

Thanks Kdog... that sounds like a better option...but will the appraisers agree to go by the inspection report provided by a private construction company?

[sannysw]

HI CTMainStreet, thank you. We did have an inspection before, there weren't many issue with the house... I'm only worried about the kitchen remodeling that we did...

I read some article online that 80-90% of homeowners do not pull permits for their remodeling work... I'm surprised to find it's that common... Doesn't everybody sweat like we do??!!

[kdog]

Originally Posted by sannysw

Thanks Kdog... that sounds like a better option...but will the appraisers agree to go by the inspection report provided by a private construction company?

I can't speak for every situation, but in my experience, yes. The other reason to go with the private inspection is that if you do need to pull a permit, you already have the contractor's inspection report. That's as good as if the contractor did the work themselves. The reason you want a large construction firm is that they do business with city all the time and their work tends to be rubber-stamped.