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I am currently looking for a house in Valley Stream. It is my understanding that houses in the village are prohibited from having a bathroom or shower in the basement. I guess this is to discourage illegal tenants.
Anyway, because this will be my first home I have some questions.
How does the county and/or village actually know how much to tax you? How do they determine the actual value of your home? Do they come to your house and view the property? Do they have the right to do that if they suspect renovations have been made?
How would the village actually find out about the bathroom? The real estate agent says that it is common for homes to have illegal bathrooms but that doesn't make it okay for me. I'm a worrywart and I feel like I'd always be paranoid about getting caught. If the village actually finds out about it, what kinds of repercussions would I be facing?
I know I have asked a lot of questions but I do not know who to ask. I don't want to ask the real estate agent because she isn't officially my agent.
Do you actually want to keep the bathroom? If you feel like you'd worry about it all the time, then you can always have it removed!
When shopping for homes, I've seen a good amount of basements that had illegal kitchens and/or bathrooms, but the owner can always remove the illegal additions if they really want to make the sale.
Assuming you find a house you really like, my guess is that you can make an offer contingent upon owner's removal of the illegal bathroom, in which case it will probably become a closet. However, if there are other buyers competing who don't request the removal, it could make your offer less competitive.
Disclaimer is that I haven't done this, so I don't know how well this approach works, but you can always try and see how responsive the seller is.
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