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Hi all,
We are currently in the process of buying a house in the town of Hempstead and we currently have a verbal accepted offer. The seller's attorney actually just sent us the contracts and we are ready to sign. However, there is one issue that we need some options on. The issue is with the front porch of the house, it was built without permit and also a small deck with 3 steps of stairs in the back of the house without permit as well. The seller is not willing to get a permit and is selling the house "as is".
What is the best approach to remediate this issue and is it worth doing it or will it cause more problems? The seller did reduce 20k from the asking price but I don't know if that is enough for having to deal with the town later on if they decide to issue any violations or asking us to take down the front porch. I did check in mynassauproperty.com and they have a picture from 2001 with no porch but in one of the other tabs under the itemized list of what the house has, the porch section has a "yes" next to it. What does this mean? Is it in the plans/blueprints?
We are now to the point we're we are 50/50 on the property and are questioning the effects and impact the lack of permits for these two items will have for us going forward when we start doing renovation to the house etc.
Any feedback is well appreciated!
Permit cost depends on the estimated value of improvement, calculated in the plan review. Application for an existing structure is $200 ($100 for proposed new structure), remaining cost is estimated at $30 per $1000 value of the project.
Check the Town Building Zone Ordinance for information regarding lot coverage, setbacks, etc specific to your property zone https://ecode360.com/HE0972
I recommend having a design professional or expediter check out your existing deck to ensure it meets requirements in the NYS Residential Code. If not, the permit will not be approved; you would be left with the choice of rebuilding or removing the deck.
just buy it - if you like the house - you'll figure it out - worst case - take it down.
with house prices as competitive as they are right now - I can almost guarantee you the realtor has a backup buyer who does not care about it...
you were lucky to have the price reduced due to that in this market, imo.
Or who wants to overpay for a house and STILL have to deal with the TOH code gestapo for the next few years? If it were easy, at least one response would say so. Apparently, it isn't. You either live without a CO (good luck later), get a variance (not easy), tear down the porch and live without it (not pleasant), or tear it out and build from scratch (bye bye $20k and STILL have the permit issues). Not so fun now, is it?! Welcome to ToH.
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