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Hi - We are looking to buy a house in JC where the owner has made a lot of improvements to the basement like adding a bathroom among others. We do like the house. I am a first time buyer with limited knowledge but I did some research and found that such additions may have required permits from the city.
When I confronted the seller - he declined any knowledge of pulling any permits. The work was done by a licensed contractor but no permits were pulled. There are no currently open permits either. The house does have a CO from the time it was built.
We are in a dilemma on whether to go ahead with the purchase. The owner is demanding top dollar for the improvements / additions made by him. In this market, I know he would have no problem selling this house as he has multiple interests.
Should we pass this house ? Will the new buyer inherit any legal issues ? I am not sure what the consequences can be of buying such a property and what is the best course of action.
Walk if you are uncomfortable. There are plenty of houses for sell.
But if work is done by license contractors, chance is the permit is pull and the work is done correctly. You can always go to the town hall to confirm the information.
If you don't invite the "man" into the house, then I do not see any issue.
The worst that could happen is you have to get a permit to inspect the work and may change your property tax.
Yes, they could make you pull permits, open up the walls and let them inspect, and that inspection would be done to current code, not to the code at the time of the renovation. Worse, they could decide the renovation wouldn't have been allowed at all and make you take it out without replacement.
Adding a bathroom to the basement would certainly require permits
Any new electrical work would require permits
Any structural changes would require permits
A new buyer would not be subject to any legal issues like court or fines, but would be subject to getting proper permits and if not now, bring the work up to present code.
If the work needs to be inspected but is covered up, like new waste pipes in basement covered by floor concrete.
You would have to dig up the floor to expose the work and have it visually inspected and approved.
many times during new work, the work must be stopped at certain points to have it inspected, like you can't sheet rock until framing is inspected.
Are you having a home inspector look at the house?
Tell him about it and take a close look at new work.
If town is having a reassessment, and you have a walk thru inspection.
A new bathroom will definitely raise a red flag with the town (reason they do walk thru inspections) and you would have to pull permits and get inspected then.
This is something that normally shows up in the home inspection (missing permits). It can derail a real estate transaction. If you push forward, you're really only risking the cost of the home inspection as long as your purchase contract allows you to back out for missing permits.
If you really like the house, and you're willing to risk losing the cost of the inspection if the deal falls through, I say go for it. Just make sure those permits are in place before you close.
my house had some work done without a permit. i had them pay to have it inspected and signed off on by a professional. i dont care if the government stole their booty via a fee for a permit. i just wanted to make sure everything was done right.
I heard Jersey City is doing a tax re assessment next year - wouldn't I be required to let the "man" into the house then ?
You are never required to let a tax assessor in your home. If you don't, they will base the estimate of your home off other comps in the area. The drawback to this is that if the other comps are appraised higher than what your home is really worth, you could end up paying more in taxes than you would have otherwise.
My town had a reevaluation done a few years ago. The assessor was in my house less than 5 minutes and did not look at anything in much detail. Basically just counted the rooms. In the end my taxes stayed the same.
if you do not let the tax assessor in what they do is over assess your home, when they came around the last time, the guy just came in front door and asked me a few questions like "how many bathrooms" or "do you have a fireplace" and then left without looking at anything other than the living room.
I would say it would be a mistake to not let them in.
if you do not let the tax assessor in what they do is over assess your home, when they came around the last time, the guy just came in front door and asked me a few questions like "how many bathrooms" or "do you have a fireplace" and then left without looking at anything other than the living room.
I would say it would be a mistake to not let them in.
i think the best thing to do (in terms of $$ of assessment) is to let him in unless you believe the improvements would significantly increase the value.
i told my wife not to let him in because i do not voluntarily let government into my home.
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