HELP - Appraiser tells us township says our in-law apt is illegal after township gave us permits for in law apt.....HELP (lawyer)

[deeds]

we added on an in law apt for elder relative who lives with us in 2001 we submitted plans for the in law apt that have the township approval on them that the plans were approved by the building inspector......8 years later..........Appraiser informs us that when they looked up our home in tax office.......the town is saying that our house addition is an illegal in law apt........what we do not understand is that we went through the township had them inspect it (have records of it) paid for permits for the addition and our builder also has record of everything too.......also when the town came in and reassessed our home (they actually came in and inspected the property) they saw this "illegal apt" documented everything they saw and now we're having this trouble.........and the Zoning person goes on to say I bet u so and so (i will not write the name) approved this permit.......why is the law abiding taxpayer at fault here when we went through the right channels and we are still screwed.......I'm freaked out.......Anyone know of a good attorney who can help us out .......thanks!

[icibiu]

Ouch! That really sucks, you did everything right and now you are in a jam.

I don't know much about this type of situation but I do remember while house hunting we saw a house that had an in-law suite and our realtor started to say something about how in NJ there NO legal in-law suites, they have to be called something else. He started to explain and then we got sidetracked by some hideous wall paper and carpet and we never talked about it again.

Best of luck to you! You have all the proper paperwork so I'm sure while it's probably going to be a headache all will work out in the end.

[NY Annie]

Contact your local county bar association - or the state bar and see if there is a lawyer referral program by specialty. Many times the attorneys who donate their time to this program are very experienced lawyers.

[Stone28]

Deeds, is this "in law apt" attached to your house or is it in another building on your property?

[PDD]

If you have the approved paperwork from your town consult your attorney and a simple letter by him/her to the town should clear this up.

[armx]

I am just going to share a typical process of the construction permit and legitimacy of the work. Once the work is completed a final inspection is requested by the contractor - or whoever took the permit - It is possible that final inspection was not requested and performed by the authorities ..... or a certificate of occupancy was not released. A closed permit (after final inspection and approval) completes the loop. Then it will be deemed a legitimate addition - whatever the contractor called it on the permit application (may not be in-law suite) and not necessarily how you used it.

Hope this helps you understand the process and its logic..... You may ask your contractor for the final inspection results and a proof for the closed permit. If he can produce one then you can take that to the authorities.

[deeds]

On paper it is called mother/daughter.........and the final inspection stamp with building inspector's signature is on the mother/daughter plans in which we had to turn in......maybe the mother/daughter is the correct term as oppossed to an in law apt......anyways will contact an attorney if needed....by the way this is an attached to the house addition.........not a separate dwelling..........

[armx]

Did you find out from the authorities if the final inspection was done for the permit number they had assigned to the project. The building plans for mother-daughter will have 'approved' stamp for approving the plan proposal .... that does not necessarily mean that it is the stamp showing final inspection and approval, unless it specifically says so. Very rarely the inspetion stamp appears on the plan (drawings) it is generally a paper with the letterhead of the authority ( e.g. township, town etc.) showing various stahes of building and the inspections including final inspection.

It is also possible that the appraiser is looking for a legal in-law suite or apt. and your local authoirty does not call what you have as a legal apt. Do you have a realtor representing you? s/he should be giving you all this info. with a much better handle - being local and all -

Good luck ...........

These are general guidelines you will have to find out which authority has jurisdiction and go to them with your paperwork you have. My intent here is just to educate you in general procedure and not address your exact circumstances.