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Has anyone come across this when selling or buying a house. My friends is trying to sell her house on her own and just found out that their may never of been a permit pulled when she had a three season sunroom built. Will she still be able to sell the house? IF so what steps does she need to take to fix the permit problem? Thanks for any help you can give.
Depends on the municipality, where I am many will issue a permit after the fact and charge the homeowner a penalty. The homeowner has to hope that the addition is within the zoning setbacks or the town "could" make them remove it. I've never seen it happen, but I'm waiting. This also happens with "in law" or "accessory" apartments where a homeowner neglected to get a permit. I recently turned down a listing on one, which was built in 1995. Unfortunately the owner who bought it in 2006 (from a relative) didn't know to see if it was a "legal" apartment. As a buyer's agent, I would put that right in the offer - the seller must produce a valid building permit for all improvements done to the house, there is no way I'd allow my client to take on that headache.
Yes you can still sell the home as long as you diclose that the addition may not be permitted.
Out here, you just head down to the permit office, and they come out and verifiy that it was constructed to codes. If it looks good you pay the permit fee, sometimes a penalty, but not always. If not to code, then it needs to be fixed and they come out and reinspect.
Some areas may not care at all really at this point (but obviously they won't say so if asked!), others may penalize you, others don't even require permits in the first place, I doubt any would stop you entirely from selling the house though. Was a builder hired to do the work? If so, they may be able to hold them responsible in the event of any fees.
Anything from a walk in the garden to a walk in the mine field. Couple of years ago we had a bedroom extension permitted after the fact after a long battle. The cost of permittling was roughly 1 and 1/2 times the cost of doing the extension. I would admit there were obviously a number of errors made in the process...but they can unfold out of control.
If the extension was done by a reputable contractor I would insist that he fix it. If done otherwise I would sell the house with the unpermitted extension disclosed.
Note that an experienced local agent of the sort your friend is NOT using would likely know how best to hand it in your locale.
Thanks everyone for your input. She did go to city hall and they sent a letter to the contractor to come and apply for a permit. If he fails to do so then she will have to pull it. Hopefully he will do it. Also, the people want to extend the P&S until they have a commitment from city hall. Thanks again
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