Purchasing home with finished basement that has no egress?

[bowian]

Originally Posted by EdwardA

And I bet the landlord would still be responsible.

I agree. The landlord needs to monitor the property and keep track of who is living there.

[PGC Native]

Depending on how much you invested in the property and how much you will rent it for, I would just go ahead and pay to have a window well dug out. That way you could save the legal worries and set up one of the basement rooms as a legal bedroom. It will add equity despite having 4 bedrooms upstairs.

[MidValleyDad]

A single escape window may or may not solve the problem. Some codes are pretty strict about having direct egress from the bedroom.

[EgressWindows]

All good advice. I would like to add that you can immediately increase the resale value of the house that you just purchased by adding the egress windows. Without having the finished basement meeting code you shouldn't considered it "living space". Why not increase the size and subsequent resale value of the house for such a small investment ($3,500 - $6,000)? This way you are also not taking the gamble with IF you would be held liable or not. Making it safe and legal will make you sleep easier at night. Another consideration is that towns are starting to crack down on illegal basement apartments. Though you may have it stipulated in your rental agreement that the tenant isn't supposed to use the basement as living space. I doubt that would stop them.

As they say "an ounce of prevention...."

[EgressWindows]

Oh and yes, the code does state that every bedroom, regardless of whether it is in the basement, first floor, second floor, etc., it MUST have direct access out. Inside stairwells, or having to walking through another room to get to an outdoor access, is not allowed. It must be direct access out.

[Mr Beco]

Usually there is a window to climb out of.....hardly ever seen a basement with no windows or back door

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by Barry Rock

Usually there is a window to climb out of.....hardly ever seen a basement with no windows or back door

I have seen them with windows too small for anyone except a really small child to fit through.

[Fast GTO]

Most basement windows are not big enough to meet code. And if each 'room' is supposed to have a 'to code' egress then 90% of finished basements are out of code.

[Mr. Maryland]

Originally Posted by goldenage1

Fast GTO - If you do rent to tenants, make sure the lease has a clause that they have to maintain batteries in any battery-powered smoke detector, and that they are responsible for cleaning lint out of dryer hoses and keeping other appliances free of flammable dust and other material.

We had an awful fire in a rental house in Jacksonville, NC, where two kids died of smoke inhalation. There was defective wiring in the refrigerator, but the tenant family had not keep batteries in the smoke detectors.

MD stipulates hard wired smoke detectors for rentals.