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We are first time home buyer. We had bought a house in Garden City Park. Title came clear and had no issues so the closing went ok.
After buying the house we went to town to get a copy of our file and noticed that there are changes done to house without permits. Many such changes were listed in MLS Listing as features and were important reason for us to select this house. We were never told that these were illegal, and to contrary these were used as selling points for the house. Example, the house listed full finished basement. Now we are finding that there was no permit taken for finishing basement. Similarly there are few other modification which were without permits.
I am scared that if an inspector was to come in, we would bear all the liability because of these. What should we do?
There is no reason for an inspector to come in. So don't worry about it. They don't just show up for no reason. You're ahead of the game because you are avoiding extra government theft (higher property taxes). You will have a huge headache if you attempt to legalize these things after the fact. Not to mention the money. Don't EVER mention it to the town/village and you should be fine.
this might be a stupid question but do you really need a permit to finish a basement?
Yes, because the town wants their hand in everything you do. I understand the need for the two to be involved in things that are dangerous, as to protect the homeowner, but I think they have lost sight of that. What it is now is just a money making scheme...
If I were the town, I would offer a 6 month reprieval and standard fees for everyone to legalize their house... essentially amnesty.... They would make a on of money and allow people to correct problems that they are afraid of notifying the town of.
this might be a stupid question but do you really need a permit to finish a basement?
Yes, you have to have 2 points of egress, you have to have it up to code for electric and you have to have a firewall between the boiler room and the rest of the basement. Your basement isn't legally finished unless you have a CO for it. It sux.
OP, if you ever do any work on your house requiring permits, beware letting the home inspector into the basement. I would venture to guess most houses on LI with finished basements do not have permits for it. It's standard to advertise it anyway.
OP, if you ever do any work on your house requiring permits, beware letting the home inspector into the basement. I would venture to guess most houses on LI with finished basements do not have permits for it. It's standard to advertise it anyway.
To illustrate the point, we are grappling with that problem currently. We are interested in purchasing a home that has an attic that apprears to have been finished at some point and a bathroom added without obtaining permits, etc. This house also does not have central air . . . which is the first improvement that we are interested in making. The trouble is, if we install central air, that will result in the local building inspector visiting the home where he will most certainly discover that the attic was finished.
I would just NOT TELL ANYONE, including your neighbors nor inspectors nor the government nor a carpenter/electrician/plumber you hire and just enjoy your home. I know someone who did report work that was done without a permit and the town/inspectors made the new owners tear-out ALL the work that had been done and then get permits and do the same work all over again ( $$ thousands $$); the new owner lost all the money involved. Think about it, years ago remodelling work was done on many homes before permits were necessary and those homes are still being lived-in/used and will be for years to come. Sometimes permits are just used to increase your property taxes which are probably already TOO HIGH! Keep in mind though, if in the future you want to do any home remodelling, town inspectors will want to enter your home for the new remodelling work and then discover the old work done without permits and want you to tear-out the old work. At all costs I would avoid having any inspectors enter your home==they can not enter your home unless you do something (new remodelling requiring permits) to require them to inspect your house. Inspectors don't care if you didn't know that the previous work was done with NO PERMITS==they will tell you to tear-out the previous work anyway! Protect yourself and your wallet and go ahead and enjoy your home. If you don't tell anyone that you discovered that permits were not used for the previous work (like your neighbors & friends & carpenters/plumbers) then no one will know that there is a potential problem. KEEP THE INSPECTORS OUT OF YOUR HOUSE and YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ANY WORK THAT WAS DONE WITHOUT PERMITS! Change the conversation if "permit work" comes up.
I'll bet that there are many homes in your neighborhood or town that have had work done on those homes WITHOUT HAVING HAD PERMITS!
So does that mean sellers can misrepresent the house by including illegal structures?
Also should this have not come up as part of title search since the permits would not show up?
Quote:
Originally Posted by daveoliva
There is no reason for an inspector to come in. So don't worry about it. They don't just show up for no reason. You're ahead of the game because you are avoiding extra government theft (higher property taxes). You will have a huge headache if you attempt to legalize these things after the fact. Not to mention the money. Don't EVER mention it to the town/village and you should be fine.
I would just NOT TELL ANYONE, including your neighbors nor inspectors nor the government nor a carpenter/electrician/plumber you hire and just enjoy your home. I know someone who did report work that was done without a permit and the town/inspectors made the new owners tear-out ALL the work that had been done and then get permits and do the same work all over again ( $$ thousands $$); the new owner lost all the money involved. Think about it, years ago remodelling work was done on many homes before permits were necessary and those homes are still being lived-in/used and will be for years to come. Sometimes permits are just used to increase your property taxes which are probably already TOO HIGH! Keep in mind though, if in the future you want to do any home remodelling, town inspectors will want to enter your home for the new remodelling work and then discover the old work done without permits and want you to tear-out the old work. At all costs I would avoid having any inspectors enter your home==they can not enter your home unless you do something (new remodelling requiring permits) to require them to inspect your house. Inspectors don't care if you didn't know that the previous work was done with NO PERMITS==they will tell you to tear-out the previous work anyway! Protect yourself and your wallet and go ahead and enjoy your home. If you don't tell anyone that you discovered that permits were not used for the previous work (like your neighbors & friends & carpenters/plumbers) then no one will know that there is a potential problem. KEEP THE INSPECTORS OUT OF YOUR HOUSE and YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ANY WORK THAT WAS DONE WITHOUT PERMITS! Change the conversation if "permit work" comes up.
I'll bet that there are many homes in your neighborhood or town that have had work done on those homes WITHOUT HAVING HAD PERMITS!
All this does is force you to perform more illegal work so that you can protect the previous illegal work. If its not that much, its probably best to get the new work done properly with permits.....
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