town of north hempstead - permits (buying a home, buying, property taxes)

[Robear]

Hi, I'm buying a home in north hempstead (in an unincorporated town) and I want to do some renovations inside - new kitchen / bath / heating / etc. I assume that I will need permit to chage from oil to gas but that company doing the work will take care of that. Do I need permits for other stuff inside? won't be adding anything. Also want to get dumpster for cleanout once I close, does that need permit? would the dumpster company take care of that? everyone is telling me not to worry about permits for inside work?

[Walter Greenspan]

Unincorporated areas in a town are hamlets, not towns.

Robear, in case you are unfamiliar with the local geography, I've sent you an explanation of the very, very confusing geography of "Lawn Guyland" as a DM (Direct Message).

[daveoliva]

In general, if you are not adding new plumbing or wiring or anything structural you probably won't need a permit. However, it's best to simply call the Town (DO NOT give your name or address, they are NOT your friends and at best should be viewed with suspicion) and find out for sure, because although this was at one time a free country it's very often required that a serf get permission from the lord to work on their home. If it's not major work and you're not neurotic about obeying ridiculous laws it may be easiest to just go ahead and do it without permission (as a free man in a free land would) keeping in mind that at some point in the future you might run into an obstacle when it comes to selling the house or doing major renovations. The biggest benefit to simply disregarding nonsensical regulations such as permit requirements is not having to submit to a greater deal of extortion, in the form of property taxes, than you already must.