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We just bought a new house, although we aren't yet in it yet. We bought it with a partially finished basement, but he called the town in to get a CO for his front door. In addition to them going over to inspect, they found his deck and shed were too close to the property line and that he never got permits for his partially finished basement. Well, the front door actually goes into the basement, the back door goes into the main level (it's very weird). We only wanted the house because of the partially finished basement. It had a bedroom type room, with another den area and an unfinished back area. I am a work at home mom, so I was really relying on the room downstairs to be my office, and the den area to be his playroom. This is also, obviously, the busiest time of year for me! We are supposed to move in Dec 1st, and I was ok with that since I could set up my office right away and get working. Now we need to completely refinish the basement, which we don't mind because we wanted to anyway, but we just have a few questions now..
1. Since the town was already brought in, will they come and check on us again to make sure we didn't finished the basement without the C/O?
2. Can we finish the basement and get a C/O later on (even if that include paying a fee, if so, how much would the fee be)? The seller completely ripped the basement out because he said since he didn't have the C/O before starting, he had to rip it out, get the C/O and then redo it (he only ripped it down and we will have to get the C/O and redo it). We just don't want to finish our basement to have to possibly rip it out later on as well.
3. We also heard that it takes 90 days to get the C/O, is there a way to get it sooner than that? We really would like to finish the basement within 15 days of moving in and I'm sure we're unable to apply for one before closing on the house.
4. Do we need an architect to draw up a plan for the C/O. I believe it's 400 square feet.
Thank you to anyone who is able to answer any one of these questions!
We just bought a new house, although we aren't yet in it yet. We bought it with a partially finished basement, but he called the town in to get a CO for his front door. In addition to them going over to inspect, they found his deck and shed were too close to the property line and that he never got permits for his partially finished basement. Well, the front door actually goes into the basement, the back door goes into the main level (it's very weird). We only wanted the house because of the partially finished basement. It had a bedroom type room, with another den area and an unfinished back area. I am a work at home mom, so I was really relying on the room downstairs to be my office, and the den area to be his playroom. This is also, obviously, the busiest time of year for me! We are supposed to move in Dec 1st, and I was ok with that since I could set up my office right away and get working. Now we need to completely refinish the basement, which we don't mind because we wanted to anyway, but we just have a few questions now..
1. Since the town was already brought in, will they come and check on us again to make sure we didn't finished the basement without the C/O?
2. Can we finish the basement and get a C/O later on (even if that include paying a fee, if so, how much would the fee be)? The seller completely ripped the basement out because he said since he didn't have the C/O before starting, he had to rip it out, get the C/O and then redo it (he only ripped it down and we will have to get the C/O and redo it). We just don't want to finish our basement to have to possibly rip it out later on as well.
3. We also heard that it takes 90 days to get the C/O, is there a way to get it sooner than that? We really would like to finish the basement within 15 days of moving in and I'm sure we're unable to apply for one before closing on the house.
4. Do we need an architect to draw up a plan for the C/O. I believe it's 400 square feet.
Thank you to anyone who is able to answer any one of these questions!
Best,
Lauren
CO is short for Certificate of Occupancy - you don't get that until the work is completed. You need to get a Building Permit before doing the work.
Oh! Thanks, I thought Permit and CO was the same thing. This is why I leave this stuff up to the man of the house. lol... Ok, so what happens if we don't get the permit? We would have to tear it all down and then redo it? Or would we be charged a fine?
I'm pretty sure that the seller will need to have CO's/permits for the deck, shed, and whatever else you mentioned that was addressed in that initial inspection. As far as the basement, I believe you only need a CO if it is to be set up(kitchen) and used as an apartment(separate living) or has a bathroom. I do know that Brookhaven does frown upon basement apartments big time!
Anyway, as I understand it, if a bank is involved, all the permits and CO's need to be in place prior to closing, or money can be put in escrow to ensure that the CO's get done.
Oh, thanks! My attorney just seems in the dark about everything :/. You think we could go to him with these questions.
We aren't trying to put a bathroom or kitchen down there. It's too tiny. There's only 2 small bedrooms on the main level, so we just want to put another room and den area down there. That's about all that we can fit down there. I do know they currently have the washer/dryer down there though.
I As far as the basement, I believe you only need a CO if it is to be set up(kitchen) and used as an apartment(separate living) or has a bathroom. e.
This is untrue. A finished basement needs a CO and it needs certain things like an egress window and firewall around the boiler.
I'm confused by how far along you are in this process - you've gone to contract on this house and been approved for a mortgage? Or what? I'm not sure you're going to get a mortgage with all these issues but it may depend on what the bank notices and what the title search turns up.
We are pretty far into the whole process. They ripped ou the basement, so it's no longer "partially finished". We are expected to move in by Dec 1st. We wanted to finish the basement before moving in though because I need a place to work and Christmas is my busiest time of year. We were told it would take around 90 days to get a permit and we just don't have that much time to wait.
You can do it first and get the permits later but it'll likely cost you because anything they don't like in the basement they will make you re-do. It's utterly ridiculous how long it takes to get a permit up there. We finished our walk up attic when we moved here and when we asked how long it would take to get the permit our contractor told us "I'll stop by Town Hall and get it tomorrow" and we were like just couldn't believe it.
Honestly if you bought the house due to the basement and now you don't have a finished basement that should have been addressed in what you pay for the house. Is he ripping the deck off as well? I guess it's too late for that. But as soon as you found out the basement was going to be ripped out it is substantially changed from the house you bid on and you should have acted then.
The seller is giving us a credit at closing to refinish the basement. We were then told that he was getting permit to finish the basement from our realtor, but our attorney got back to us saying they are only getting it for the deck/shed. We can't get a permit without legally owning the house yet, correct? If we could, we would definitely have applied for one as soon as we found out.
I don't know how Brookhaven operates but in other towns the contractor has to be on the permit. So how could he even file a permit without knowing who is doing the work for you? And why would you pay for a permit on a house you don't own regardless of whether it's allowed or not? The owner could drop dead tomorrow or for some other reason the deal falls through. Permits can be fairly pricey on Long Island.
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just couldn't believe it.
