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Curious whether anyone has refused entry to their house (or property) to a town inspector? I'm specifically referring to ones where neighbors file an anonymous complaint.
Messages here say "never let anyone into your house", but the counter argument is usually fear of a warrant or "they will make your life difficult later"
Yes. Neighbor made a complaint while I was renovating inside of my house. I told the inspector to take a hike. Never heard about it again. This was in the Town of Oyster Bay eight years ago.
I have seen several homes on li (in my old neck of the woods) that had stop work orders posted on the door. A coffee buddy at Starbucks had one as well and he had to deal with summonses, fines, he had to undo some of his work, he had to hire and pay for private electrical inspections.
Unpermitted "improvements" will scratch and dent your ability to sell later on.
It's a reality that li municipalities are in your business. Get a permit because it's just a "cost of doing business" on Li.
Ps let the inspector in and ask for his help. If he knocked on your door the *** is up, it's better to cooperate with a guy (and process) that can hurt you.
Screw that. Small government.
We need to get back to small government and have more control. Not this quasi communism we have now. We live in a huge HOA.
It's total bs.
I have seen several homes on li (in my old neck of the woods) that had stop work orders posted on the door. A coffee buddy at Starbucks had one as well and he had to deal with summonses, fines, he had to undo some of his work, he had to hire and pay for private electrical inspections.
Unpermitted "improvements" will scratch and dent your ability to sell later on.
It's a reality that li municipalities are in your business. Get a permit because it's just a "cost of doing business" on Li.
Ps let the inspector in and ask for his help. If he knocked on your door the *** is up, it's better to cooperate with a guy (and process) that can hurt you.
If you're digging up a basement with an excavator at 9pm with no permits or if you're swapping oil to gas and then risk the street blowing up, then yes, you deserve to pay the price of a court order. BUT if you aren't this dumb, then any other change of lesser scale is ok to bypass the permits.
As a matter of fact, I've sold a house two years ago about 5% over asking price with NO permits done and had the entire house redone. I lived in a village too and had a few inspectors come knocking. All you need is a door, a lock, a middle finger, a constitution, and amendments and you're a free man.
The thing is the town wants you to get permits so they can legally increase the assesed value to get more tax money from you. If YOU let them in, they will increase your taxes and that will reduce your property value by the monthly tax difference that would equate to the mortgage decrease requirement.
In order words, be smart, be quiet, and DO NOT let the inspector in. If morons go and try to buy your house later on and throw the "no permits" excuse, tell them to take a hike and look at the run down wash for all cash or a neighborhing "flipped" house that will run you a 300$ heating bill per month for 30% more.
NO ONE with half a brain will bother you about no permits. It's actually preferred if someone who knows what they are doing does it with no permits because you get the house redone well without the taxes that come with it. The only people that lose are the town, and the idiots who wish they bought it in the first place that are complaining on this forum.
Take this advice from a guy who's done this for 15 years straight. always say no the the stranger on the street.
There is NO DOUBT that some municipalities are primarily motivated to increase revenue. Standards and safety is the rationalization used to justify the whole intrusive exercise of permitting and inspections.
One small country house I owned predated certificate of occupancy regulations. The town had a letter grandfathering in that fact. Times have changed.
A libertarian might be inclined to buck the system and they might get away with it. Stop work orders, fines, risk, cost, and aggravation just ain't worth it.
On my exit from LI I threw $15000 at the "expediting-permitting" process. I voted with my dollars and now live in a RED STATE where government stays out of your business. I recouped the cost of li permitting by cutting my property taxes to 1/3 what they were on li.. gasoline is 2.27 today and a pack of cigs is $5.
Things are wacky here just in different ways than a blue state..
In my RED STATE. You can swim out of a lifguarded section of the beach, you wont get a whistle from the lifeguard when you swim out of bounds but he wont come to your rescue if you are out of the swim area.
Less government means more personal responsibility. It's nice going from blue to red..
Last edited by Oldandtireddad; 01-28-2020 at 10:10 PM..
Yep. Unless you show up on my door with a warrant, you're not coming into my home. I don't care who you are or what you're there for. I have zero to hide, but I will exercise my rights until the end of my days.
Of course, I live in FL now where this is not an issue, and the cops (myself included) thank people for carrying a concealed weapon and practicing their rights.
Yep. Unless you show up on my door with a warrant, you're not coming into my home. I don't care who you are or what you're there for. I have zero to hide, but I will exercise my rights until the end of my days.
Of course, I live in FL now where this is not an issue, and the cops (myself included) thank people for carrying a concealed weapon and practicing their rights.
My part of fla is very serious and detailed when it comes to building inspections. Good construction saves lives. Also licenced tradesmen have to pay for failed inspections. Even handymen need by law to be licensed. The focus here is on standards that provide safety.
My part of fla is very serious and detailed when it comes to building inspections. Good construction saves lives. Also licenced tradesmen have to pay for failed inspections. Even handymen need by law to be licensed. The focus here is on standards that provide safety.
Great. I was answering the original post. Yes. I've refused entry to an inspector, and others.
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