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HI all, I just went into contract on a house in L.I. N.Y and the house has a screened enclosure with a concrete slab floor, it's attached to the house and about 15X15. My issue is that there is no CO and the homeowner said she will not take it down nor will she get a CO.
WE were told it's a 50/50 shot that the appraiser/bank will want us to either get a CO or remove it. So we covered ourselves by writing into the contract that we can come there and remove it if it is a problem. What do you guys think? Anyone have any first hand experience?
Oh by the way, the bank said if it was a "normal loan" they would almost always overlook this, but because its FHA it really could go either way.
If no CO was issued then a builder permit was never applied for and the structure is illegal according to the building code and city ordinances. You can get into some tricky situations with your insurance also. Let's just say for example the roof of the screened porch fell on someone and injured them, during the investigation, if the insurance company finds out the screened porch was added illegally, they may not pay the claim.
It is best to have it removed or brought to code ie...get a CO at the seller's expense.
If this is an area where snow could have long along collapsed an improperly built structure (and it sounds like it is...) then I would feel differently then if this were someplace where a "screen enclosure" was living on borrowed time.
Depending on local ordinance and custom there may not be a need to get permits and final inspection / certificate of occupancy on a "portable or temporary structure designed for occasional use only". If there are no obvious areas of code violation (like electrical or gas fired permanently installed heaters and/or ties to the main structure's systems) I would not loose too much sleep over this.
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As a person living in the oilpatch of OK where there are no such things I had a momentary brain-you-know-what.
