Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So I lived in NJ for a few years after I graduated with my MBA. I bought a house in Morristown (not township) and it needed quite a bit of work. We have owned rental properties in northwest Ohio my whole life and never filed for permits so I went ahead and got contractors out and got the work done and all was good.
I then got a tenant that had a disagreement with me, he went to the town and told on me. I got hit with a $2,000 fine and that is ok, but now they want me to go back and get permits and I have been trying for a year and can't get contractors to sign permits for somebody else's work. That completely makes sense to me, I wouldn't want to get involved at this point either, but now what do I do? The town wants me to get permits, I can't find contractors that are willing to get the permits and I need their license to get the permits.
Anybody else ever run into a similar problem? I had full architectural drawings done, I had licensed contractors do the work and everything, but now its a matter of getting them to do the permits. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
PS. I have gone back to the original contractors, the guy that did the deck had a heart attack and is no longer in the business. The guy that did the upstairs had his license stripped from him and had to file bankruptcy etc. It's a mess.
Let the town condemn, and laugh at the tenant from the poorhouse when they evict him.
You can't get permits for work already done usually. You gotta get a permit to remove the unpermitted work, then you have to remove the unpermitted work and have that inspected, then you can get another permit to re-do the work from scratch. It's intentionally ridiculous and punitive, it's how the state keeps people in line.
There’s no inexpensive solution. I had some minor plumbing work done without permits and when I sold the house the buyers demanded permits at the 11th hour just before closing. Dealing with the town was a nightmare and I was fortunate to find a plumber that remediated and signed off but it was very expensive. And that was just for a few relatively minor things.
A neighbor put a dining room in their garage and finished their basement with a bathroom all without permits. When they went to sell the house I guess the buyers checked for permits and there weren’t any so ALL of the work had to be undone - the garage and basement were returned to their bare state. I remember seeing the bathroom fixtures being carried out of the house. The sellers must have lost at least $60k. That’s NJ and permits - can’t mess around.
The frustrating thing is contractors hate dealing with permits and often the homeowner has to push for them.
that is so stupid. If a homeowner does the work themselves, the still have to get permits so why can't the homeowner just pay for the permit? The town should inspect the work and if it passes, great...the homeowner pays for the permit and and a fine for not having it in the first place. It makes no sense to pull out existing work unless it doesn't comply
This happened to us once. We were buying a house with a finished basement but oops no permits. It had to be all ripped out and our price was lowered accordingly. What a mess
I hope you didn't renew that tenant's lease. That sure sounds like a mess you're dealing with.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
