Fairfax county basement finish permit? (mortgage, lender, house)

[Baike]

When a Permit is Required*- Fairfax County, Virginia

My basement is somewhat semi-finish, and I would like to hire someone for basement renovation.

Is it really need to get the permit for only a few thousands dollar of contracting work? Are people always get permit for such kind of thing? What if I just go ahead to do it without permit?

I am kinda concerned that they will increase my property tax if I get the permit from them.

Not sure how many people are so honestly to get permit (just for renovation, not fundamentally change it).

Thanks.

[Flamingo13]

It is what it is. It appears from all your questions that you are a first-time homeowner? You really shouldn't ask people if you should break/circumvent legalities.

[Baike]

Originally Posted by Flamingo13

It is what it is. It appears from all your questions that you are a first-time homeowner? You really shouldn't ask people if you should break/circumvent legalities.

Yes, first time home owner.

[Ffxdata]

Yes, you need a permit. Get the contractor to pull one.

[Baike]

Originally Posted by Ffxdata

Yes, you need a permit. Get the contractor to pull one.

How long will it take? How does it work? I just fill out the form and go there? Can I get the permit on the same day?

Thanks.

[Flamingo13]

Google is your friend - seriously, you need to start learning some info. on your own if you hope to be a responsible homeowner.

[Ffxdata]

Your contractor will know the wait times and process. Rarely is it same day

[BadMom]

Make sure the contractor you hire pulls the permits. You can go to the the Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration website to determine if they included a finished or partial finished basement in your previous assessments. If not, than yes your annual assessment will go up and so will your tax bill.

The previous owner of my neighbor's house finished the basement and did not pull the permits (he may have done it himself). Unfortunately for my neighbors, their home inspector did not catch it when they brought the house 10 years ago. When they went to sell the home this past year, the buyer's inspector noted several items that were not up to current county code and that a permit was never pulled to finish the basement.

Because the permit was never pulled, the current owners (my neighbors) were responsible for bringing the finished basement up to code. The electrical in the basement was basically wired incorrectly using aluminum wiring and was a fire hazard. They had to pay an electrician several thousand dollars to pull all the aluminum wiring out and rewire the entire basement and replace the existing electrical box in the basement (old box was apparently from 1966 in a home built in 1987). They also had to pay a contractor to replace the majority of the drywall that was damaged when the wiring was pulled and repaint the entire basement. All told, they spent over $12K bringing the basement up to code so they could sell. To make matters worse, the mortgage lender would not approve the initial buyers for the home because of the electrical issues in the basement. Took my neighbors another 90 days to sell and they had to cut the price $25k! So basically the lost over $37K because permits were never pulled!

[wtdoor]

I'll confirm BadMom's statement. When we purchased our first house in 2004, the inspector didn't check to see if the permits had been pulled, and we didn't do a good job of understanding all we needed to know. When we sold the house 4 years later, the buyer's inspector did try to pull the permits -- and as in BadMom's post, we had to take care of a lot of things that had not been done to code. Make sure you pull the permits.