OC home sale with possible unpermitted wall removal (Las Flores: real estate, buying a home)

[proudmommy]

We are buying a home in Las Flores (unincorporated OC). The walls comprising a ground floor bedroom are not present for the purpose of expanding the adjoining family room. There is no indication this was a builder option as we have the floor plans which show other builder options. We don't know if the builder removed the walls (kind of a custom builder option) prior to the single family dwelling (SFD) inspection following construction. We don't know if the walls are load bearing. There are no permits for the walls' removal. The current seller bought the house two years ago in the same configuration. It appears as if either the builder removed the walls and the SDF permit took this into account OR the walls were removed sometime after the SFD permit and no permits were obtained for the walls' removal. There are a couple of model match homes in the neighborhood which still have those walls in place - could be useful for an inspector or structural engineer to perform a verification by comparative inspection.

Our current position is either 1) Have the sellers prove the walls were removed prior to the SFD permit being issued (meaning the current configuration is OK), 2) Have the sellers obtain a permit for the wall removal assuming the walls are non load bearing and the current configuration is up to code, or 3) Have the sellers have load bearing walls added and subsequently permitted as the current configuration is out of code.

Who would pay for a structural engineer to determine if the walls were load bearing or not?

I think the only way we can achieve (1) above is by obtaining the actual plan for that house (Warmington Builders constructed 1997) which shows no walls were present and the house was permitted in that configuration. This would have to mean the walls were not load bearing.

Any suggestions?

Here's a photo of the expanded family room. The photographer would be standing where the 4th bedroom would be



Here's an picture of a different house with the wall in place, the photo is shot from a different angle. Note in the normal configuration the entertainment center is perpendicular to the fireplace and in the top photo (no bedroom) the entertainment center is opposite the fireplace.

[LakeForestResident]

A good general contractor could give you at least an "educated guess" as to whether it looks like a load-bearing wall was removed.

My bet is that it was not load bearing, and that the builder offered it as an option. If the top floor hasn't dropped into the family room in 13 years, it probably won't!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by LakeForestResident

A good general contractor could give you at least an "educated guess" as to whether it looks like a load-bearing wall was removed.

My bet is that it was not load bearing, and that the builder offered it as an option. If the top floor hasn't dropped into the family room in 13 years, it probably won't!

You are 100% correct. (I posted the original post on the Real Estate Forum - probably a violation of CD TOS.) There were a lot more responses if you'd like to read them:

//www.city-data.com/forum/real-...l-removal.html

But I did a lot of investigation and finally spoke with the original owner who purchased from the builder. The omitted walls were not a standard option but the buyer wanted them out so she paid the builder something like $200 (probably for paperwork/drawings) not to put the walls up. So, the builder did that and the house passed inspection (obviously not load bearing). I had the lady scan and email me the invoice so I have evidence of this.

It just seems a little unusual for a builder to provide that much customization.