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My fiance and I are under contract and just had the home inspection. The inspector pointed out a large "patch" on the roof and it was straight over the entire dining area. I immediately thought "room addition". The owner showed up at the end of the inspection and we asked him about it. He said yes he added on the dining room and no there was no permit. He kind of just blew that off saying "it's inside, you don't need one". There was nothing on the MLS listing or disclosure we received noting a room addition with no permit.
I'm including pictures below. The room with 2 doors on the side wall is the addition. You can clearly see where he opened the walls in the kitchen and living room to add it.
The room:
A zoomed out visual:
This makes me EXTREMELY uncomfortable. Even if the work is perfect and safe, I assume this could really bite us in the butt at some point in the future, esp if we try to sell it?
We are in AZ, so I don't think this is necessarily common (additions without permit)...I know in some areas it is. I am REALLY re-considering the whole thing and am not sure where to go from here. Thoughts? This is our 1st home purchase, which makes me even more nervous. I'm extremely irked that this was not disclosed from the get-go. We likely wouldn't have found out til the appraisal if it wasn't for the inspector noting the roof and then the home owner showing up so we could ask about it. I feel like this should have been noted BEFORE we even paid for an inspection. Frankly I'd not have even looked at the house if this info was on the MLS listing.
Building without a permit means that at some point, if the local authorities find out, you will be forced to either tear down the addition or pay for a permit and make sure that the addition is up to code. If you keep the addition, your property taxes will probably go up due to the increased square footage.
This is definitely a material omission in the information about the house. And the owner blowing it off, saying he didn't need a permit because it was inside work, is nonsense. He knows he needed a building permit and inspections. The town could make you tear it down, or open up the walls to have the plumbing and electrical inspected. What a nightmare. Nope, nope, nope.
Those two doors right next to each other look kind of... lame.
Thank you for your thoughts. I am on the same page, either he gets the permit or we walk. The "best" part? He is an agent himself! I don't see how he thought he would pull his off, just hoping no one noticed?! I plan on asking him to reimburse the inspection. I know it's not a huge amount of money but it'll pay for the next inspection so why not? According to my research this should've legally been disclosed prior to this point. I'm tempted to report this to whatever real estate commission I need to as well. So disappointing.
Non-disclosure of an un-permitted addition/modification is a major problem, and a Realtor should know better than to try pulling something like that. If he doesn't offer to reimburse you, report him to his broker and/or local board.
Non-disclosure of an un-permitted addition/modification is a major problem, and a Realtor should know better than to try pulling something like that. If he doesn't offer to reimburse you, report him to his broker and/or local board.
If you want the house make him get the permit and pass the inspection. Otherwise I would pass.
This.
Never a good idea to buy anything that was done without a permit.
City can come in and force you to tear it down or charge a ton of fees/inspections/etc.
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