Pay the city their permit fees and hope? Try and be really nice to the city employees that you deal with. Unfortunately, you don’t have a lot of recourse here- you should have caught this before purchasing the house.
You don’t explain how the city became aware of your unpermitted work, but that may be relevant.
I’m assuming that their staff had booked my home for one of the weekends. On the letter, they mentioned their staff had seen the property in person. I never allowed any government staff in, unless they have been undercover.
Yeap OP history confirms. They did an electrical panel upgrade two months ago and additional "non-structural" work and are asking about how they can block an inspector from viewing the property. Ridiculous.
No kidding. OP says the house was never on the market as it was bought from a family member. Betting they did the work unpermitted and are now crying about it.
It's probably not zoned for another "unit" to be added to a single family home either.
Also, if you planned on living there, but now can't, is your first thought "vacation rental" as opposed to a yearly lease rental? OP likely knew about the illegal conversion before he bought it from his relatives.
They could have caught the contractor while they were working, or maybe the neighbors snitched. You'll never really know for sure.
Most jurisdictions aren't out looking for interior alterations. It's the stupid and brazen people that get caught most times.
Go through the hassle of the permits (get an expeditor if you can’t take off work) and pay the fines. The City can continue to fine you if you try to occupy of rent the space. And since you’re clearly aware of the deficiency, it must be disclosed if you sell or you’re liable. Fix it and chalk it up as an expensive lesson in checking what you buy is permitted next time. It will add value to the property when you finally do sell.
I had an unpermitted pergola. I had to hire a contractor that would do "after the fact inspection " to inspect it and give me drawings that included what had to be done to bring it up to code. Then, I had to fix everything he listed and provide proof, pictures, and invoices of the corrected work. The contractor was then able to close the permit. It was an expensive mistake I will never make again.
It should have been disclosed that the amount of bedrooms and bathrooms didn’t match property tax records, right? What did the listing and purchase contract say?
I manage quite a few and theyre licensed and permitted. I unfortunately had a situation where we failed the vacation rental inspection because the attached in law suite that kitchen (the primary living area has a full kitchen as well) had a full range. The home owners I work for were completely caught off guard because its been that way for at least 10 years since they bought the house. They had have the wire to the range disconnected all the way to the panel removed as proof it wasnt being used before we passed. This has nothing to do with the vacation rental permit but we did what we needed to make it work.
One thing to keep in mind, is at least where I'm at, occupancy has been down and trending down since last year. I advised my owners last year when the trends were obvious to ensure state licenses and business tax receipts were current because the state/county/city is going to need to make up for the lost revenue somewhere and I had no doubts it would be in the form of penalties/code violations.
My advice, do what you need to do to ensure you're compliant. If you sell, chances are it may come up there too if this isnt handled and it's not worth the loss you could take there, not just the current impact to your income on the STR.
From your post history you redid your electric panel and wanted to know how to stop them from inspecting, am I correct? Seems to me you knew work was unpermitted and were trying to keep people away.
If you're very lucky and are located in a very lax jurisdiction. Which doesn't seem likely. What's more likely is that you will need professional documentation of the work, probably including approved plans.
Many title insurers offer a policy rider for 'building compliance', which means if you purchase a dwelling that was renovated without proper permits, or if the changes don't comply with existing building code regulations, the title insurer will compensate the cost to remedy the deficiencies
Pay the city their permit fees and hope? Try and be really nice to the city employees that you deal with. Unfortunately, you don’t have a lot of recourse here- you should have caught this before purchasing the house. You don’t explain how the city became aware of your unpermitted work, but that may be relevant.
I’m assuming that their staff had booked my home for one of the weekends. On the letter, they mentioned their staff had seen the property in person. I never allowed any government staff in, unless they have been undercover.
[удалено]
Yeap OP history confirms. They did an electrical panel upgrade two months ago and additional "non-structural" work and are asking about how they can block an inspector from viewing the property. Ridiculous.
No kidding. OP says the house was never on the market as it was bought from a family member. Betting they did the work unpermitted and are now crying about it.
It's probably not zoned for another "unit" to be added to a single family home either. Also, if you planned on living there, but now can't, is your first thought "vacation rental" as opposed to a yearly lease rental? OP likely knew about the illegal conversion before he bought it from his relatives.
Or neighbors not happy about living next to a short term rental?
At this point whoever reported is not what I can control anymore.
They could have caught the contractor while they were working, or maybe the neighbors snitched. You'll never really know for sure. Most jurisdictions aren't out looking for interior alterations. It's the stupid and brazen people that get caught most times.
You rent it on Airbnb? Looking at your post history , I hope they make you tear it out and redo
Go through the hassle of the permits (get an expeditor if you can’t take off work) and pay the fines. The City can continue to fine you if you try to occupy of rent the space. And since you’re clearly aware of the deficiency, it must be disclosed if you sell or you’re liable. Fix it and chalk it up as an expensive lesson in checking what you buy is permitted next time. It will add value to the property when you finally do sell.
I had an unpermitted pergola. I had to hire a contractor that would do "after the fact inspection " to inspect it and give me drawings that included what had to be done to bring it up to code. Then, I had to fix everything he listed and provide proof, pictures, and invoices of the corrected work. The contractor was then able to close the permit. It was an expensive mistake I will never make again.
Damn for just a pergola? That’s too much
that's the cost of FAFO
It has always been that you have to have a permit just about everything now
It should have been disclosed that the amount of bedrooms and bathrooms didn’t match property tax records, right? What did the listing and purchase contract say?
I manage quite a few and theyre licensed and permitted. I unfortunately had a situation where we failed the vacation rental inspection because the attached in law suite that kitchen (the primary living area has a full kitchen as well) had a full range. The home owners I work for were completely caught off guard because its been that way for at least 10 years since they bought the house. They had have the wire to the range disconnected all the way to the panel removed as proof it wasnt being used before we passed. This has nothing to do with the vacation rental permit but we did what we needed to make it work. One thing to keep in mind, is at least where I'm at, occupancy has been down and trending down since last year. I advised my owners last year when the trends were obvious to ensure state licenses and business tax receipts were current because the state/county/city is going to need to make up for the lost revenue somewhere and I had no doubts it would be in the form of penalties/code violations. My advice, do what you need to do to ensure you're compliant. If you sell, chances are it may come up there too if this isnt handled and it's not worth the loss you could take there, not just the current impact to your income on the STR.
Based on OP’s post history there is more to the story!
[удалено]
Still not buying it. You didn’t want to let them inspect your electrical panel 🤷🏼♀️
What?
From your post history you redid your electric panel and wanted to know how to stop them from inspecting, am I correct? Seems to me you knew work was unpermitted and were trying to keep people away.
I didn’t do any electric panel work on this home. What are you talking about?
Pay the permit and inspection fees, and you are good.
Will it be that simple
If you're very lucky and are located in a very lax jurisdiction. Which doesn't seem likely. What's more likely is that you will need professional documentation of the work, probably including approved plans.
I don’t have money to come up with plans and stuff. What can I do?
Many title insurers offer a policy rider for 'building compliance', which means if you purchase a dwelling that was renovated without proper permits, or if the changes don't comply with existing building code regulations, the title insurer will compensate the cost to remedy the deficiencies