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These get past the banks because many banks rely on old surveys.... and titles come back clean when there are no permits pulled. If you have a (genuine) buyer's agent, they should advise you of these issues (few do)...the last line of defense is the home inspection. The good ones are few and far between on LI. Yet another reason why the place sucks.
DING DING DING we have a winner! This was my home no permits every pulled meant no open permits. Of course we couldn't avoid the deck it was so obvious. I threw some money at the and it went away. That's how it works here once the town enters you are all in and there is no turning back.
the last line of defense is the home inspection. The good ones are few and far between on LI.
Ain't that the truth! Although I suspect the ratio is probably the same everywhere.
When we bought this house, 75% of the basement was finished as an apartment (no permits, but I knew that going in, was paying cash, and had no intentions of ever renting it out anyway.) Found out the week after purchase that the entire basement had a rat and mouse infestation behind all the walls and between basement ceiling and upstairs floor. Of course the home inspector found nothing because it was all hidden behind drywall. It was discovered by accident when the upstairs flooring had to be replaced (surprise surprise, it was ruined under the carpet) and a section cut into in order to re-route a baseboard. It cost thousands to have the basement completely gutted and professionally sanitized. But hey, at least it's legal (unfinished basement) again, LOL. But I get flashbacks any time I have to enter that basement, ugh. Never saw anything so gross in my life.
What was the question again? Oh, right: Permits, lol. I confess that at our last house we did convert a large unfinished second-floor storage room to living space without getting a permit. Lived there for 11 years but about six months before putting it on the market I went through the process of getting a CO for it. I knew it was all done to code but as has been pointed out, that was 2002 code, not 2013. Luckily no plumbing was involved; just drywall, electrical, and an extension of the existing heating baseboard. Nothing was required to be re-done or removed (Town of Islip.) I think it cost about $900 in all for the application, inspection fee, and Certificate of Compliance. Because of the timing of the C of C versus the property tax deadlines it wasn't reflected in the tax bill when the house was sold, but no doubt caught up with the new owners on the subsequent bill.
I suggest you don't do anything to your home that requires a permit and sell it in the future. It may cost you another 10k-50k to get it up to code. I recall someone else in this forum had a problem with their NHP that they bought recently and a town inspector wanted to look at the house. Mistakenly invited him in and the inspector found that the blueprints did not match the home. The owner had to demolish a part of their home which was costly.
Whatever you do, never invite the town inspector inside.
so if they come to inspect the house to make sure its upto code to start permit process for extension, dont invite him in?
on any of the work I had done, I may have not filed permits, but everything was done to code and then some.
if a 2x6 was required, a 2x10 was used. etc.
we need a permit for the new boiler, b/c we converted from oil to gas an relocated it.
the bathroom was expanded from a full 3 piece bathroom at was 40 sq feet to a 100 sq feet 5 piece bathroom. again, all should be upto code.
If you want to roll the dice, be my guest. You are seriously risking opening a massive can of worms. As long as you accept the consequences, whatever they are. Because whatever the town's remedy is, you will be forced to comply or risk fines, more fines, even more fines, and the inability to sell until all is completed. Not to mention a lifetime of CityData "I-told-ya-so's".
You must have knocked down a wall to achieve this. Did you have an engineer verify it wasn't a load-bearing wall?
Can. Of. Worms.
if i dont let them go in the bedroom which has access to the bathroom, are they allowed in that room to see that the bathroom was expanded, etc?
what if i put the shower on, and say my wife is in the shower you cant go in the bathroom.
it may be a can of worms, i get it, but im talking about putting in 200k of work that needs permits and completing my dream house for the rest of my life. so i dont know how to achieve this without having an inspector in my house.
if i dont let them go in the bedroom which has access to the bathroom, are they allowed in that room to see that the bathroom was expanded, etc?
what if i put the shower on, and say my wife is in the shower you cant go in the bathroom.
it may be a can of worms, i get it, but im talking about putting in 200k of work that needs permits and completing my dream house for the rest of my life. so i dont know how to achieve this without having an inspector in my house.
You keep asking the same question and getting the same answer.
Go for it. I don't get how you all of a sudden want to pull permits after years of insubordination, but if you think it's that simple then go for it. You seem like one of these people who is going to keep asking until you get the answer you're looking for. So here goes:
Pulling permits is a fine idea, it's mighty righteous of you. While you're at it, might as well legitimize the other work that has been done over the years. I am as confident as you are that your interpretation of "up to code" and the town's will be identical. Knocking walls down, adding bathroom fixtures, changing heating fuel, and oversizing lumber are all minor issues anyway. What could possibly go wrong?
Did you take out a mortgage when you bought the house? Depending on the bank and the title company, if there were that many missing COs, how was that not questioned or discovered? (It's true that not all title companies are the same when it comes to due diligence re: open permits, missing COs, etc, but the attorney at least typically brings it up.)
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There's only a missing CO if a permit was pulled. Hence people don't pull permits in the first place.
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