Orlando, FL · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 282 votes
This house was a 2/1, but there is a sliding glass door in back, where owner put on a very small addition with a half bath. Floor appears to have a very slight slope, and roof shakes a little bit when you walk around in the room. Room is only about 80 square feet in size. Rest of house is concrete block, but the addition looks more like a manufactured house in terms of materials. A permit was not pulled for the room.
My options are:
1) keep room, advertise the rental as a 2/1 + bonus room.
2) go ahead with deal, but pay to have the addition demolished
3) back out of deal
I was wondering what others would do in this situation.
Estimate what the house would be worth without that "addition", subtract demo/clean up costs, then offer that amount. Basically, do NOT pay for a shoddy non-permitted addition and don't let tenants live there (high liability).
Now, if the idea of an addition in that spot is a good one and adding one, properly, would significantly increase the value of the house more than construction costs, consider redoing it.
Estimate what the house would be worth without that "addition", subtract demo/clean up costs, then offer that amount. Basically, do NOT pay for a shoddy non-permitted addition and don't let tenants live there (high liability).
Now, if the idea of an addition in that spot is a good one and adding one, properly, would significantly increase the value of the house more than construction costs, consider redoing it.
Thanks. It is a short sale so I'm not sure how much wiggle room they have to negotiate. That's why I'm debating whether to back out of the whole thing.
I've decided I would not want tenants living there in that room. Especially, since the house is on septic system, I would guess that the extra unpermitted toilet/bath could overload the septic if used.
... Especially, since the house is on septic system, I would guess that the extra unpermitted toilet/bath could overload the septic if used.
Not that I'm an expert on septic, but I don't follow this line of reasoning. If you have to go potty, whether you do it in stall #1 or stall #2, it still goes into the same set of pipes to wherever. If there is only one stall, you wait for it to be freed up and then go; still produces the same amount of crap.
... Especially, since the house is on septic system, I would guess that the extra unpermitted toilet/bath could overload the septic if used.
Not that I'm an expert on septic, but I don't follow this line of reasoning. If you have to go potty, whether you do it in stall #1 or stall #2, it still goes into the same set of pipes to wherever. If there is only one stall, you wait for it to be freed up and then go; still produces the same amount of crap.
If the tenants tried to sneak in extra people to live there.
... Especially, since the house is on septic system, I would guess that the extra unpermitted toilet/bath could overload the septic if used.
Not that I'm an expert on septic, but I don't follow this line of reasoning. If you have to go potty, whether you do it in stall #1 or stall #2, it still goes into the same set of pipes to wherever. If there is only one stall, you wait for it to be freed up and then go; still produces the same amount of crap.
Not sure the exact reasoning, but septic systems are matched to the number of fixtures. Probably, like all plumbing systems, they need to be able to handle enough to allow for every fixture to run at the same time. I would not want to have to deal with an overflowed septic system. Yuck.
Hmm I was always of the opinion septic fields and rentals don't really mix well together. I would really think twice about having a septic field in a rental -- can you really control what the tenant puts down the drain?
Actually, it may have had a permit pulled for that after all(?). I found this on the county website, listed under the house's address:
"EXISTING SCREEN ROOM 10X14 W/ ACRCYLIC WINDOWS EXTEND EXISTING SLAB TO REAR OF SFR"
I'm wondering if only the extra bathroom is unpermitted? It couldn't cost that much to have the small bathroom (in photo above) removed, could it? And then just leave the porch as a sun room. The rest of house is in great shape.
Hmm I was always of the opinion septic fields and rentals don't really mix well together. I would really think twice about having a septic field in a rental -- can you really control what the tenant puts down the drain?
That's what I thought too at first, but other people have told me they've used septic system houses as rentals successfully.