No Permits - Buyer Will Be Responsible if Sold As-Is?

[Erin Murphy]

Good morning all,

Looking for a little advice since I haven’t sold a home in this condition before.

My seller had work done without permits years ago… basement with bathroom, whole kitchen and upstairs bathroom. Now that she’s looking to sell, it is my understanding that she will either have to revise the issues herself, or sell the home as-is.

If she sells as-is and discloses the issues, the buyers will then have to assume the responsibilities such as paying the possible fines, getting the work up to code, etc., correct?

Thank you in advance!

[Mike Hern]

Originally posted by @Erin Murphy:

Good morning all,

Looking for a little advice since I haven’t sold a home in this condition before.

My seller had work done without permits years ago… basement with bathroom, whole kitchen and upstairs bathroom. Now that she’s looking to sell, it is my understanding that she will either have to revise the issues herself, or sell the home as-is. If she sells as-is and discloses the issues, the buyers will then have to assume the responsibilities such as paying the possible fines, getting the work up to code, etc., correct?

Thank you in advance!

Basically, it depends. Some things will be grandfathered in. Some things simply won't be recognized as an inprovement for an appraisal. Some things should be inspected to be sure they were done correctly. Depending on the jurisdiction and the timeframe the work was done, there are different permits required, plus there are updates in the code. Some places don't need inspctions on electrical and some place don't inspect to the latest code. You just never know unless you've done a flip or two in that town. Normally, anything behind the wall gets inspected in a remodling process like wiring, plumbing, insulation, etc.

I'd list "as is' and see if anyone is interested. This is a crazy market and plenty of people are buying properties that need to be updated. They will probably have an inspection done which includes things like making sure the outlets are properly grounded, that there are no water marks in the basement, etc. 

[Jonathan Greene]

Basically, do not list this house and think it won't be a disaster. I've dealt with this a million times. In regard to plumbing and electrical first, if work was done without a permit, the walls need to be re-opened to inspect the plumbing and electric behind the walls which is typically done at a rough inspection by the town. Most towns are more inclined now to make you cap it and lose the bathroom because it did not exist on the town card and was done without permits. The basement bathroom will not run with the house for sure and will need to be capped. So, the main problem is that your seller thinks they have a renovated house, but they do not. For the kitchen and the bathroom that already existed, if it was all cosmetic, it's fine. If they moved plumbing or added electrics, it's a problem. If the work was done by a licensed contractor, they could try to permit it now, but as I said the walls have to be opened to do the rough inspection no matter what.

[Peter Tverdov]

It would be the buyers responsibility to cure and that would likely be baked into their offer price and should be baked into your listing price as well. Sometimes you just need backdated permits (although I don't know why a GC would do that) or they'll make you remove it. I've seen both.