buying home with un permitted room addition
Corona, CA · Member since 2014 · 38 posts · 5 votes
Hi, I am buying a home in southern california. This home has a bonus room that was converted into two bedrooms by constructing a wall in the middle with a door. There is no permit and also building codes were not considered. This is stated in the sellers disclosure which was not sent to me by my agent (by mistake). When i am asked to sign the disclosure i noticed this but i have release all contingencies alreaday and only few days left for the escrow closure. Is it ok to keep the unpermitted room as is. Is it still considered illegal if found even though i didnt make that construction. Appreiate any expert advice on this, thx.
Are you paying cash? A lender's appraiser would have likely noticed an un-permitted room division. You'll likely not run into any problems until you re-sell or refinance. You would have to disclose on it your re-sale. And an appraiser might notice it when refinancing. Or if you tried to rent it to a Sec8 tenant (government subsidized housing), it will likely be noticed by an inspector.
You're free to live there with it the way it is. The work was un-permitted. It's not illegal as in committing a crime. You'd want to make sure it's structurally sound and that any elec. wiring is safe though.
@Walt Payne - how do you know that they now have inadequate electric? If he had an inspection done...which it appears from his comments that he did...we're assuming that nothing negative came back on the electric as he didn't mention it from what I read. I didn't see anything in there about electrical splitters or extension cords??
For the most part, if any of this gets to a lawsuit...you've already lost...in time and money. Who is going to sue anyone over a disclosure about an unpermitted room split...no one. It's good to consider it but probably not a real issue.
@Lenin Belangonda - did the inspection come back clean on the electrical? When the assessors do an "in-home" inspection at some point, they may wish to raise the assessment on the house based on the rooms as opposed to the square footage. Most municipalities will assess you based on the new sales price when the deed gets recorded. I've done 1,000s of transactions over the years and I simply wouldn't be concerned with it. The beauty of BP is that you can get a lot of perspectives to guide you in whatever you are trying to accomplish!
For the most part, if any of this gets to a lawsuit...you've already lost...in time and money. Who is going to sue anyone over a disclosure about an unpermitted room split...no one. It's good to consider it but probably not a real issue.
@Lenin Belangonda - did the inspection come back clean on the electrical? When the assessors do an "in-home" inspection at some point, they may wish to raise the assessment on the house based on the rooms as opposed to the square footage. Most municipalities will assess you based on the new sales price when the deed gets recorded. I've done 1,000s of transactions over the years and I simply wouldn't be concerned with it. The beauty of BP is that you can get a lot of perspectives to guide you in whatever you are trying to accomplish!
I'm in CA and, like you, I would have no problem closing on this house as-is. But I know how to get help to analyze and fix anything that's not safe (to my standards). My contractor and electrician would have been there next day once I learned of the room division. They know my goal would be, if at all possible and it's not a total hack job, to keep the room division if it's safe. They would only tell me it's a no-go if it were really bad. I'm not afraid of county inspectors randomly showing up. That comes from experience. Not sure there is any replacement for that.
@Account Closed you're right, it is not a deal breaker or even a real problem for someone experienced. But advising someone who knows little enough that they have to ask ... In that case there are issues the raise a red flag.
And no, inspectors don't just randomly show up. That doesn't mean something won't happen to cause them to be there. Complaints from a neighbor who happens to know and is mad about something you did, vengeful tenant, future buyer looking for a way out. What happens when you file for a permit and need an inspection? I'll tell you that in some areas they inspect an entire system or area and make you comply with code. So if you let it slide at purchase they could raise a stink. If you pull permits and they notice unlicensed work, that is when this could be an issue. Usually it's just correcting a problem. But they have a lot of power and some will use it fully and you could be the victim. I've seen it happen and it wasn't pretty.
@Andy Luick - Inspector did not find any electrical or other issue with the partition. Its a partition with door. No electrical wiring seem to be passing through the wall, atleast not I could see or noted in the inspection. As @Walt Payne points out my worry is about any issues with future sale or tenants.
@Account Closed - As you said i guess its experience that matters on issues like this. Thats why seeking advice from experienced people like you and thank you all for your valuable inputs.
@Lenin Belangonda - in 99% of the cases, if there aren't any electrical or major structural issues....and you didn't go outside of the original building envelope, no one is going to care that someone divided a room. Unpermitted improvements come up all of the time. You had a full inspection which didn't reveal anything glaring. Is the electrical service there currently on? If so, you are all good. If not, some areas will require an electrical inspection before the power can be turned back on....usually it's if the power has been off for more than a year but that isn't always the case. It's hard to find good properties in CA so congrats if that's where this one is....we get a ton of CA investors coming to our model for the returns. All the heavy lifting is done for them...here you have had to to a ton of leg work....hope it works out well for you!
I would agree with @Andy Luick as long as the bedrooms appear legal otherwise, meaning separate access without going through a bedroom to get to another bedroom, and both have at least one window. If not, that would be a potential issue. But mostly at time of sale. With no electric in that wall it would be very unlikely that an inspector would notice or care unless there was a complaint.
If you plan on keeping it a long time even the discrepancy in number of bedrooms becomes less of an issue, but it could effect resale value.
@Andy Luick - yes the electricity is on. Seller is still living in the house.