Making an alteration so that inspection can be done?

Question

In the REO, the attic entrance is one of the those small hatch doors in the garage that you enter using a ladder. The bank(?) put some kind of contraption there that prevents someone from entering the attic. It's almost like a trap door that only opens a quarter of the way. It has a cord and I tried pulling on it but the thing does not open.

Obviously I want the inspector to be able to see the roof, attic, etc. Would it be out of line if I just cut that "trapdoor" out with the sawzall so that someone can enter? I don't know if this could come back on me if I end up not buying the property and they see that this alteration was made. Thanks.

J Scott · Answer

If the mold is only on the sheetrock and/or subfloor (like it is in this house I referred to), I will just remove all the moldy sheetrock/subfloor and replace it -- after remediating the problem, of course.

If the mold is on the studs, I'll bring in a remediator to kill the mold with biocide and encapsulate the studs.  If I have reason to believe there is mold in the ductwork, we'll bring in a company that does duct cleaning with a biocide.

It appears the mold in this house is limited to sheetrock and a couple pieces of subfloor, so hopefully it will be as easy as fixing the leak, cutting out the moldy sheetrock/subfloor and replacing it.

Will Barnard · Answer

Without the sellers knowledge and permission, it is not legal for you to cause damage or make alterations to the property, however. I would simply explain the scenario to the list agent and get them to grant you permission or provide the access themselves. You are certainly entitled to inspect the ENTIRE property before purchase.

That said, as Jason stated, I too have, on occassion during an inspection, made some minor drywall intrusions to drywall that was already damaged and would need to be replaced anyways or pulled up carpet, etc to inspect something. Sometimes I bought the home and other times I did not. The key factor in the scenarios I described is that the damage or alteration I creeated was easily fixed or done to items that already required replacement so no harm, no foul, don't ask, don't tell.

J Scott · Answer

Are you fairly certain you're going to go through with the purchase of this property?  If so, then I don't see anything wrong with doing whatever you need to do (and causing the minimum amount of damage in the process) to complete your inspections.

Now, if there is a reasonable chance you won't be buying the property, or if the damage you need to do is major, it's probably best to talk to the listing agent before you doing anything.

As an example, we have a house under contract now that has a roof leak, which is causing some mold behind a few walls.  During our contractor walk through, we ripped out some sheetrock to see how bad the mold was and extensive it was.

If we weren't positive we were going to buy the property (assuming no issues on the seller side, that is), we probably wouldn't have done this, but we've never not purchased a property that we had under contract (again, other than due to seller issues), so I'm not concerned.

Btw, with this particular house, we found the roof leak to be extensive, and for the first time, we'll actually be asking the seller's permission to do repairs before the closing; we'll see how that goes...  :)

Bienes Raices · Answer

^ Thanks Jason, that seems like a good rule of thumb to separate the need for remediation from DIY.

Bienes Raices · Answer

Jason, if you don't mind my asking, are you going to pay a mold remediator for this or have someone else do it? I'm sort of in the same situation right now.

Bienes Raices · Answer

I should have tried harder the first time....it looks like my problem solved now...

I went back over there and got on my own ladder. If you tug VERY hard at it the thing comes open. They actually built a tiny wooden ladder that unfolds from that hatch, LOL. I've never seen anyone do that for one these houses around this area.

Making an alteration so that inspection can be done?

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