Hi all,

I received a notice of violation for adding on to the side of my home. Everything was done by myself and everything follows city guidelines. I needed to get the addition done right away for my mother to move in due to an unexpected death, so I planned on getting the permit done within the year or so. I have stopped construction indefinitely and contacted the buildings department and was quoted a total of 16k in permit fees. Now I don't have this kind of money for permit fees because when I initially spoke with a city rep, they mentioned fees being close to 4k. 

Will I continue to be pestered by the city and code enforcement even if i stopped all construction. Everything is basically done so I'm wondering if laying low is an option or will I soon face some type of fine.  I want to know your input before contacting the city myself. 

You will be fined, generally the notice of violation gives you a cure period and when you don't cure the issue they'll come back with fines.  Laying low isn't an option now because you are on the list.  This may be an expensive lesson for you to not do major construction without permits.

Once the city has you on their radar then they will be coming after you for that money. There is no way around it, you have to get permits before starting construction... never after.

16k or even 4k seems ridiculous to pay for permits. Is this correct?

My contractor just pulled permits they were in the couple hundred dollar range. This is SC.

There's no way the permits are $16,000 unless that includes some serious fines. Even $4,000 doesn't seem right. I'm not a major rehab guy but the work I've seen involved permits in the hundreds of dollars, not thousands.

$16K seems cheap for permits. If you're in Cali.