Can a town inspector mandate the deconstruction of an unpermitted room?

Question

I'm currently doing a live-in flip. I purchased the house as is, and there is a room that branches off of the basement that most likely is unpermitted. Naturally, I would like to get this room permitted before selling.

I'll need to have a town inspector come out to take a look at some point. However, I'm concerned that if the room violates town zoning laws, they could ask me to tear it down. This would be the WORST case scenario for me.

My question is, how realistic is this scenario?

Secondly, I'm trying to think through next steps for tackling this project. Seems like it makes sense to have the town inspector take a look to give me an idea of what should be fixed up to get it up to code. Then I would have a GC do the same to give me a quote. Would this be a sensible order of operations or would it make more sense to do it the other way around so the GC could warn me if the town inspector may want the room removed?

Thank you!

Jared W Smith · Answer

@Chris Seveney points to the best route. In no way should you depend on the town inspector to give you advice and points on exactly what to do. You could open even more cans of worms in the process. Get your own professionals on board to assess and guide you BEFORE approaching the town. Trust me, I've seen this take the turn for the worst and Town makes you do a list of things and then flags property for full inspection calling out other things. Best to have an Architect on your side to refute things that are acceptable and handle legalizing the extra room.

As a point of due diligence, no certificate of occupancy was given at purchase? What rooms are indicated on this document? Before selling it may be best to get an updated copy to reflect the house's rooms so it's a clean sale. @Ethan McRae

Chris Seveney · Answer

if you are going to sell it, its best to come clean and figure it out as if you have to note it as a disclosure or it comes up during inspection it would kill the deal and then stuck in selling at a discount. I would have an architect draw up as-built plans and have an engineer and contractor review it, then go to the city with that information. It could require to be torn down if it does not meet setbacks or zoning - and at that point does not matter how well its built they could require it be removed.

Peter Mckernan · Answer

I would go into the city, do not give them your address... Say this is something that I saw this place listed on like, or thinking of buying a place.. Then enter your situation, and see what they say. If it does violate city code they can for sure tell you to take it down or tear it down to the studs then put it back together in the right way per today's city codes.

Can a town inspector mandate the deconstruction of an unpermitted room?

Can a town inspector mandate the deconstruction of an unpermitted room?

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