Towns Health/Building Department at it once again!
Im getting sick and tired of having the building/health dept ruin my deals. I purchased a property in July of 2012. House was in as-is condition, health inspector wrote up a report of all the repairs that needed to be completed in order to obtain the c/o. I received a temp c/o and started on the list of repairs. Three months later all repairs were completed, inspector checked off on it and handed me the c/o. Four months go by and the house is under contract and ready to close, I applied for a c/o again, same inspector comes out tells me that I converted the garage into a bedroom (its been that way for at least 10years). This jerk was there less than a year ago and said nothing about it but all of a sudden its an issue. He said i was going to need an engineer and architect to draw up plans and permits. This is going to eliminate a huge chunk of my profit and possibly lose my buyer. its disgusting how corrupt these guys are. I refuse to spend obe more dollar in this town..makes me want to get out of the biz altogether. Just needed to vent.
First, why did you apply for another CO when you already had one in hand? Why wasn't your CO good enough for the end-buyer?
Second, did you know about the garage conversion? Did you check to see if permits were pulled? This is pretty common, and it's your responsibility as a buyer to ensure that there is no unpermitted work in the property when you buy it and when you sell it. If it's truly an unpermitted garage conversion, the inspector was doing exactly what he was supposed to do.
J Scott,
I usually get a temp c/o, make all necessary repairs, have re-inspection (no fee) done to get the c/o in my name. Just so I don't encounter problems such as the one I am going through right now.
In these parts, anytime you transfer ownership you need to apply for a new C/O, its silly and should be done away with. As for the garage conversion, I find it obnoxious that he didn't write it on the report when I purchased the property. Eight months later he apparently "discovered" it, he must have been completely blind the first time. Give me a break. Wouldve never purchased the home at that price. I always do my due diligence on the properties I purchase. I guess I should check to see if there were permits to build the house, put the roof on, insulation, plumbing, electrical, driveway, foundation, framing, drywall. Get my drift? The house was built in the 40's and they only started keeping records in the 70's. If it wasn't for the garage he would have picked on something else.
Originally posted by Oscar Martins:
I guess I should check to see if there were permits to build the house, put the roof on, insulation, plumbing, electrical, driveway, foundation, framing, drywall.
Yup, if you have any reason to believe that any of those things were not properly permitted at the time they were done, then yes, you should check those things and you should factor any potential building code issues into your price.