Hello,

I invest since 2015 in rentals in Columbus Ohio. Just got an issue with a house we bought 3 weeks ago. the city contacted me regarding an electric job just was done without the proper permit in the house on 2015 (2 and a half years before I got it!).

I got from them two "Notice of Violation and order to correct":

1. New on my LLC's name

2. The original from 2015 on the previous owner name.

We used a title company, but they never saw anything wrong related to the house.

What do you guy recommend to do?

@Or Laor Stern ,

Unfortunately, this is a common problem. I'd do a few things right away:

1. I would contact the title company you closed with and make sure you purchased a lender's title insurance policy as part of the settlement statement (hud). If you did, this policy will protect you and potentially pay for these city liens. If the city never put a lien on the house (and just issued an invoice), this title insurance policy may not be able to help, and it would explain why the title company never saw anything on the title search.

2. Contact the city by calling the number on the notice of violation. Surprisingly, these are usually nice people that understand you're a new owner. Here in Indy, you usually go to a hearing as the new owner and give them a game plan of when and how you are going to correct the past issues with the home. They are usually happy to see a fresh face committing to fixing the problem. In my experience, they will reduce the fines up to 90% once you fix the issues.

Good luck!

So, just to update. 

1.You were right about the city people. They were realy nice when I met them and I will get no fine, but I need to bring the electric to code.

2.Title companies DO NOT check the status with the "City", so every time you want to purchase a house you need to do it by yourself... there were no liens so the title insurance do not cover it.

Always Learning...