House remodel W/O a permit.

About 16 years ago I enclsed a porch on my daughters house on our place. 900 sq ft is kind of small with a couple little ones. The enclosed 8X12 porch made a good nursury. The city was out last week looking at our lot split plans, we are trying to do. I guess the plywood kind of looked out of place on the 110 year old house. One of them did mention the additation. Don't know if much will come of it. I was thinking of going for a permit, but the house sits on dirt, I didn't think they would approve the permit, without extensive foundation work. I guess all they can make me do is tear down the two walls. Anyone ever had this happen, and what did you do.Stan

A friend wanted to repair and refab an old house he owned on his property. Being sort of an independent thinker, he stuck the label off a big package of lumber he had delivered, in a window facing the street. Label was the same size as a building permit, and the town gurus never came to look at it. They never noticed anything, until he was all done, and had rented it out. Too late!!

'here' they would nail you for renting without having a certificate of occupancy on file, make you buy permits and submit to inspections, and if it doesn't pass inspections, make you demolish whatever you did.

"Here" we build what we want, when we want, and however we want it done. No permits, no fees, no inspections.

I would tell them you dont know who built it or when, and drop it.

16 years is a long time.

Forget it and sleep easy. Nite

Gene

Around here where I live the prosecutors are too busy to prosecute zoning or building violators as they prosecute criminals and druggies. You may get letters but wait and see where they go.

Sounds like my kind of place. I am getting tired of all the BS around here, but too old to resettle, and I have too much junk I would need to bring with me. Stan

Should have put some siding on it and painted it the same color as the rest of the house.

(quoted from post at 19:13:12 02/25/13) A friend wanted to repair and refab an old house he owned on his property. Being sort of an independent thinker, he stuck the label off a big package of lumber he had delivered, in a window facing the street. Label was the same size as a building permit, and the town gurus never came to look at it. They never noticed anything, until he was all done, and had rented it out. Too late!!

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What does having it rented out have to do with anything. Around here they would fine you whatever the law says the penalty is. People get upset if they know that they are paying their taxes and someone else isn't.

Sixteen years is a long time. Probably was under someone elses job at the city at that time. First, they would have to go back through records to see if you purchased a permit. Then determine you had the construction done. Just forget about it, been too long, and keep your mouth closed about it, give them no reason to dig up records on your house, if any exist. Just My .02

Around here you're supposed to pull permits for EVERYthing you do. I've never bothered because one thing leads to the next, and the project costs twice as much because of a bunch of other things that should have been grandfathered, but aren't.

Don't do anything. Don't call them, don't talk to them. Let them call/visit you and go from there.

Years ago Dad pulled permits and did a remodel on our old house. That turned into nothing but a PITA for him and he wound up all but running one inspector off because he was demanding to see something another inspector had already signed off on and had been finished over. Needless to say he never saw it. Some years later Dad decided to build himself a shop. About halfway through an inspector pulled up and came walking toward him running his mouth about it not being permitted, etc. He was very nicely told to get his a$$ back in his car and to hit the end of the drive as quickly as he could and to never set foot back on what was private property. That was something like 35 years ago and Dad never heard anything else from them.

My point here is don't say anything, and just let it drop on your end. As old as the house is, and as long ago as the work was done, unless you admit to them that you did the work unpermitted it's up to them to prove that anything was done. I doubt seriously they can prove anything without dated pictures, etc and as such anything said would be your word against theirs...and their word would be worth very little unless 'they' were around that long ago to see it themselves, and even then it's a he said, he said situation.

People forget that inspections are done for a purpose and not to just harass you. All kinds of codes are in effect and for a reason. Some guys think they can get away with anything and it might be just fine but when they go to sell their property some unsuspecting person buys what he thinks is a house that is built to code only to find out it was never inspected and has no idea what is behind those walls. Your case it happened a long time ago and I wouldn't worry about it now but in the future do what is right and you won't have to think about it any more.

Ya know I'd want to believe that, I really do.

But when I had my farm rewired, they ran new underground to 10 buildings.

Inspector came 3 months later, said he didn't want to bother driving to this end of the county because of the road construction. Well, gos, it was a 2 mile detour up to the next tarred county road, _I_ got to deal with it all summer.....

So he looked at the main box, the house box, th box in 2 outbuildings, and said yup it all looks good, signed some paper, and left.

While I'm fine with the rather marginal inspection, I'm not really sure it was anything much but more taxes? Don't think I got my money's worth?

--->Paul

Around here the electrical inspection is seperate from the building one. Same with plumbing. They both are done by state inspectors. The electrical guy usually has a test deal he plugs into the outlets to see if they all work. Once in awhile he will find one that is wrong-usually it is a GFI with a wrong wire. They take a look in the panel and that is about it. They know who the electrician is and how close they have to watch his work. Same with the plumbing inspection. I have a house that was completed in Nov. that still doesn't have the electrical inspection done. He'll probably call some day saying he is there and wants in to look. You can't occupy it without the final building inspection. This is in the rural areas. In town it is a lot different yet with more city guys checking it. I've heard stories from the inspectors about all the things they run into even from the so called professionals. We have a small town close by that I have built quite a few house in and they hired a real jerk to do inspections. Walks around with a 2 inch code book looking to find something if he can. A lot of builders won't go there any more because of him. Get caught not calling in for an inspection and they will shut you down and fine you.

Here they will make you pay big time and may make you tear it out. They have made people tear down new construction houses. They will charge any contractor who was involved too.

Rick

Even in SoCal, I'd be very surprised if they come after you for enclosing a porch 16 years ago. I'm sure they have bigger fish to fry.

Another thing to consider is if you ever have a fire or such and the insurance company finds out it was not inspected, they will not have to pay damages.

I'm surprised you had to have something with the farm inspected,in my area if its farm related its no permits or inspections required per state law.

There is usually a statue of limitations of how long they can go back and do anything about it.Do
NOT volunteer any information to them as they will have to prove you did anything and when it was done.

Not so with State Farm. I had my ins agent out here when I did my
add-ons and got her blessing with pictures.

Mark

(quoted from post at 09:26:05 02/26/13) Not so with State Farm. I had my ins agent out here when I did my
add-ons and got her blessing with pictures.

Mark

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If you have a problem, State farm's lawyers will probably overrule your agent. That's their job.

Even with inspections you don't know what's inside those walls. There is nothing stopping a homeowner from doing whatever he wants and covering it up with sheetrock, once the house has been given a certificate of occupancy.

Unless you want to tear everything down to the bare studs, there's no way to know if things are up to code or if you have a looming fire hazard.

Building inspections started out with a well-meaning purpose but as with any government run agency it became a corrupt joke, a place for the mayor to put the good-for-nothing nephew of a contractor in exchange for kickbacks received after the city awarded them a lucrative deal.

I would not mention it if they do not, that old should be grandfathered (hopefully).

here ,and ive worked for and with a LOT of inspectors over the years,They absolutly can make you tear it down. IF of course your within a city or town limit that issues building permits. Theres lots of misconceptions about permits/inspections. The largest and most circulated one is that its simply a way of the town making money. in FACT the permit /inspection process is to protect others and not you! your house burns,its likely to burn your neighbors also. your bad sewage feild is likely to pollute your neighbors well etc. heres the thing to remember, ALL BUILDING REGARDLESS of where its located is supposed to be built to code!!! there is none of this farm exempt nonsense thats 100% B$. any thing built anywhere is supposed to be built according to state codes (and it is the STATE that sets building codes). cities and towns issue building permits,and inspections to ensure those codes are followed within their limits. they can add to codes,but the state codes HAVE to be followed. IF you dont do this,and someone is injured because of your actions,YOUR LIABLE plain and simple. no amount of insurance,no amount of lawyers can change that. you can exceed those codes,they are minimum requirements, but every single thing you do should legally be up to your states code. on farm ,off farm.in town out of town makes not one iota's difference. ANYONE who tells you otherwise is scamming you. In your case, you might not have any problem at all for 60 years. but go to sell that house and you will bring it up to code.or take a huge hit. there is no statute of limitations on this, been there done it a thousand times. the fellow who claims his dad ran off the inspector ,will most likely have to tear that building down before selling that place, if it wasnt built up to code. ive seen that happen a hundred times also. ever notice that most lending institutions require a building inspection before they will lend money?theres a very simple way of avoiding all this, simply build it right to start with. best way to get along with a inspector? let him do his job. if somethings not right its a whole lot easier to fix when its exposed,than to go back in later. the ONLY time youll have a problem with any inspector is when you argue with them. sometimes you dont like what they tell you, in which case you get a second opinion or a waiver from the state or town,and that should go in with your deed papers for future problems that arise.

There are what is called rough in inspections. They are done before
any insulation or sheetrock can go on. Same for plumbing lines that
are buried or electric runs. When it is all done a final is given. Here
it all starts with the footing inspection, then a framing, plumbing,
electrical, hvac and septic if in rural area. Those are for the rough
in stage. Then after it is finished you have the final one 's for
everything again except the septic and footings. It can be a pain
but if you do it right the first time you have nothing to worry about.

To a certain point permits are about money. In my township you need a permit for everything but carpet installation and painting. Who in there right mind would pull a permit to change or replace a interior door, replace trim or moulding,etc.
We used to have a contractors permit requirement for anyone performing any type of work in the Township. The state made it that if you were registered with the state you did no have to pull a permit from the Township. So our township then came up with a Tradesman permit requirment. There is no testing, certification, nothing. Just hand over the money, and here is you tradesman permit.
Money Money Money!!! As I mentioned earlier you don't need a permit to paint, but if you hire the neighbor to help paint, he needs to have a Tradesman permit.

When I was on the board of selectmen of our town we hired a new inspector 'cause the other died. After about six months the new guy told us that we needed to raise inspection fees. He made a case for it so we did it. Six months later he told us that we were bringing in too much money and that we could not make a profit so we had to give him a raise. I was not happy.

Well sir, that's the reason for the pictures.

Mark

Have a couple of experiences.... built a big addition to our first house in the city. Pulled all the permits and called for all the inspections, not a big deal and was really a small cost compared to the total of the project. We then built a house in the country, no inspections or permits required except for the drainage pipe under the driveway at the road and for the septic system. My construction loan bank did come out to look at it as I made draws on the loan. I used good subcontractors so I know the work was done right and the parts I did I knew were good through my experience in commercial construction.