Are you looking to sell a house and you know you have unpermitted work? If you are looking into selling house with unpermitted work then you will know that it is not simple. You can be liable if you don’t go through the correct procedure to ensure that you prepare the house for sale. You don’t want to end up in legal trouble because your house has to go up for sale and you don’t have the necessary permits for the work you have carried out, or because previous tenants haven’t done the right thing when they were getting work carried out.
What is Unpermitted Work?
When work is carried out on a home, it may require some form of permit from Building and Safety Department. This depends on local state law and building code ordinances. If you, or someone who has done work on the house previously, have made changes to the bedrooms, basement or walls, then a permit will have been needed and if one hasn’t been obtained then it can cause serious problems for your sale.
How do The Permits Work?
This varies from state to state. For instance, the California Building Standards Code is vital for any building work in the stature of California. Any alterations, extensions or new constructions could require a permit, which is issued by the state’s building official. With a permit, you are free to carry out the work, but only work that has been outlined within that permit and application. Your first step should be to contact the local building office and request an application. They will be able to help you through the process.
Why My Home Might Have Unpermitted Work?
What are the reasons for a home having work that isn’t permitted? Well, in some cases, people have just been ignorant to the fact that permits are required. A lot of people who are looking to make long term improvements to their home, especially if they are DIY enthusiasts, don’t know that you have to get permission for certain changes. Also, there are examples of people knowingly ignoring the rules on unpermitted work. It is possible that people have tried to get away with not obtaining the correct permissions and either hoped that nobody else has noticed, or thought they would never want to sell the home, so they wouldn’t get found out. Unfortunately, this is fairly common. In some cases, permits are pricey to obtain.
Okay, so we’ve lived in our new house (totally new construction) since April 2019. Over the first 6 months we realized the floor tile in kitchen/dining area was loose, grout coming out. So …
this (while we’re trying to live here) pic.twitter.com/7k9qVWVztd— Michael Frost (@FrostyPastor) November 13, 2020
Do I Have to Disclose?
So, when selling a house with unpermitted work, do you have to tell anyone? Yes. When you are looking to sell your home fast, and it has unpermitted work in the history of the property then this needs to be disclosed. If not, many states leave you susceptible to a potential fraud charge from the new owners. There is usually a disclosure to sign to say that the property has no unpermitted work, and this forms part of the sale process.
How to Find Out if Your Home Has Unpermitted Work?
You might already know that you have unpermitted property work if it has been done while you have been living there. If not, it’s time to do some digging around and check the home records. This sounds intimidating but it is a relatively simple process. You can go to the city or the county records. There will be a building or planning department that deals with all of the permits for that local area. They will keep records, and you can see your home’s original plan, the permits, and compare these to the house as it is now. From here, you can work out whether any work has been carried out without a permit being obtained. You don’t have to wait for an inspection this way, as you can go ahead and check everything yourself.
Solutions for Selling House with Unpermitted Work
So, if you’ve found unpermitted improvements then you might be in a position where you need to get a solution, and fast. When you are selling a house with unpermitted work this can be a very awkward unwanted obstacle.
Remove Work
If it is simple enough to do, you can remove the work that has been carried out without a permit. This can be very frustrating, and you might end up spending money to remove something that would actually otherwise add value to your home. This is not a constructive thing to be doing when you are trying to sell your home.
Get Permit
You can go down the official route of trying to obtain the permit for work already carried out. If you are able to explain to the authorities that the work was there when you bought the home, they may be understanding, but there are some scenarios where they might not be able to carry out the inspections they ended and therefore not give you the permit you need to keep the work in place. This is a good way to do things if you want to get the full value of the house, but it is not an option for a lot of people.
Sell As-Is With Unpermitted Improvements
Though you can’t sell to just anyone like this, you might be able to opt to deal on an “as-is” basis, meaning that it is written into the contract that someone can buy the house for an agreed value even with any unpermitted work in place, meaning it becomes the new owner’s responsibility and that the seller cannot be held to account for any issues regarding the unpermitted work. If you sell to a real estate investor such as Prospect Group, you might have the luxury of selling as-is. This is the quickest way to make a sale as you won’t have to go through an application process or a new permit, nor will you have to reverse the unpermitted work that has been done on your home. You may not get paid the full value for selling as-is, but it is certainly a very convenient way to sell up.
