01-14-2010, 12:22 PM
We addressed permitting in the Bldg forum many times but here is something I would like to see legislatively:
Permits that are old should not be forced to get a contractor "signed" on to merely get the final. This is coming up again and again and again as many properties head into foreclosure.
I again just ran into another person who has an old open permit for a accessory space (workshop) and it was all but finaled - stair issue - simple fix - and now that it needs to go up for sale it needs to be finaled so she is forced to sign on a contractor to the O/B permit to final an old project so it can be sold. This makes no sense to me for someone that is already financially strapped to tag on basically a contractor for a set of stairs just so it can be sold legally.
I think the O/B rules were set up to stop speculation not make it impossible for owners who get themselves into a bad financial situation because of economics.
Maybe we need a law like California has for earthquakes - if an earthquake is 8.0+, sales tax is suspended for one year (or so the rumor goes). So Hawaii can have one that says if foreclosures or unemployment hit xx%, the OB rule regarding sales is suspended for one year for existing open permits.
Permits that are old should not be forced to get a contractor "signed" on to merely get the final. This is coming up again and again and again as many properties head into foreclosure.
I again just ran into another person who has an old open permit for a accessory space (workshop) and it was all but finaled - stair issue - simple fix - and now that it needs to go up for sale it needs to be finaled so she is forced to sign on a contractor to the O/B permit to final an old project so it can be sold. This makes no sense to me for someone that is already financially strapped to tag on basically a contractor for a set of stairs just so it can be sold legally.
I think the O/B rules were set up to stop speculation not make it impossible for owners who get themselves into a bad financial situation because of economics.
Maybe we need a law like California has for earthquakes - if an earthquake is 8.0+, sales tax is suspended for one year (or so the rumor goes). So Hawaii can have one that says if foreclosures or unemployment hit xx%, the OB rule regarding sales is suspended for one year for existing open permits.