11-12-2019, 07:31 AM
We purchased a vacation rental home that was advertised as permitted, only to discover that later improvements did not have permits. I won't say undergoing the "as built" permitting process was a totally hellish experience, but it will be a test of your patience, temper, flexibility, endurance and finances. Getting "as built" permitting means throwing yourself on the mercy of:
1) plumbers, electricians, surveyors and/or engineers/architects who may be willing to accept your cash and sign off on things that may or may not be right and/or who may require you to make unnecessary costly changes because they know you're desperate
2) inspectors who may or may not accept these certifications or who may (read: probably will) require you to make additional changes (even after previous inspectors said everything else was fine)
3) County and State employees who will be able to find no records of previous approved plans (what are the odds that there were no records of the cesspools on both our actually "fully permitted" residence and "originally fully permitted" vacation rental properties). And it took almost 3 years to untangle the mess created when a previous owner changed the property line between the two adjacent lots we purchased (he got the change approved by the county but never finalized with the State Land Court).
Whatever money you save in the purchase price, you'll more than pay when you bring it up to code with legal status. My advice: walk away.
1) plumbers, electricians, surveyors and/or engineers/architects who may be willing to accept your cash and sign off on things that may or may not be right and/or who may require you to make unnecessary costly changes because they know you're desperate
2) inspectors who may or may not accept these certifications or who may (read: probably will) require you to make additional changes (even after previous inspectors said everything else was fine)
3) County and State employees who will be able to find no records of previous approved plans (what are the odds that there were no records of the cesspools on both our actually "fully permitted" residence and "originally fully permitted" vacation rental properties). And it took almost 3 years to untangle the mess created when a previous owner changed the property line between the two adjacent lots we purchased (he got the change approved by the county but never finalized with the State Land Court).
Whatever money you save in the purchase price, you'll more than pay when you bring it up to code with legal status. My advice: walk away.