Expert: Hans Weber, Licensed Broker Associate - 9/17/2009

Question
My mom and I live in a one-family house in Queens County, NY.  After fifty years here we're thinking of moving.  Our problems: 1) my late father had built a small back porch onto the house nearly forty years ago without having gotten a permit to add onto the house.  Would we have to have the porch torn down in order for it to correspond with what's on the original deed?  And 2) my late brother had replaced some of the original piping with pvc piping about ten years ago.  Are mom and I stuck with paying for renovations in order to put the house back as it was fifty years ago in order to sell it?  
Thanks in advance for any help in this matter.

Answer
Hello Allan,

Thank you for your questions.

Technically all changes should be recorded with the local municipal building department.

Records maintained by these entities are not always 100% accurate and don't all go back to the beginnning of time.

The piping should not be a problem unless PVC is illegal in your area.  Just ask a local plumber.

The deck may or may not pose a problem.  First go to the municipal building department for your area and ask to see the file for your property.  They may not have one.  In that case they do NOT know what you have and you are clear.  In this case when you come to sell your lawyer will need to get a 'predate letter' from the building department.  A predate letter states that your home was built before formal records were kept and that it conformed to code at the time.

If they have a file on your house make a copy and see how it compares.  If they have one and it shows the house without the deck, then you most likely will have to do something.  You can remove the deck to match the existing file or you can make the deck legal and have it added to the property file.  That would be your choice. assuming the deck is legal and conforms to codes.

Hope this helps you out.

Hans