Buying or Selling a Home/remodel without permits

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Expert: - 2/11/2011


Question
Hello Russel, I have a question, I recently inherited my parents home thru trust.  I now own the home free and clear.   I know that mayby 15 years ago, my father and mother had a room addition ( the chatlet type home had a roof extention mayby 12 feet further from existing roof and a room added.  The work looks nice, you can tell they did a good job, but I know if I go to sell it someday, the extra square footage is going to show up and people are going to know it was not permited.  I am in Northern California.   By me inheriting the property does it make me exempt? any feedback would be appreciated. thank you!
Rick

Answer
Hey, Rick.

People buy homes all the time with unpermitted additions. I've done it myself. If you know something, you are not exempt from disclosure. However, your disclosure could be exactly what you have told me above.

In most places, you can also get an "as built" permit. That type of permit exists simply to address this type of situation.

Before you do that, though, you might check the public records to see what square footage it shows. Then you can either do the square footage yourself or have an appraiser do it to see if it matches what's shown in the public records. If it does, then the permits probably were done.

Also, since the addition was only done about 15 years ago, you can go down to the building department and check on permits yourself. Here in San Diego we can go back to 1955 and pull the history of most buildings.

Hope that helps.

Russel

Buying or Selling a Home

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Russel Ray

Expertise

Through home inspections, I provide an education about real estate. I'm one of those rare home inspectors who has been involved in real estate in many different capacities: as a Realtor (in Texas), as a property investor/flipper, as a teacher, and as a marketing expert (for Realtors and home inspectors). I believe that my experience as a Realtor and property investor provides me with a different viewpoint about home inspections in that I work for my Clients, but when there are other people involved in helping my Clients, then I firmly believe in helping them, too. That includes Realtors (both the seller's and the buyer's), repair professionals (e.g., plumbers, electricians, etc.). If I can get all the players (seller, seller's Realtor, buyer, buyer's Realtor, and repair professionals) playing in the same sandbox together to accomplish goals as a TEAM (Together Everyone Accomplishes More), then I believe I have succeeded in my job as a home inspector. My profession is, in my opinion, much more than simply documenting the condition of a property and then take the money and run. I am also a rare breed in that I don't believe that one inspection fits the needs of all Clients, and I have led the industry in understanding that fact. For example, the goals of a property investor are far different than the goals of someone buying a property to live in. The goals of a seller (a pre-listing inspection) are far different than the goals of a buyer (a pre-purchase inspection). To that end, I offer 14 different types of inspections, e.g., STANDARD, LIST, RENTER, BASIC, MAINTENANCE, SPOT, and more. I believe in giving the benefit of the doubt to all professionals in whatever industry they represent until they prove me wrong.

Experience

Over 42 years in all aspects of real estate--building homes, renovating homes, inspecting homes, Realtor.

Organizations
National Association of Certified Home Inspector, Better Business Bureau of San Diego

Education/Credentials
Graduate of Texas A&M University; College Station, Texas

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