Unpermitted addition on house I just bought

[billfan]

Boy am I in a pickle. If anyone has advice on what to do I’d appreciate it.

We just closed on a house about a month ago and decided to have our contractor do some minor renovations, for which we got the proper permits because we’re good law abiding citizens. Only problem is that nobody that every owned the house before us was! So the city inspector comes in to look at our work and tears our house apart naming all the previous work that was done without permits and telling us to fix everything! This includes all the reno that the previous owners did (they flipped the house so didnt get any permits) as well as a 20 year old unpermitted addition that the tax assessors office recognizes but was apparently unpermitted…when we bought the house we looked at tax records and it shows 3Br 2Bth and that’s all our realtor said they normally do. But our guess is that the county (who wants property tax money) came out and looked at the house and said “yup, 3Br 2Bth, more tax money for us!” and didnt look for any permits or notify the city about the addition (I guess they dont have to? That’s crazy!) Now the city wants us to either retrofit or tear down most of our kitchen, patio and third bedroom! Sellers didnt disclose the addition (not sure if they knew, but they are a company that flips houses so I’m sure they did, which is why they didnt get any permits….they wouldve been in the same situation we’re in!) But the sellers sure did a LOT of work that wouldve required permits they wouldve found out then like we’re finding out now!

Our lawyer thinks we have a great case but estimates at least $100,000 to go to trial with all legal fees. Said we’d have to disclose all the unpermitted work and that the city knows about it. He recommended either completely walking away from the house, or else getting the appropriate estimates from our contractor and trying to go after the sellers, but they’re a company that flips houses and they’ll have all kinds of ways to get out of this. He said a smaller amount might get a reasonable response or wind up in mediation or with a small claims settlement, so perhaps going after them for just the cost of the permits and associated work they were supposed to get done for the kitchen or HVAC, etc. He said sellers will always play dumb and resort to claiming they either didnt know about the addition or that it’s the buyer’s fault for bringing in inspectors for additional work (who can now legally make us bring the whole house up to code). He thinks ultimately we could win in a trial but after spending a fortune on legal fees and 2 years in legal back and forth. So we’re going to get estimates from our contractor on all the work the city wants done and go from there. It will be impossible for us to do it now because we don’t have any money left! Unfortunately the inspectors wont even sign off on our current project because it bleeds into the kitchen which is part of the unpermitted addition, so in order for them to sign off we have to bring that whole part of the house up to code (which involves ripping up that entire back part of the house). Oh what a mess!
Does anyone know what I can do with the city to try to get this mess sorted out, perhaps to speak with someone reasonable who can work with us on getting an extended time frame for the fixes? We literally have to tear a third of our house down to meet the requirements of the city, and the inspector said we’re supposed to address it within 10 days…what the hell?! I know there’s all kinds of time frames with permits and extensions, etc. I just dont want Code Enforcement on my back when we’re already preparing ourselves to have to do the work…we just can’t afford to do it for another 2-3 years at best because we need to save up the $60k or more it’s going to take to do it.

[UCGal]

I’m sorry you’re dealing with this.

What type of thing was not to code? Is it things that are structural or safety issues? Like faulty wiring? I’d be worried about not bringing it up to at least a minimum safety standard.

As far as the unpermitted work – I don’t have any advice. I’ve heard of people getting “forgiveness” after the fact *if* it passes current code… but if it doesn’t you may be screwed.

It’s never good when you have to go to court and have lawyers involved.

[billfan]

He just noted the unpermitted addition, saying that needs to be fixed asap (how the hell does one do a $60k job asap?) It’s the back half of the kitchen, the 3rd bedroom and back patio. He said based on his initial look, it’s not to code (it was added 20 years ago) and even doing a full investigation into how many violations there are would involve tearing up so much flooring, walls, and roofing….we “could” try to bring it up to code but since it’s a concrete slab foundation it would probably be cheaper to tear it all down (which you need permits for) and rebuild (which you need more permits for). The city inspector and supervising inspector that we called in both said the same thing. They are being so unreasonable and unrealistic it’s maddening. I feel like this is a perfect story for the Turko-files on KUSI where they expose horrible policies or people getting screwed over. All I did was buy a house, did my due diligence in looking at the tax records, and now I’m in danger of losing my house because I can’t afford these fixes, none of which I was responsible for doing. It’s such a horrible feeling that someone could get screwed like this.

[UCGal]

what jurisdiction are you in? (which county/city/township/whatever inspection/permit department are you dealing with?)

[NotCranky]

The city could be correct about the lack of permits or not. I would never take it with out trying to push all the buttons I could starting with backing them off the 10 days to remedy issue. If you take the tiger by the tail method, do everything in email, if they to respond with emails follow up with emails anyway. Write emails about everything you discuss to as many people as you can.

These people are not above a shakedown,not above withholding a more simple remedy from you, that they know about and that others have won.

Now go kick some ass.

[sdrealtor]

I’m not certain but believe certain title policies might cover some of this.

[billfan]

San Diego County, The City of San Diego, North Park 92104. The inspector’s notice had this at the top:

Development Services Department
lnspection Services Division
9601 Ridgehaven Court, Suite 220

[sdduuuude]

You need to hire a cross between an architect, a lawyer and a politician. Seriously. Find someone who deals with this stuff all the time and knows how to negotiate a deal with the city.

Jacarandoso is correct – there are ways around it that the government workers will never tell you about.

[mike92104]

Did you have a home inspection done before you bought the house?

[moneymaker]

When I was looking @ houses 3 years ago I was appalled at how many had unpermitted additions and such. So you are not alone, don’t know if that makes you feel better or not. This may be why people don’t pull permits usually for small jobs. This thread reminds me why I may be doing my own electrical outlet for my recently purchased RV myself rather than hire an electrician. I think most contractors will probably give you 2 prices when doing things, with a permit and without a permit. Sounds like you are in a pickle now. So stop everything then 6 months from now do it all in a weekend so nobody notices. I’ve been to logan heights and I think everything down there is not permitted, yet the inspectors do nothing about it.

[mike92104]

I do sympathize with you. You tried to do the right thing, and now you’re screwed. This permit nightmare you’re going through is exactly why people don’t get permits for work done to their houses.

[billfan]

Yeah we had a home inspection and he found lots of little things, but didnt say anything (or didnt notice) about the addition. I had no idea, even looking through the house 3 times myself before buying it. But I’m told the home inspectors usually dont notice or say anything or are obligated to say anything. It doesnt really matter because I dont have any money to sue anyone. Best I can hope for is small claims court or mediation, not sure which is better though. I’m told that mediation is also binding so if that doesnt go well I may not have much other recourse. I have every line item of inspector findings, many of them we already had our contractor fix as a show of good faith (and at considerable additional cost…we’re already in the several thousands) even though the inspector refuses to sign off on my project. I’m going to take the full list down to the city to try to reason with someone and show that we fixed, or are fixing, everything he cited us for, where possible. He even cited us for the bedroom window being 3/4″ too high and wants the entire window lowered. Except for when completely cost prohibitive (mostly the addition he wants torn down) we made many of his changes, so I’m gonna hope that gets me some leniency with someone down at the inspection office. But since we already tried the supervising inspector (who is even worse than the original inspector) I’m not sure who else there is to reason with, but I’m gonna try.

[UCGal]

It’s worth trying to negotiate with development services.

We had an issue with one interpretation of our project. We felt we met the letter and intent, and the initial reviewer did not. My husband was persistent, presented alternatives and compromises… We got our permit. But not without a lot of discussion.

(They made us jump through other hoops – but on the one issue that looked to kill our project from the start, they proved reasonable.)

If you are reasonable, and persistent, they will usually work with you.

[UCGal]

dup

[NotCranky]

On the window issue, tell the inspector you will raise the subfloor 3/4 of an inch. Wear them out.

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