We just bought a house and a few months later had to replace the furnace and AC. Apparently the electrician ran into a snag and called a city electrical inspector to come to our house with a question. The city inspector found some electrical work that was done wrong probably 40 years ago requiring some rewriting. There was an unfinished wall we were aware of with some wiring hanging out that we got flagged for. And then he went through our house (without our permission or invitation) and found a bunch of work that was done unpermitted (electrical, structural, and plumbing) from previous owners. On my review, there’s nothing unsafe or concerning basically previous owners half-finished the basement without permits. We were well aware the basement was half finished when we bought. But the city is heavy on our backs about it now. They said they want to bring three inspectors and a contractor to tell us what to do and expect to have to rip out the walls and redo a bunch of stuff.
We feel overwhelmed and violated. We paid $10k for the new furnace/AC and went into debt to pay for it, and now we’re being told we have probably thousands and thousands more to pay for a contractor to remake our basement essentially. We feel so threatened by our city. My last conversation with them, they threw in a light threat and said they could even shut off the power if they deemed there were serious issues and we did not comply. We are seriously considering selling the house AS-IS to get out of this massive headache
1) Do we have any legal rights since we did not invite the city inspector to our house?
2) What other options do we have to settle the unpermitted work issue?
3) We would like to solve it before we sell the house but would like to do it on our own time (over the next several years). But the city seems to be having none of it and wants it addressed ASAP. Is that legal for them or can I push back at all?
Thanks all for any advice. We are at the end of our rope.
Replies
A local lawyer can answer your legal questions (for a fee)
In most cases, inspectors are well-supported by laws, and teeth are provided to help them encourage compliance.
This depends on the specific city, of course.
In some places, they can hang a tag on the house, making it illegal to live there. In other places, they can arrange to disconnect utilities until violations are taken care of.
Did you pay for an inspection of the house before the purchase?
At this point, the best plan would be to make nice nice with the inspectors, and see if they will work with you to get into compliance within some time frame. There may be interim immediate steps you can take like disconnecting electric circuits, plugging pipes, and fixing specific structural problems that will satisfy the inspectors concerns.
Thanks for the insight. If the city keeps pressing us, I think we are just going to sell and move. We don’t have the money to deal with it right now.
We did not have an inspection pre-buy. We bought it from friends of ours FSBO and had been over many times before buying, so the work is not theirs. Impossible to track how far back the work goes. The furnace electrical itself was about 40 years old and not done correctly. Has passed many hands since then, I believe.
Good luck with the sale. Just be sure that if you do a sale by owner, you understand disclosure laws where you live. In some places, there are bad things that come from leaving out info. A realtor should be familiar with these issues, but they do want their fee to handle a sale.
There probably isn't an old house in the country that could pass a current inspection and it would make no sense to try. They should never have been invited in but that cat is out of the bag. My advice would be to not let them in again and to talk with a lawyer before you do anything else. Selling your house as-is might open an even bigger can of worms.
"They said they want to bring three inspectors and a contractor......"
There is a strong stink of corruption here. City inspectors should never be trying to drum up work for private contractors. I've never encountered a residential project that required three inspectors.
This really depends on where the city is.
My brother had a neighbor who was carrying a new washing machine into the house. local building inspector happened by, and stopped to let him know a permit was required. the homeowner balked, said some less-than nice words, and next thing you know, the inspector offered a choice, let me take a look, or I come back with the sheriff, and you try to tell the judge why you do not need a permit.
The homeowner ended up with three permits, and a bit of work to do.
My son lives in a city that does not have electric inspectors, but require a licensed contractor to sign off on work in the city.
There are cities all over the country that have established building departments that respond (or over respond) to past problems with bad wiring that leads to fires and loss of life. these lives can include firefighters, especially if other structural issues compound the problems.
Just like you may be stopped by a trooper who has pulled dead folks from cars, the building inspector may have in mind local failures that led to problems.
Corruption is a thing, but it is not always the issue.
We had a similar situation when my mother-in-law passed away, and we discovered that two portions of the house did not have certificates-of-occupancy! One portion was a two-car garage that had been converted into living space by previous owners, and the second was a screen room that my m-i-l pulled a permit for, but never had the final inspection. So, we couldn't sell the house until the situation was rectified...
We pulled a permit and worked amicably with the local building department (as stated by unclemike42, "make nice nice"), and were able to successfully obtain the C.O.'s for both spaces. The focus of the building department was on the plumbing and electric, and I was able to make all the necessary upgrades. In the particular locale, I didn't need to be a licensed plumber or electrician, and that might be a problem for your situation if you attempt to fix the problems and licensing is required... Ironically, the majority of code violations were done by a well-known local electrician!
Have a friendly meeting with the building inspector to draw up a list of issues, and then, after the meeting, draw up an action plan on when things will be fixed. If you tend to be "hot headed", then have a "cool, calm, and collected" family member represent you!
I should add that only my beautiful and charming wife attended the on-site inspections, which was an intended strategy, but the key point is to avoid any confrontation with the building department, as they hold the upper hand in this discussion!
By pulling a permit, you will have an extended amount of time to fix the problems and demonstrate to the building department that you are willing to work with them. This should allow you to recover from the new furnace/AC expense, and develop a better relationship with the building department. In our experience, the friendly and humble approach led to a mutually acceptable conclusion, with minimal expense.
Selling the house would be problematic, as I would expect that most perspective buyers would have a home inspection, and you would have the same problem of needing to fix the code violations that are deemed non-negotiable.