Are Permits necessary?

You won't register that vehicle to run on public roads unless it meet certain codes though. If you have land, you can play all you want.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski
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The city/county is the one who wants to make sure that they are aware of improvements. I will leave it up to you as to why they want to know this.

Reply to
Robert Allison

They just want to be paid for your improvements. It is a tax.

If it was really a service you would be involved with plan review and the inspector would talk to you. In reality, plan review is a joke and the inspector may not even show up. If you do get an inspection, don't expect the guy to be there more than a minute or two. He may have 40 to do that day, spread across a 50 mile wide county.

Reply to
Greg

When we lived in NJ the code official in the town our town 'surrounded' (like in the hole of a doughnut) spent most of his time hanging out in local hardware, lumber, and DIY business looking for residents buying materials they would probably use to make home improvements - the rest of the time he spent walking through the town "eye balling" homes for any visible signs of improvements. We had friends who moved into a colonial style house with an unfinished attic, but it had dormers in the roof - they put curtains on the windows and a table with a lamp on it in front of each window. Within a week there was a knock on the door and the code official was there asking about their failure to obtain a permit to finish the unfinished attic!

Reply to
avoidspam

Permits are a real money-maker for some cities. Keeps everybody's taxes down.

Reply to
JerryMouse

Actually they barely fund the building department. That is why inspectors are spread so thin. Of course the bureaucracy of the building department is a black hole that would suck up any surplus if it did exist. Unfortunately Harry Homeowner has to jump through the same hoops to build a dog house as a developer does to build a condo.

The real answer might be to privatize the whole process of homeowner permitting and inspection. Let the insurance company administer it. They are the ones with skin in the game.

Reply to
Greg

Your local government looks in various ways to make a buck? Seriously, without a permit you could be in trouble when you sell the house and it is out of code. Or, there could be safety concerns.

Reply to
Phisherman

if you did electrical and there is a fire, you may be out-of-luck. for plumbing, i wouldn't worry. ...thehick

Reply to
frank-in-toronto

Without permits for changes you make to your dwelling, if you sell, the new owners wll not be able to get a CO (certificate of occupancy) until changes that have been made to the dwelling since the last CO are inspected and the proper permits are obtained. This may require that any obstructions to inspection, such as walls, be removed to inspect the changes. Guess who pays for it? Like the motor oil commercial says, "You can pay me now (for the right oil) , or you can pay me later (for a new engine)"

Reply to
willshak

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 18:37:00 -0400, willshak scribbled this interesting note:

This is purely a matter of location. Perhaps this is the case where you are, but to assume that is the case everywhere is just wrong. I've never had any such situation with any house I've bought, ever, nor have I ever heard of anyone else in Texas having a problem like this.

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

Reply to
John Willis

Oh, yeah! I forgot about Texas.

Reply to
willshak

I've only lived in a few houses in a couple of states. I never needed a new CO, never needed any inspection. It may be in some areas, but I've never encountered it in a used home. In my 59 years in living in private dwellings, I've never had a CO or been asked about one.

I know a CO must be issued on a new house. Ed

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

How would anyone know when the changes were made to deny a CO?? I'm not sure where you live, but here in Maryland, if I sell the house, there's no CO requirement. No inspection needed at all, though most buyers get them for peace of mind to know what they are getting into. In the hot sellers' market many homes in fine condition are nonetheless sold "as is" just to simplify things.

Marc

Reply to
MAG

Which has nothing to do with permits.

Reply to
Richard J Kinch

Good Grief!

Reply to
George E. Cawthon

The type of change that may be discovered during a CO inspection is a major one, like finishing off a basement, or turning attic space into a bedroom. And if they do, then you could be required to tear it out, at least to the point of being able to be inspected. Locally, I know of a guy that got caught after he put in a deck without permits.

Reply to
Chet Hayes

Putting on a deck is different than finishing off the attic. The deck is outside and if a neighbor does not like you, they may turn you in.

IMO, no one has the right to come into your house because they suspect you are making improvements. Perhaps some states have different laws, but I've never heard of a new inspection for a CO when a house is sold. What state or local government requires it?

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Dumb question but if one wanted to buy some raw land...and build a small cabin (very small) to use as a camp of sorts.... does one need any kind of permit for that especially if the cabin will have no plumbing and no electricity and no heating cooling source?

Reply to
me6

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 08:04:20 -0500, snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net scribbled this interesting note:

Probably depends on where said proposed cabin is. Some places probably yes, others probably no.

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

Reply to
John Willis

Not dumb at all. It would depend on the location

In my town, you need 2 acres to build anything. A permit is required at 200 square feet, even if it is a storage shed. I'm sure it would vary in other locations due to zoning laws.

You may get away building a shed, but could run into problems if you tried to inhabit it as it would not meet codes for a house.

A friend of mine built a house a few years ago. Of course he had to get a CO before moving in, but he needed space to put his belongings as his old house was old and they were living with his parents He was allowed to move in boxes of stuff, some furniture, but not beds or anything that would be deemed as having someone live there.

Ed

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

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