Non-permitted / disclosed as permitted

T

talerco

Member
Jurisdiction
California
Well.....
In this market I closed quickly on a SFR investment property. 2 weeks ago.
The house was built in 1948. It also has a newer oversized garage with a rec. room above. The listing called this a garage and rec. room.
In the owner Disclosure Statement she said it was permitted and built in 1986/1987.
Yes, folks - after closing - I find out from the City that there is no permit for this garage / rec. room.
Please don't tell me I should have investigated sooner - my wife is proving very capable of taking care of that message.
QUESTION - what recourse, if any, do I have against former owner and/or agent.
 
talerco said:
QUESTION - what recourse, if any, do I have against former owner and/or agent.
Click to expand...

My guess: None.

Because it actually does go back to something that could have easily been verified during your inspection period.

I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. Talk to a lawyer and see if you want to spend the thousands that it would take to litigate. And, frankly, before you can claim any monetary damages, you would first have to get a permit and have the city inspect the addition to find out what, if anything, it would cost you to bring it up to code. If it turns out that all of it was up to code, you'd have no case, other than the cost of the permit, maybe.

I do a lot of stuff to my house without a permit but I make sure I learn the code requirements that apply.
 
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talerco said:
Well.....
In this market I closed quickly on a SFR investment property. 2 weeks ago.
The house was built in 1948. It also has a newer oversized garage with a rec. room above. The listing called this a garage and rec. room.
In the owner Disclosure Statement she said it was permitted and built in 1986/1987.
Yes, folks - after closing - I find out from the City that there is no permit for this garage / rec. room.
Please don't tell me I should have investigated sooner - my wife is proving very capable of taking care of that message.
QUESTION - what recourse, if any, do I have against former owner and/or agent.
Click to expand...
Be careful of what you wish for. You may have opened a Pandora's box (or already have) with your inquiry into the permit. It's always best to leave sleeping dogs lie.
 
talerco said:
what recourse, if any, do I have against former owner and/or agent.
Click to expand...

That depends. Did the seller own the property when this unpermitted work was done three and a half decades ago? If not, what was the basis for the seller's representation that the work was permitted? Is it because the person(s) who sold the property to your seller made the same representation?

What I'm getting at is that the seller's obligation was to disclose what he/she had knowledge of. If the seller simply made the same disclosure to you as was made to him/her when he/she bought the property, then you'll have no recourse. On the other hand, if the your seller did own the property in the mid-'80s, then you should speak with a local real estate attorney about your options. If the seller made a knowingly false representation, then the fact that you could have discovered this during the inspection period will not leave you without recourse.
 
Thank you.
The seller owned the property when the garage was built. She owned it with her husband who died some time ago. I think he built it. Could this be complicated by her claiming he told her it was permitted? I see the term 'knowingly'.
 
talerco said:
Thank you.
The seller owned the property when the garage was built. She owned it with her husband who died some time ago. I think he built it. Could this be complicated by her claiming he told her it was permitted? I see the term 'knowingly'.
Click to expand...
I'm at a loss to understand what difference it makes if the garage was built with or without a permit. What do you hope to gain?

The garage has been there for over thirty years. Your local tax jurisdiction knows it is there. You are very likely paying property tax on it and they don't seem to care if there was a permit or not.
 
welkin said:
I'm at a loss to understand what difference it makes if the garage was built with or without a permit. What do you hope to gain?
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The OP bought an "investment property", but will now either have to deal with the permit issue or disclose it to the next buyer. Both will cost money.
 
Zigner said:
The OP bought an "investment property", but will now either have to deal with the permit issue or disclose it to the next buyer. Both will cost money.
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Agree. In addition, it may be illegal to rent the property with an unpermitted structure.
 
talerco said:
The seller owned the property when the garage was built. She owned it with her husband who died some time ago. I think he built it. Could this be complicated by her claiming he told her it was permitted?
Click to expand...

Very much so. I don't mean to be sexist but men build stuff and the wives typically don't have much to do with it, especially if they were of a previous generation.

welkin said:
I'm at a loss to understand what difference it makes if the garage was built with or without a permit.
Click to expand...

It could make a big difference if somebody wanted to do something else to the structure that required a permit. My friend had to tear out part of a room built by the previous owner that didn't get a permit and didn't build it to code.

I touched on this earlier. If the structure was built to code then all one likely incurs is the cost of the permit.
 

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