Advice from a Friend: Get a Building Permit

Last night we heard a story about a building permit that is worthy of the blog.

A friend of mine bought a house. After a year or so, they started thinking of getting some renovations done. They called a contractor who came over to prepare a quote. I don't know all of the details but apparently the contractor pointed tons of things out that were done not to code -things done by the previous owner. One amazing example is that the Electrical Safety Authority were going to shut off their power if they didn't fix things in one weeks time because the existing electrical work was not grounded! They had gotten a home inspection when they bought the house but nothing was pointed out at the time. Home inspectors have so many disclaimers in their reports that there is nothing my friend can do about this situation from that angle.

Now they have an insurance claim in (thankfully they bought the right kind of insurance when they purchased the house). Normally, insurance companies don't go after the previous owner of the house but because the work required was around $30,000 they are. This is all because the previous owner did not get any building permits for the renovations they had done.

My friend and his family are ok now but more work has to be done. They want to sell the house but do not want to do what the previous owner did and sell the house with so many problems to an unsuspecting future owner.

Not only do building permits provide a road map to what is done in a house but this is an example of how not getting one can hurt you later on as a buyer or as a seller.