Question on CO's

We have a house that we may accept the offer on but the owner made a remark to us that he does not have a CO for a porch he added on that is enclosed. What happens if he doesn't have a co? Town of Babylon (North Babylon)

What happens if he doesn't want to pay for the CO can we purchase a co and if so how much does that cost?

Thanks!

Re: Question on CO's

If you ever do any work that requires permits the town will discover the lack of CO and issue fines that you'll be responsible. You'll also have to bring the porch up to code if it's not in compliance or you'll have to tear it out. You may also have trouble selling the house at a later date if you don't have a CO for the porch. If a buyer insists that you have it you'll have to go through the above process or options to get it.

We just had a dormer put in and as part of the field inspection they did a routine check of other parts of the house. The previous owner had added a wall and turned half the basement into a bar/rec-room without permits - not on the CO. We never realized that was something that should have been on the CO but the town nailed us for $800+ in fines and we had to do another $1000 in work to bring things up to code. I wish that had been on the seller's dime, not ours. Islip was really nit-picky too - they tried to say the cellar door may have been added (no - it was on the original CO) and they even had the nerve to question if the fireplace was added because it wasn't on the original CO IMO it's just not worth the headache - tell the owner you want a valid CO or reduce the purchase price by the amount the home would be worth without the enclosed porch including the cost to remove it.

Re: Question on CO's

see we haven't purchased the house yet. the owner said to us point blank there is no CO for that enclosed area. So who tells us if it is to code? The town comes and inspects it or our engineer when we go bring in him. I don't mind making some adjustments to bring it code but I want to know how much and I don't want to be responsible tearing it down if it is not to code.

Like who does this?

Re: Question on CO's

I would suggest you talk to the real estate attorney about it. Your engineer may be able to give you some advice but the town would ultimately be the one to say if it is or is not in code and if it was added without permits they will definately want to assess a fine before issuing an updated CO. Check to see if it's too close to the property line too - you would need a variance if he built it too close to the line or you'd have to tear it out. Sounds fishy to me. He knows it was done without permits and it's not on the CO. It may be withing code and within the area you can build on the property but it's still not on the CO and in order to get it added there are very likely fines to be paid. Look online for your town. Islip has all the paperwork online and it listed what the fees and fines were for permits for new work and to qualify work already done.

Re: Question on CO's

Re: Question on CO's

We're going through this right now but in our case its a basement. We know its not up to code and we intended to redo it anyway so we spoke with a town expeditor to get an estimate on how much it would cost and had them knock it off the price. That way we can do it how we like.

Re: Question on CO's

If you are entering into a contract to buy the house, as part of the contract usually all C.O.s are required. It would be up to the owner to obtain a CO

In the Town of Babylon, when you file for a building permit, a property survey less than one year old is required. The owner would need to get a survey, file an application to maintain the porch and any other structures shown on the survey that the Town finds have no CO's, if there are any. The process for a permit and inspections in Babylon is fairly quick. It can be done at the same time (by the owner) as contracts and you obtaining a mortgage. Then you are buying a house with all the C.O.s in place..

I have a business as a Building Permit service, so if you have any questions about the process Im here...

Re: Question on CO's

Good so if this guy want's to sell his house he needs to get them and I don't need to do this. Thank you. I really do not need to do anymore legwork then what I have been doing.

Thank you so much!

Re: Question on CO's

Make sure your attorney reviews the CO with you to be certain everything is listed. In our case we got an updated CO but it turns out the basement renovation wasn't specifically listed so even though it was a new CO it didn't include everything in the house that should have been on it. We didn't know that the basement info was required and our attorney didn't know there was a half finished basement that should have been included. Fast forward 7 years when we do renovations and now the town makes us pay for the basement renovations done without a permit before we owned the house.

Re: Question on CO's

We got a update!!!! The owner said the porch was there when he purchased the home, he just put windows in and is either willing to split the cost with us on the CO (if its expensive) or take out the windows to modify it so we can purchase the house clear. Our real estate agent is going to talk to the town to see what the deal is tomorrow.

OMG WE MAY FINALLY HAVE A HOUSE AFTER 7 months of searching!!!! Hiring our lawyer tomorrow and getting our inspectors on board.

Re: Question on CO's

Re: Question on CO's

We ended up have the seller give us some money for our basement CO. It wasn't enough though. It's taking FOREVER to get it done and at final inspection the inspector said there's still more to do. I will never buy a house w/o the proper COs. I

Re: Question on CO's

This exact thing happened to us. Our lawyer had the sellers put about 5K in escrow which would be returned after CO was in our hands. They were responsible for getting it through the Town of Hempstead, and for all fees involved. We were able to close w/o it because they proved they were in the process of getting it.

Message edited 6/16/2009 8:52:16 AM.

Re: Question on CO's

great! thank you all. We have our lead inspector arriving tonight. Meanwhile another house came on the market for just 10k more then this one (listed) in are exact area and I'm trying to get in now asap to see this before we bring the engineer in tomorrow to our CO house.

I feel like a jerk but if i can get a house in my hometown instead of moving into a house that i might get tied up with a co I am doing it.