Your Guide to Remediating Unpermitted Work

Posted by Justin Havre on Tuesday, August 14th, 2018 at 9:41am.

What to Do When You Find Unpermitted WorkOne of the biggest perks of owning a home is not having to ask permission from a landlord to paint the walls or hammer nails. However, homeowners may take this level of ownership to the extreme, assuming they can complete a variety of home improvement projects around the home, without qualifying the work with an official authority. One estimate puts the percentage of unpermitted work in Canada at a full 70%, so chances are, there's something in your home that isn't officially up to code. Those who discover unpermitted work in their home can take the following steps to fix it.

Check the Permits

Every province and neighborhood has its own opinions about which kinds of jobs need permits—and these opinions can change from year to year. Some local officials may want to protect everyone involved from shoddy work, including the homeowners. Others may only be concerned with work that could potentially negatively impact the neighbors. For example, if a home plumbing job results in a water shutdown for everyone on the block. If the homeowners know when and how the work was completed, they can check to see if any rules were violated. If not, they may need to do some additional digging.

Checking the Original Plans

Homeowners may need to go back to the drawing board to see the many changes made to the home over the years. Getting a copy of the original blueprints is a great way to verify the extent of completed work (even if it doesn't tell a homeowner when the renovations took place.) Homeowners may need to visit their local City Hall or even the construction company to obtain this prints.

Asking for Help

There are two main scenarios a homeowner may come across when remediation of unpermitted work:

  • The previous homeowners violated the rules: In this case, the permit laws were clear. The current homeowners can prove the prior homeowners completed work without going through the necessary channels.
  • It's unclear what happened: In this case, homeowners don't know when the work was completed or if the rules were broken. For example, if the previous homeowners completed work in 1995 that violated a permit law that would eventually be created in 1996, they didn't technically break the rules. However, the home may still be not up to code.

In either case, homeowners are always better off explaining the full extent of the situation to their neighborhood officials. Unpermitted work is not necessarily difficult to correct if it was done correctly. If everything checks out, homeowners can be given a retroactive permit that proves the home meets code standards.

Further Remediation Options

Homeowners may be able to receive financial compensation if they know who to turn to. Let's say a seller states that, to the best of their knowledge, the home is up to code. If the homeowner can prove the seller violated permit rules (whether knowingly or unknowingly), they can contact the seller and request they pay the permit fees or for the additional repair work. Finally, homeowners do have the option of doing nothing about unpermitted work and selling their home as-is when the time comes. However, this label can make a home much more difficult to sell.

There's little doubt that finding unpermitted work can be a nuisance to homeowners, but there are action steps they can take to make it right. By being proactive and talking to the right people, homeowners have a better chance of fixing the problem. In many cases, most West Calgary real estate agents can direct potential home buyers or sellers to the proper authorities to address any concerns about unpermitted work.

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