No Final Permits, No Insurance Pay out
logic
11 years ago
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chispa
11 years agodreamgarden
11 years agoRelated Discussions
Insurance running out
Comments (14)lindajewell is right about the guardianship route. Make sure one of the siblings is appointed not the wife. She is handling his care badly. Guardianship supercedes any paperwork she might have. power of attorney, etc. The wife might be stressed out from this dilemma which means she is incapable of deciding what is best for her husband. In other words she could be detrimental to his health. The worst is when the state steps in and takes over. (protective services for adults.) God forbid! Look for an eldercare lawyer. There are pro bono lawyers (no fee) who specialize in this sort of thing. Income and assets don't play into it. You might find an organization or an association that might help you. If your brother is in ny I can make referrals. This is who might be able to help at the hospital........social worker, patient advocate. If the hospital decides to send him home request the form to appeal the decision. They will keep him there until a decision is made from higher ups at the hospital. The decison can take awhile. This has nothing to do with insurance. You can also file complaints against the hospital thru a regulatory agency. They might stop the whole discharge....See MoreTo Permit or not to permit, that IS a question!
Comments (36)westsider40: "I wouldn't bet that an insurance company would deny a claim for houses not up to code. Perhaps, but, we have a 1922 cottage where the elec is up to code on the main floor but the second floor still has knob and tube. Very little in that old place would be up to today's code but we filed a claim for a critter chewing up the flexible heating ducts in our 2 foot high crawl space (only flexible ducts would fit!) and it was paid." The claim denial has nothing to do with "being up to code"...it has to do with performing an illegal renovation that may be the cause of the claim. Without permits, there are no verifiable plans...you are therefore out of luck proving that something that was or was not done with the renovation did not cause the fire, flood, etc. That said, knob and tube is "grandfathered" in most if not all jurisdictions in terms of code compliance. However, during the last couple of years, many of the major insurers will not insure a home with K&T once title changes..or will charge a huge premium to insure. That means that if or when you sell, the buyers may not be able to obtain insurance...or they will have to pay quite a bit extra for that insurance, unless there is an electrical upgrade. This is because most K&T is not in perfect condition and/or it is difficult to verify that it is all in good shape, as much is hidden behind walls.It is also difficult to find parts to repair K&T when required..or to even find an electrician willing to do so and who knows HOW to do so...and for a reasonable cost. Last but not least...once you renovate, in most places, grandfathered things such as K&T are no longer "grandfathered" and must be brought up to current code. In our small NJ town, three people who had fires who also had illegally finished basements were denied their insurance claim. For those who can afford to take that gamble..so be it...but bear in mind the cost can be a LOT more expensive than permits...especially if injury and/or death occurs....See MoreError with permit pulled by GC. Who pays?
Comments (47)@Tim Cleary - Most states are Dillon's rule states, I think there are only 10 home rule states, so Virginia is similar to most other states. Your assertion is the existence of an appeals process and a review board means that the code isn't whatever code officials say it is. You are substituting the review board for the inspector, as proof there is no discretionary power but that just moves the discretionary power and is largely semantics. Have you ever lost an appeal that you should have won? If the answer is yes, then code officials have discretionary power. The problem is that a series of cases in the late 60's and early 70's determined that permits were issued for the benefit of the municipality rather than the homeowners. There is no recourse for administrative action or inaction against officials for exercising their broad discretionary power. --- The question becomes, does correct typically win and incorrect typically lose? What several studies found was that wins and losses had little to do with correct and incorrect application of building codes. There are many examples of losing on appeal even when the appeal mirrors situations that previously won on appeal. This is one of those construction law topics that gets revisited in journals every 5 years and the results are always the same... public agency is pretty terrible. My godfather, who I spent a significant amount of time with, was the plumbing inspector (he was previously one of my father's employees). You are going to struggle to convince me that the process isn't biased and discretionary, because I have heard those "I just don't like them conversations."...See MorePermits? I don’t need no stinking permits.
Comments (28)My experience is the town will not put itself in a position to be held accountable for work done that was not permitted. The inspector may let you sign off on it and then you take full responsibility if someone is injured due to shoddy work, or work not up to code. Your experience is an outlier, because code enforcement in the United States is never accountable for work done whether or not it is permitted. Code enforcement officials are not legally responsible for code compliance, homeowners are. Code enforcement officials are not required to catch all problems and no one involved in the construction of a home is indemnified in any way when an item passes inspection. In other words, if the code enforcement official says something is fine and someone is injured, you can't ever sue the official and you can always sue the responsible party... However, that responsible party is not the OP. The OP didn't own the house and, as far as we know, wasn't contracted to do the remodeling. You can't sue the current owner of a property for the negligence of a previous owner, the OP is completely protected from that type of suit. what about the home owner's insurance policy? Do you have one? Again, my experience is before a policy is written the insurance company sends an inspector to assess the condition of the home. Insurance doesn't look at, or care about, codes. I have a dozen rental properties and an insurance inspector has never set foot on the inside of a single one. They look at the roof, the condition of stairs, walks, and rails, etc. I guess if there is something that they are concerned about they could come inside but unless there is something apparent in a visual inspection the insurance inspector isn't going to know about it. Furthermore, why would the OP spend hundreds of thousands to bring a property up to code in order to save a couple of hundred dollars a year on insurance, especially given that the OP noted they were selling the property. ----- People need to stop with the fear mongering... Most people here would sell immediately if it was their money needed to get a house up to code. ETA: Some expertise is too local to be crowdsourced, your best bet is to consult a local real estate agent who has experience with estate sales and a real estate attorney who can walk you through disclosure requirements....See Morebrickeyee
11 years agobarbcollins
11 years agogreg_2010
11 years agobrickeyee
11 years agobarbcollins
11 years agodreamgarden
11 years agogreg_2010
11 years agobrickeyee
11 years ago
Jennifer Goodier
6 years ago
Love stone homes
6 years ago
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