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Buying and Selling Homes

Our house doesn't have a building permit!

6 years ago

We have a 2 year old ranch home in WI. When all sorts of bad things started to happen in our home from heaving 3-season room, 11 leaking windows, huge drywall cracks, etc. we got a lawyer and started to do some digging. It turns out that the municipality has no record of a building permit ever given for our home. The application for the building permit was never even signed or dated by the builder (very prominent builder in the area with no history of being sued, etc.). In addition, we've found out that the municipality lost our house plans and completed only 5 of 15 inspections (of the 5 performed supposedly, I can definitively prove that some of them weren't done).

What is our recourse? Could we ever sell this house? Has anyone ever heard of anything so outrageous? The fact that the municipality then still gave an occupancy permit is mind-boggling. This is the biggest case of fraud/collusion I ever heard of!

Featured Answer

homechef59

6 years ago

You need to consult with an attorney. As tempting as it may be, don't comment further on this chat room about your problems until you have spoken with your attorney.

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Comments (6)

worthy
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Not that uncommon. Here's an interesting case in our jurisdiction where the owner won some damages against the municipality for egregious violations of building codes and its own procedures.

But your lawyer is the best person to advise you in your jurisdiction.
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C Marlin
6 years ago
You don't say what year it was built, the records may be incorrect. Why was there ever any inspection if the builder never obtained a building permit? Why would the city have plans if they never got a building permit? It may be more records were lost, before hiring an attorney talk to the building department, calmly ask them why there is incomplete records. If you have certificate of occupancy, it appears there was some type of oversite. Without more information it is difficult to know your problem or remedy. Have you asked the prominent builder your questions?
maddielee
6 years ago
You wrote that the house was 2 years old. Did you have an inspection done before closing? Did you buy it from the builder? Is it part of a subdivision that was built by the same builder? Are there problems with the other homes built by the builder?
User
6 years ago
It may or may not be the same in your area but in some areas the building permits are kept by the county government. Inspected by the various cities because each has particular things that are required in some but not required in others. You might ask your attorney to check there. If your attorney is unfamiliar with how it is handled in your area they might not know enough to help you. Some attorneys say more than they actually know about a situation.
kudzu9
6 years ago
I'm thinking there is more to this story. If a builder did not get permit, why would he then call for inspections? And why would the municipality do inspections without a permit in place? Totally apart from the quality issues and the fact that the records look like a mess, more digging is necessary before conclusions can be drawn.

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