On Fri, 08 Jun 2007 18:37:07 -0500, wrote:
The government will sell a permit to anyone for anything if you let
them. It's pure profit for them.

Nonsense. What requires a permit and what does not is very well spelled
out in the municipal building code.

And I find the notion of "profit" in a govermnent context quite amusing.

I believe in the "Dont Ask, Dont Tell" policy.

Great advice. Until the OP wants to sell that house.

They dont know everything that exists in every home in their city.

Yes, they do. They have a record of every permit pulled, including those
covering the original construction.

If an inspection is required before the house can be sold (as is the
case in the rural community that I live in), what happens with changes
and additions depends on just how through the inspector is and whether
or not the work was obviously done after construction and would have
required a permit.

The consequences could be as bad as a fine (that is probably many times
more expensive than the original permit would have been) and an order
that would prevent the sale of the house until the work was torn out.

I just don't see what's so difficult about ASKING the AHJ if a permit is
required, and then following though accordingly.

--
Art Greenberg
artg at eclipse dot net