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On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:36:47 -0500, "DanG" wrote:

A friend who shall remain nameless called. He lives in the county
in a different state. He launched into a small addition with no
permit. He has it framed and dried in. He received a letter from
the county ordering him to cease and desist. He called wondering
what they can do to him if he just keeps going.

I didn't really have an answer. I did tell him that if there was
a need for the electric company to do any work on the service,
they would not perform without permit approval. Other than that,
what can they do? This guy is a bit of a renegade. I explained
about the yes, sir/no,sir - gee, I'm sorry approach. He's headed
a bit more along the my castle, my kingdom, damn the torpedoes
approach.


Have you talked to them and figured out what a permit entails.
Hopefully they will just double the permit fees (or whatever the
regular spanking they do) and inspect what you have but some places
(Florida in particular) will want engineered plans with raised seal
and are generally a pain in the ass if you try to draw them yourself
(I am in that quagmire as we speak)
I have just about decided to abandon the project and live with what I
have after about $500 in bureacratic bull**** without moving a shovel
of dirt. They still want "one more piece of paper" as they did in my
last 5 trips downtown.
Worst case is they will fail your foundation or something and you will
be tearing it down or doing serious remedial repairs to make them
happy. Again you may need an engineer.

That will all depend on your building department and what you built.
No matter what, you are in it now, so that "humble" approach is next
... take your checkbook.

BTW the way they deal with this in the 2 states I have lived is as a
civil court matter. Basically they sue you for not having the permit,
a slam dunk case and the "fine" is actually a judgement against the
property. They just slap a lien on you and forclose if you don't pay
up. These "suits" can actually be daily fines so it can get expensive
in a hurry. You will really have to stick your thumb in their eye to
get in criminal court (jail)

I am a Florida licensed inspector so I am required to take the law
courses every 2 years.

You're not a good inspector if you can't find SOMETHING wrong.

From day one at Inspector School.

It's a smart idea to just go along with the program.

Steve