On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 19:17:06 -0500, Brad wrote:

In article ,
said...
On 12 Nov 2003 11:14:15 -0800, (Basha) wrote:

I am in house hunting for the last one month and found a suitable
house recently. I am thinking of buying it. When I went to to get the
survey map from the city governmemnt, I learned that they don't have a
record of basement finished. The previous owner who actually completed
the basement didn't get the permit for it. The basement has 2
bedrooms, one bathroom and a large family room with fire place. Is
there any risk involved in buying this house?

I believe there is. Neither you nor a home inspector can see through
the walls. If the electrical wasn't permitted and inspected, how can
you know whether or not it was properly done. Same thing with
plumbing and gas. As to the bedroom, is there legal egress, and if
there is and an enlarged window was installed, was it done correctly
or was the structure compromised?.

I'm a contractor and I've seen enough unpermitted work (usually done
by homeowners) that is poor practice and even unsafe to scare me off.

I'm a DIYer and I've seen enough work by contractors that is poor practice
and even unsafe. I have to live in the house so I trust my work much more
than some guy who knows the aisles at Home Depot and has a sign on his
truck.


The point that you seem to have completely missed is that the work was
done without permits or inspections - regardless of how good the
homeowner may be at doing the work the fact remains that if they
didn't do it in accordance with codes that were current at the time
and then have it inspected and it passed, you are left with relying on
any faith you have in the unknown homeowner ability not to cross the
wires or connect the gas lines to the water lines!

The other point that was developed as the thread went along was the
fact that features that were potentially hazardous to the health and
safety of the occupants may have been ignored by the homeowner, i.e.
proper egress from the area that was finished.

My wife and I are currently househunting ... when I come across one
with an unpermitted finished basement, I value the basement
development at minus three thousand dollars (the cost of tearing it
out).

So you don't even give it a chance. It's possible that the job is
actually better than anything you might do.

It can have a chance if at least it could be proved that it was not
necessarily better, but at least that it was in conformance with the
established standards and codes - no permits = no inspections leave
you with a mystery!