You’re not alone… Tell us your unpermitted stories and how you dealt with your property issues.

Code enforcement, from condemning buildings to investigating poor plumbing, is adopted by communities to preserve the safety, cleanliness and property values of a municipality or other community. But when notices concerning your grass height become more of a nuisance than the grass itself, code enforcement is often looked at as a pain for homeowners. Fighting code enforcement can be difficult and costly. More often than not the code officials do a great deal of research before they actually cite your property. So be prepared to take the time to do your own.

Fighting local code enforcement

1. Pick your battles. Remember that some codes, such as building codes and grass height ordinances, are in place for a reason, and that reason is safety. Fighting a code violation can often be more costly and take more time than cutting the lawn. But if you feel you’re being harassed for minor aesthetic violations. You are in your right to ask which section of the code you are violating.
2. If you think you can talk your way out of a violation, think twice. Code Officials are like highway patrol giving speeding tickets, they have heard every excuse in the book. “I bought the property this way”, “I needed permits for that?”, “The contractor told me I didn’t need any”…etc. So this approach will only irritate them.
3. Look at the law. This means finding out which agency, usually your city or your homeowners’ association, is citing you as well as looking at the law to determine if you are actually in violation. This can be a frustrating task due to the time involved. Most agencies are only open during business hours so time off work may be required for research.
4. If you are not in violation of a law, contact your city or homeowners’ association code enforcement office. (Often homeowners’ associations contract with a property management company for this purpose.) Contact them multiple ways, once by phone as the problem may be cleared up easily with a conversation, and once by mail or email, so you have proof in writing. Request a second inspection of the violation and schedule it for a time you will be home so you can speak with the inspector.
5. Request a hearing. If a second inspection hasn’t cleared the violation, request a hearing with your city or homeowners’ association. There is often a time limit on hearing requests, usually between 10 and 60 days, so check local regulations and request a hearing as soon as possible.
6. Go to your hearing. Bring evidence of compliance with local codes, including photos and any inspector’s notes. The code enforcement board will make a decision; and if they find you still in violation, you will have to comply with the code to their satisfaction and/or pay the associated fine.
7. If you think you may be in violation of local codes but wish to fight them anyway, you should request and attend the hearing, where a board will likely find you in violation of codes. Your next option will be to sue the homeowners’ association or city. Consult a lawyer who specializes in code violations about your case.
8. Decision to be cautious of is obtaining a lawyer to battle code enforcement. Although a lawyer may know more aspects of the code. The lawyer may know more aspects of the code. The lawyer can’t actually do anything to resolve the issue. They will simply restate your argument to code enforcement which will again request proof. It is a very expensive way to be told and /or asked “we need more evidence”.

In the end, to fight Code Enforcement will require a great deal of time with an unpredictable outcome. The most important aspect of the process to focus on is proof or evidence of work being done to the compliance standards of your local jurisdiction. Without these documents it will be a great big waste of time for they will make you comply: as well as, subject you to any fees or penalties associated with the violation.

Tips & Warnings

Re: Seller responsibility for unpermitted construction/remodeling
You have inherited a bunch of problems that California law doesn’t expect you ought to inherit. I think your first step, if you haven’t done so already (looks like you have done a lot of background work) is to find your file on the sale and close of escrow. It will be full of disclosure papers of all kinds, or at least it should be! Look for anything not disclosed that should have been, or any false disclosures.
Did you use an agent yourself? That would put another light on the whole matter. Then, find someone (a friendly real estate agent, the agent you used, a title officer, or a lawyer) who can tell you if all the required disclosures were made. Look at your contract to see what dispute-resolution options were initialed by the parties, e.g., mediation, arbitration, and attorney fees for the prevailing party. The presence or absence of these provisions will influence the best tactics and the point of beginning. As to your insurance, if you have a local agent whom you trust and with whom you have a good working relationship, I’d suggest starting by making an appointment to go over your coverage with that agent at an off-hour when he or she can spend some time with you going over the policy rules regarding no-permit work. I can’t speak for any particular policy, but it is not an automatic voiding in all situations.
By:
Bryan Whipple
Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Should you add square footage with your own hands, hire subcontractors to do it or pay a licensed contractor to oversee the project?
The upside to doing it yourself is that you get a bunch of new space for a lot less money. The downsides come when you don’t do it according to code and don’t get permits. Engineers do all that correctly, as engineers are apt to do, but other types of homeowners may forgo those details.
If you do an addition without a permit or not to code, or both, here are some dangers, according to a story today at CNN.com:
- The structure could be unsafe for your family and future families.
- Unpermitted space could stop or delay a sale.
- You might have to tear down or expensively retrofit out-of-code upgrades later on.
But here’s the most chilling danger, which is according Mark Brick, a past president of the National Assn. of the Remodeling Industry, as quoted in the article:
But if your new house burns down, and your insurer finds out it included unpermitted space, “they have a way to get out of any of their obligation as an insurance company,” Brick said.
What do you think? Is unpermitted space a good idea?
Would your insurance company use that as an excuse not to pay a fire claim?

DESCRIPTION OF VIOLATION   &   TYPE OF VIOLATION

Vehicles Concerns:  Zoning

• Vehicles parked on unpaved areas  
• Parking accessory recreational vehicles in the wrong area on a property
• Oversized trucks parked in residential zones
• Vehicles parked/stored without required screening, landscaping and setbacks (generally commercial properties)
• Auto repair/service in wrong zones (i.e. auto business in a residential zone)
• Auto repair in the right-of-way – If being done by an auto repair shop

Vehicles Concerns:  Right of Way

• Vehicle sales, repair or service business parking, storing, and/or repairing vehicles in the right of way
• Abandoned/disabled vehicles in the right-of-way
• Illegally parked vehicles in the right-of-way

Vehicles Concerns:  Private Property

• Visibly disabled vehicles on private property

Construction Without Permit Concerns:  Construction without permit

• Electrical, plumbing or mechanical work without permits

• Grading and/ or fill work without permits
• Residential structural work without permits (i.e. addition to a house, construction of a new garage, fences over six feet tall, demolition of a house, etc.)
• Commercial structural work without permits (i.e. change of occupancy without required permits, addition to structure, structural tenant improvements, etc.)
• Illegal duplexes or triplexes in single family zones.

Commercial & Residential Concerns:  Zoning

• Commercial businesses in a residential zone
• Over height (taller than 6 foot) accessory structures in building setbacks
• Pavement placed for parking purposes without the required zoning permit
• Over height fence in front setback (usually fences are required to be 3 ½ feet in the front setback).
• Home businesses with customers or an employee without the required home occupation permit
• Violations of a Land Use Review conditions of approval
• Overlay zone (E-zones, scenic resource zones, others) violations
• Plan Districts violations
• Temporary activities exceeding time or area limits, including garage sales
• Tree cutting or other vegetation removal in an environmental zone

Commercial & Residential Concerns:  Erosion

• Erosion issues on a property
• Landslides

Commercial & Residential Concerns:  Dangerous

• Safety issues such as collapsing buildings or retaining walls

Commercial & Residential Concerns:  Housing Code

• Conditions of a residential structure, i.e. leaking roof, peeling paint, people living in a garage, etc.
• Ext. Maintenance of non-residential structures, derelict buildings, i.e. boarded, vacant
• Illegal Occupancies

Commercial & Residential Concerns:  Nuisance

• Vacant structure open to entry
• Trash/debris on the exterior of a property
• Bushes/trees/vegetation encroaching into right of way

Commercial & Residential Concerns:  Right-of Way

• Broken/unsafe sidewalks
• Structures/fences built in right of way 
• Basketball hoops on parking strips
• Basketball hoops on telephone poles

Trees/Vegetation Concerns:  Nuisance

• Bushes/trees/vegetation encroaching into right-of-way
• Dead or dying trees on private property
• Low tree limbs over adjacent street/sidewalk from private property trees, from public property trees, urban forestry

Trees/Vegetation Concerns:  Zoning

• Tree cutting or other vegetation removal in an environmental zone

Noise Concerns:  Noise

• Construction activity outside permitted hours

Other Concerns:  Nuisance

• CROW (Containers on the right-of-way)
• Exterior display/storage by a commercial business in a zone that does not allow this activity
• Graffiti
• Illegal Dumping
• Liquid waste draining into street drain