Who is responsible for knowing city regs and permits?

[Cynthia Hartley]

Hi there,

Baltiimore city has a lot of permit requirements, regulations and restrictions for work done in historic neighborhoods. Generally speaking who is responsible for ensuring compliance with the permits and regulations? Is it the contractor or the home owner? 

[Corby Goade]

If code is not met on a project, the contractor could be held liable professionally, I'd guess that in order to hold them accountable financially, you'd be looking at civil litigation. Ultimately, the property owner is responsible. If something isn't done to code, it would have to be torn out and redone- good luck getting a contractor to pay for that without a fight.

I love using the city planning desk. I think most cities have something like this- but you can go to city hall without an appointment and discuss your project, or any part of it, with a planner, and they will go over code, the permitting process, inspection process, provide you with simple documentation that will help you understand how to meet code, etc. It's a great resource and should be utilized as much as possible.

Best of luck!