Who is responsible for knowing city regs and permits?

Question

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?

Manolo D. · Answer

Cynthia Hartley Contractor shall be responsible to pull and close necessary permits as needed to implement this contract. Cost of the permit shall be bourne by the contractor. Any work done by the contractor without permits shall be subject to refund in full plus contractor will pay any costs that will arise in the correction thereof. It seems to me that he is not licensed if he could not pull their own permit. $800 will be the cost of a favor from someone licensed to pull the permit. I would say that your hired contractor is not legit at best.

Corby Goade · Answer

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!

Cynthia Hartley · Answer

@Chris SeveneyThe property is in a historic neighborhood. I spoke with the city planner who said that not only do I need a permit, but I am not allowed to have a chain link fence - despite other chain link fences installed on adjacent properties. I later spoke with the neighborhood historic preservation representative who said a fence around the chainlink fence would work. fence company. They said they would install a wood fence around the chainlink fence for just the cost of materials. On the plus side, the price of the chain link fence was half that other fence installers wanted to charge, so the money spent will be chalked up to a lesson learned. I won't make the non-permitting mistake twice. Thanks again to all who provided their input!!

Ian Barnes · Answer

This is Baltimore City. It is always the owners fault. If they send you citations and you don't get them, you still have to pay for them. If the city places a stop word order and you have to pay the mandatory $1,000 dollar fine, good luck getting it from the contractor and complaining to the MHIC commission. If you don't pull permits and someone dies because of it, good luck not losing everything you have in a Baltimore City court when you get sued. If someone eats lead in your house, not only can your LLC be sued, but it can pierce the vail and you can be sued personally. Point is, if you use a contractor, make sure they know everything possible about Baltimore City, and pull every permit that should be pulled. If you need help, DM me. All I do is live, eat, sleep Baltimore.

Cynthia Hartley · Answer

@Manolo D. Thank you for that advice. When I had my follow up call with the contractor about the permits he said that he doesn't pull permits, but he knows someone who could do it for $800. Why would I spend $800 to have a $40 permit pulled?! I told him I would pull the e-permit online myself. That said, moving forward, I will put a clause in contracts to have the contractor identify any permits that are needed. I don't know if that language is strong enough. Suggestions? Additionally, I am now compiling a spreadsheet of permits needed and the costs so that they are readily available to me in the future - part of my trust but verify approach.

Manolo D. · Answer

Cynthia Hartley Next time, embed a clause in your contract to have contractors pull permit WHEN NEEDED. Once sentence makes the difference. Half the price is your advantage, it does not excuse you the contractor to not do the job correctly; you should have paid that price, period, no buts, no becauses. I disagree with others that the homeowner is the ultimate responsible party, I strongly believe that codes stop at contractor level, if the contractor does not know code he should not take the job and if he does, it is his responsibility to pay for his mistakes.

Chris Seveney · Answer

Cynthia Hartley Have you gone down to the city to tell them it was a mix up and see if they would come out and inspect the fence versus having you have to take it down?

Jeffrey H. · Answer

the contractors contract is with you, As the owner of the house, your contract is with the city.

Wayne Brooks · Answer

If your contract did not require permits, it’s on you. For more complicated work, you need a detailed scope and a legit set of plans, in order for the contractor to bid what You say you want done.

Cynthia Hartley · Answer

Thank you for your replies. I had a fence installed at a property. I called several fence companies to ask if they install fences in Baltimore City. Several did. I selected one to install a fence, but I did not know a permit was required and he did not tell me either. So I now have to remove the fence, get a permit and reinstall the fence. I think the fencing company, having the experience of working in Baltimore City, should have known and told me about this requirement. Do I withhold final payment or chalk this up to an expensive lesson learned?