Permit Status "Statue of Limitation" Pasco County FL

[Mike Nelson]

I have an REO I am buying and the permit records in Pasco County FL show this house having a roofing permit pulled in 2001 and the status is "Statute of Limitation". Does anyone know exactly what this means? I can only guess 20 different interpretations of this. I couldnt get a hold of anyone at the building dept this afternoon, but will try again tomorrow. Any Pasco County Florida guys dealt with this before? New Port Richey Holiday Spring hill areas?

[Colin G Murphy]

Hi @Mike Nelson

This is quite common and I´ve come across a lot of "statute of limitation" in the Pasco properties I have purchased. For example a statute of limitations on old roof, window and HVAC jobs are all typical. This doesn´t mean the permit is open and a contractor is owed money. It doesn´t necessarily mean there is a serious defect either. Most of the time it means that the permit wasn´t closed properly after the job was done and it reverted to statute of limitation status after 10 years had passed.

The easiest solution is to flag it with the seller and tell them to go to the permit office (8731 Citizens Dr, New Port Richey) with proof that they own the property, pay the $50-70 needed to get an inspector out there and then they will change status to completed within a day or two if everything looks ok. I have done this with private sellers and wholesalers several times and they´re usually happy to make the effort once you´ve signed a contract and paid a deposit. 

If the seller isn´t interested in going to the permit office (which is a certainty with an REO sale) then you can deal with it yourself after you buy the property. In other words, if your 4 point inspection tells you that the roof has 10 years of useful life left, then don´t worry about a statute of limitation on the roof from 1998. You can either ignore it or go to the permit office and get it fixed.