Attempting to Purchase FSBO Duplex in Burlington VT

[Jay Wargo]

Hey everyone! First meaningful post here so I figure I'll make it a good one. My better half and I are potentially moving to Burlington VT sometime before June when she starts classes and I'm leaning heavily on doing an owner occupied duplex. I found a FSBO, put an offer on it and had it accepted, but now we are facing some hurdles and I'm trying to get some clarification on whether or not a specific fire inspection is required by the state of Vermont for any change of ownership on a multi family property.

I think what happened is that the codes have changed since the seller has owned the property and now there are multiple changes that neither of us where aware of that need to happen in order for the property to get a C.O. with a new owner. It might even be the case that he has to make these changes regardless due to insurance and/or legal reasons. Don't know for sure.

If anyone has any general or specific advice, I'd love to hear it! I figure an owner occupied duplex (or even triplex if I can swing the price tag) is going to be the ticket as we can live in it for the next 3 years and rent the whole thing when she finishes up the grad program.

Thanks!

J

[Jake Marin]

Hi Jay. The City of Burlington requires an annual inspection for all rentals. This inspection includes a wide variety of health and safety checks. There should be a list of requirements on the Code Enforcement site. If you can’t find it, you could contact them and ask to have the list sent to you. As part of that inspection, they do look at fire safety including such items as hard wired smokes/CO and a heating equipment inspection. 

A cool new program that that just instituted rewards getting everything done before that come to inspect. If you have 0 infractions, they will grant 5 years of inspection-free bliss. 

I’m pretty sure they will only need to inpect the unit you are renting out but I would recommend updating the whole building as you will need to get it inspected once you move out if you continue to hold and rent your unit. 

Good luck!