Buying a home with unpermitted work (bathrooms etc)

[Roberto Rohann]

Hello all. So I’m looking at houses in the westchester and just outside of NYC area. A lot of homes have had bathroom and kitchen modifications without permits. Things such as added showers to half baths and bathrooms in basements etc. 

How will this affect me in the home buying process. Will I be stuck with a home in which I will need to obtain permits for this past work ? And possibly having to modify the work to actual code and standards. 

Also which party in the home buying process would be looking for these things ? Is it the inspector? The appraiser. 

Any help  appreciated as most of the homes in my area have had bathrooms and kitchens added in places they originally weren’t. 

[Joe Jor]

This is fairly standard in the Westchester area given most homes are 100+ years old and the building code / inspectors didn't really come to power until the 70s or 80s.

Likely your real estate agent will note the issues.  You can:
* accept as is (or ask for credits)
* demand the seller fixes it and gets town sign off
* demand the seller rips it out (e.g. an illegally finished basement)

In theory, these changes should be grandfathered in and aside from legitimate safety concerns (e.g. GFI outlets, etc), they would not have to be brought up to current code.  Set up an appointment with the town building department.  Don't give an address, but talk through hypotheticals.

It depends town to town and how grumpy the building inspectors are.  I am dealing with a basement that had an illegal stove and they turned the legal 1/2 bath to a full bath.  They town asked me to get an architect.  The architect said they usually grandfather the bathroom work in for $5k - $10k.  The stove had to go.  

In my case, the plumbing inspector was a problem.  He had an issue that the water lines were 1/2 inch and the toilet drain was PVC.  Both of these had worked fine for 30, 40, 50 years or more.  I had to upgrade the waterlines to 3/4 (ripping out the wall, retiling) and replace the drain line with metal pipe, (dig up floor, plumb, concrete, retile).  He also wanted a backflow preventer installed in the main sewer line.

About $25k so far, but the end is in sight.

Just my experience ...
Joe