Kansas City MO · Member since 2014 · 357 posts · 349 votes
Hi!
Have a question for landlords and property managers in Grandview MO. Do you or most landlords comply with the city ordinance to get their properties inspected & registered by the city? What does the inspection process involve? What happens if you don't do it? Does or can the city do anything to you if you don't?
Asking for a friend who was told by his PM (reputable) to ignore it and that most investors don't bother to get their Grandview properties inspected/registered with the city.
Investor · NC · Member since 2024 · 4 posts · 4 votes
1y
I think you are right, Laura, that it is the right thing to do. But more transpired after my last post that I will share here for the benefit of other Grandview investors. I had the city re-inspect the property after completing the requested modification. It was electrical work and the city re-inspected same day while the power was turned off. They sent a different inspector this time, and the new inspector re-inspected the whole house and found that a previous owner had done work on the basement without permits. So then the city would not authorize the power company to turn the power back on until I found a contractor to submit permits for that work themselves. So I had to pay for my tenants to stay in a hotel for 1.5weeks during that process. Tenants obviously were not happy and in addition to paying for their hotel I gave them additional rent credit for the inconveniences.
In the future I will know to have the city inspect during the due diligence period for a purchase rather than after the purchase. This was a newbie mistake on my part, and it turned into a costly nightmare.
Investor · NC · Member since 2024 · 4 posts · 4 votes
1y
Hi Laura!
I know this is a delayed response, but I recently bought a property in Grandview. I perhaps naively went ahead with the registration and inspection after completing purchase of the home, and wound up with a hefty repairs bill of around 3k. I thought this was simply the right thing to do and did not give a second thought to undergoing this process until after the repairs were completed. On the plus side now I will have a recorded Certificate of Occupancy with the city, as this property will be a long term hold for me most likely. This could help protect against any future lawsuits.
But my impression is that many landlords skip this, I was in fact asked point blank by maintenance management during the repairs process why I opened up this proverbial “can of worms.”
I am curious how this turned out for you. Did you end up going through the inspection process?
Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure what he decided to do but I would think getting registered by the city would be the right thing to do even if it cost more money. If there was some kind of safety issue where someone got hurt I would imagine it would look bad in court that your property wasn't even registered with the city. Also alot of cities are getting smart software systems to catch people breaking rules to issue fines and could come back to bite an unregistered owner.
Investor · NC · Member since 2024 · 4 posts · 4 votes
1y
I think you are right, Laura, that it is the right thing to do. But more transpired after my last post that I will share here for the benefit of other Grandview investors. I had the city re-inspect the property after completing the requested modification. It was electrical work and the city re-inspected same day while the power was turned off. They sent a different inspector this time, and the new inspector re-inspected the whole house and found that a previous owner had done work on the basement without permits. So then the city would not authorize the power company to turn the power back on until I found a contractor to submit permits for that work themselves. So I had to pay for my tenants to stay in a hotel for 1.5weeks during that process. Tenants obviously were not happy and in addition to paying for their hotel I gave them additional rent credit for the inconveniences.
In the future I will know to have the city inspect during the due diligence period for a purchase rather than after the purchase. This was a newbie mistake on my part, and it turned into a costly nightmare.
Wow! That is a great lesson. Thanks for sharing. Curious what kind of basement renovation did the previous owner do without permit that flagged the city? I know Kansas City is like the Wild West with people working on their own houses and doing all kinds of repairs without permits. Something to definitely keep in mind when buying.
Investor · NC · Member since 2024 · 4 posts · 4 votes
1y
Hopefully the story can prevent someone else from making the same mistake. I’m thinking about sharing a separate full review as a cautionary tale as well regarding the broker/seller I worked with. I was reassured during the process that the basement work, which included bedroom additions, was permitted. I’m waiting about posting that review until they have the chance to respond to my inquiries regarding the incident.