Help! No U&O Completed Before Settlement on My First Rental

[Anthony Venezia]

Hope everyone is staying healthy and sane during these crazy times!

So I have a situation relating to the U&O property transfer, or lack thereof, for my first rental property. I cash purchased the property back in December. The property was a little bit of a fixer upper but nothing crazy. Mainly cosmetic things. I'm largely done with the renovations but about a week ago I received a notice from the municipality that there was never a U&O completed prior to settlement.

In Norristown, PA, a U&O and Rental Application is required prior to living in or renting out the property. There was no mention of the buyer being responsible for U&O in the property description and absolutely no discussion of it with the seller and her agent throughout negotiations. With that said, my agent and I had assumed (you know what they say when you assume) that it was completed. I did not have a mortgage lender to catch this and as an inexperienced investor, this is definitely a lesson moving forward.

With a non-essential shutdown in PA currently, I am not able to have my property inspected for U&O until we resume normalcy. Therefore I cannot legally rent out my property. Thankfully, there is no mortgage against the property so holding costs are low, but I'd really like to market the property and get a lease signed ASAP to start cash flowing and also refinance since this is a BRRRR.

The seller's agent has already reimbursed me for the application fee and if there are any big issues to fix, I would have the seller and her agent pay for repairs (but this has not been agreed upon yet). I've been told to consult with an attorney on potential repair costs and/or lost rent in this period of limbo. Thoughts on this?

After all that, are there any suggestions for a potential way around this considering U&O inspections are currently on hold? 

Also, would I be wise to list the property anyway to be proactive and start to get it in front of prospective tenants? Or too soon with the uncertainty of when the property will actually be ready to rent out?

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and thanks in advance for any feedback provided!!