Existing Unpermitted Additions

[Josh Bowser]

Hey BP rehabbers,

I came across a house that has roughly 400 square feet of existing, unpermitted additions that does not show on the tax records. 

Has anyone had success of getting these unpermitted additions approved and added to the tax records during a rehab? An extra 400 sq ft in this neighborhood is worth ~ $80k which is a significant way a client can add value. 

Interested to hear anyone's thoughts and things to avoid on this - thanks! 

[Rick Baggenstoss]

Unpermitted work was the norm for a long time in Dekalb, for example.  There were almost no permits except for new builds.  This was not even that long ago.

In City of Atlanta, it's been much longer since permitting was really required. However, I bet a bit less than half of work requiring a permit is actually permitted.

I like 3rd Party engineers to sign off on an area requiring a blessing.  That assures homeowners and transfers liability to them.  Dekalb and CoA both allow named 3rd parties do inspections.