Buying a house with expired permits from 2004

[Rick Myers]

Question to those who may have dealt with this before.  Seeking advice.  I have found a house that has undergone demo and I wanted to finish the work myself.  Researching the city records I see the property owner in 2004 had some open permits to add AC to the house but the work was not to code so the permit inspection failed on parts of the uograde and never resolved.  Now the permits show as expired.  If I buy the house, do you think I would be held accountable for these permits.  I know I need to open new ones since the previous owner stole the AC before being foreclosed on.  

Should this be a warning to shy away from this deal or something we can work through with the city?

Thanks for any advice!