All Forum Posts by: Varun A.

Hi everyone, 

I'm looking for a professional property inspector in Philadelphia to perform a  Property Condition Assessment in order to complete a Certificate of Occupancy application. The previous owners of the multifamily property added an additional unit but did not update the CO. Thus, we need to verify the building is up to code. Specifically, our architect is requesting an inspector to certify the construction of the fire rated/life-safety of the staircases/doors/ceilings/walls which requires an inspector who can perform probing. Any suggestions would be appreciated as we are having a hard time finding someone who can perform this type of work. Thanks!
 

Thanks for getting back to me Christopher, will certainly keep this in mind for future properties. 

Thanks for the clarification Max, we are working to get this taken care of as soon as possible. I agree it's especially important if we ever need to evict a tenant. 

@Christopher Phillips @Max T.

Thanks for the responses, what you are saying certainly makes sense. Just to clarify,  the seller never actually provided us any use or certificate of occupancy documents for the property. Despite this, the sale went through. Does this change anything or does it still come down to our responsibility for proper due diligence? 

Hi all, my business partner and I purchased our first rental property (3 unit multifamily RM-1)  last year located in Philadelphia. Soon after, we attempted to obtain a rental license for the property only to find out that the certificate of occupancy was invalid because the use permit stated the property was a two unit and not a three unit. It seems at some point an addition to the property was made and city records do show permits were pulled. However, the use and CO were never updated making getting a rental license very difficult for us. We currently have obtained a new use permit for the property and are in the process of getting a new CO. However, this requires building plans as well as a property inspection and thus is an expensive and time consuming process. My question is, since a valid CO was never presented to us at closing, do we a legal claim to get the previous owners to cover the cost of this process. Furthermore, what is the best way to navigate this entire process with the city to get everything done quickly? We are obviously in touch with legal professionals as well as other professionals to resolve both issues but just wanted to get an outside opinion as well since we were advised that there is no clear answer to the previous owners liability. Thanks!