Basically if you are selling/buying a house that has been retrospectively licenced then that part for private use is ok, however if officially and practically if you wish to rent the place out on LTR or STR you are not allowed to ever use this space as part of your rental.

The owner wants to sell for a 1031 exchange, and the property hasn’t been officially listed yet.

Our best case which I keep to myself, and our worst case which is fully written up official quote yada-yada. 

For people that want to close and make it pretty/official/permitted/etc once they are owners, the question is "what is the cheapest way we can get this to pass an appraisal without the appraiser calling for a licensed/bonded/professional/whatever to fix things prior to closing?"

You are speaking a foreign language to most on here!  

i've also become a guest to the official real estate rookie podcast show episode # 465check me out on their episode here!  

You’re speaking my language!

The last thing you want is for a national moratorium on evictions for 2021 to become official and your tenant taking advantage of that. 

.: I haven't really noticed any change at all in my market except minor changes to the standard contracts (minor language changes in contract to buy and sell, listing agreement, and buyer's agency agreement). 

But you do have to put some language in your lease  agreement or lease addendum that deals specifically with issues that will come up for the fireplace.