I understand they are due when the building permits are pulled. 

Mike, My recommendation would be during due diligence for a potential purchase, ask for past 12 months of all utility bills, property taxes, and any other municipal requirements like rental permits, occupancy inspections etc. 

Meanwhile during the eviction period, we finalized our architectural plans and started the permitting process in the county so we didn't lose much time.

If you are doing renovations that are more than cosmetic, you should be pulling permits and those generally require contracts because permit pricing is often based on contract value.

The snippet you provided is a bit ambiguous which may itself make it unenforceable.I think your goal should be to get a signed doc from the parties to the agreement saying an STR is permitted under the agreement.

You have to make sure you follow the STR permits laws though.

Beyond that, terminate the tenancy based on your lease (you should have a clause in there that permits eviction for this kind of behavior).

Because thats about how long it teams to get stuff permitted and built out there. 

I have a deal that was presented to me that currently has some mobile homes with permits to expand.

Hi Adam, we do everything in-house from the permitting & architectural to the construction itself, so that removes a few variables.