Buying a House in Portland? Be Aware of Code Violations.
In our previous article on building code violations, we told Greg’s story about receiving a building code violation shortly after buying a home and what it took to resolve that violation notice. It was an arduous process and Greg was not responsible for or aware of the violations, so how can it be avoided in the future?
In addition to offering code violation resolution services like we did in Greg’s case, we also offer the much less extensive preventative service of a building walk through with a potential buyer to identify any locations of code violations. Selling a house with code violations is possible – it just requires some work.
We’re available to visit a property, take rudimentary measurements, and prepare a report of our findings and what it would take to resolve code violations should they be called to the city’s attention.
This can be a valuable negotiation tool in purchasing a home or it can be the information you need to steer clear of a house that could bring you more headaches than it’s worth.
Does a Home Inspection Cover This?
Unfortunately, the answer is no.
During the buying process, home inspectors find and point out safety issues like mold, rot, structural damage, and improperly constructed building elements.
However, they do not look for and review municipal, county, and state building and zoning code standards. They will catch termite damage, but they won't catch if your stair doesn’t meet head height requirements and they don’t check if there was a permit for that detached garage.
Our walk through and report will mind the gap between the home inspector and the code inspector.
Selling a House with Code Violations.
In some cases where code or planning violations are known by the seller ahead of the sale and must be disclosed to the potential buyers, the seller may opt to hire us to legalize the buildings on the property before a violation.
Tim, who we discussed in our blog post about planning code violations, did exactly this. He found that buyers were asking for price reductions because his ADU was not legalized, and decided to go through the process of legalizing it himself to maximize the value of his property in the sale. Selling a house with code violations is doable.
Get Help Preventing Code Violations
We’re here to help. We work with folks in the Portland Metro (and greater Oregon) to prevent and fix code violations, work on exciting new builds, and more. Contact us today to talk about your specific problem further.