Closing Out Existing Permits

You might not realize it, but if you own a property that’s had some work done in the last 10+ years, there’s a good chance a permit could still be open under your property.

You might be thinking: I didn’t open a permit or I’m pretty sure that permit was already closed out or why does it matter if I have open permits?

It matters when you sell your property, because many buyers or their agents or attorneys will search online to see if you have any open permits. And if you do, they may add language into the purchase and sale (the contract to sell your property), which states that they will not close on your property unless all permits are closed out. Note that for many buyers, it’s important that permits are closed out because if they want to do something new like redo the bathroom and pull another permit - the city could prevent them from moving forward before they close out previous permits. 

To this you might say, well no big deal - I’ll just call city hall or login online and simply close out the permits. Unfortunately it frequently isn’t that easy. Oftentimes, you will need to track down the contractor who opened up the permit in the first place. If that contractor did the work years ago or is retired or has already been paid for the job, it can become a real pain to track these people down.

Even if you can track the contractor down, you now need to ensure that:

  1. All the work was done to code and will be signed off on by the local town inspector

  2. If the work was not done to code, you need to get the contractor to come back and do the work correctly (sometimes at an additional cost)

  3. You need to coordinate the meet up to ensure the contractor actually meets with the inspector and all work is closed out

On the surface this all sounds relatively straightforward, but believe me, this process can take a few minutes OR a few months depending on the scope of what permits are open, who the contractor is and who the inspector is.

So where do I come into all this? I have closed out many permits and I handle the entire process for you. 

You just give me the names of the contractors and I will take it from there and ensure all work is performed correctly and all permits are closed. I ensure that you don’t waste potentially months of your own time chasing people down. I also save you the stress and energy of navigating through a lot of red tape and potentially annoyed contractors. 

Do you have open permits in your home and aren’t sure what to do next? Give me a ring and we can discuss!