It can be a hassle to visit the Planning and Zoning office, but it’s a worthwhile effort when all is said and done. Despite the amount of documentation a home renovation can require, you will find that going through the process properly will force you to think critically regarding each step in the home renovation process. Learn more about permits for home renovations and remodels to better understand their importance.
4 Reasons Why Permits Are Important
With so much time and thought being put into a renovation, it’s impossible to do it on a whim. The amount of care and attention required ensures that the renovation is being performed to the highest of standards, with safety always being paramount. Here are four reasons in particular why permits are necessary.
1. Legal Requirement
Understanding the in’s and outs of the law is no easy task. Only someone with a profession that requires constant, intimate knowledge of local building codes and zoning laws will have any chance of not going crazy trying to figure everything out. Building permits are required to show compliance with sanitary, safety, and welfare concerns, including required setbacks from property lines and adjacent structures. Performing work without a permit, outside of code, will expose you to legal ramifications.
Typically, not meeting the legal requirement of some aspect of a renovation will result in a “warning” citation. There is some time allotted to fix the issue following the citation. If the problem is not remedied within the given time frame, a “non-compliance” citation is issued which usually entails a fee of several hundred dollars. If non-compliance persists, a lien will eventually be put on the property, where the fines and penalties can easily accumulate into the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.
The final stage of non-compliance is for the property to be demolished. In addition to the accumulated fines, the property owner would be responsible for the cost of the demolition. All of that being said, while the law surrounding building and renovating is complex, it’s much easier and cheaper to have a professional complete the work within the scope of the law, right from the start.
2. Confidence
Being confident with the work performed on your home is vital. When you go to sell your property, you will have to disclose work that has been performed. Having work completed without a permit or outside the scope of the law will cause serious problems. The obvious problem is the legal inability to sell due to pending citations or liens on the property. That legal difficulty aside, selling a home with unpermitted work will scare potential buyers away.
Buying a house, or any property, is a major purchase. For most people, it will be the largest purchase of their lifetime. Being fully confident in the property they are purchasing is key to making the sale. Illegal and unpermitted work done to a house will undoubtedly evaporate any and all buyer confidence. Nobody is spending hundreds of thousands, or millions, of dollars on a property without the highest level of confidence in what they’re purchasing.
3. Safety
Ensuring that all work performed on a property is legally permitted is not only the law of the land, but it’s the best way to guarantee the safety of the occupants and the community. If building contractors shared the most egregious safety violations they’ve witnessed inside a home, it would be immediately clear why government oversight and permitting is required. Fires from faulty electrical work, falling off a staircase from careless banister installations, ceiling collapses, and houses splitting apart from improper foundation work are just a few of the many life threatening issues that can be easily avoided through professional work and government inspections.
4. Taxes & Valuation
Any home remodel or home addition will require an application to be filed with the local building department to ensure the work is being done correctly. Local tax authorities are aware of the improvement in value. While this will likely mean paying a bit more in property taxes, it will also greatly raise the value of your property. When the time comes to sell or rent your house, you will reap the financial benefits of the improvements made.
South Florida Home Renovation Specialists
Home renovations are complex and a major financial investment. The best way to go about tackling such an endeavor is to hire a South Florida home renovation specialist, like Platinum Sand Construction. Don’t worry about navigating the finer points of the law. We do this for a living and deal with building codes on a daily basis. We know the law. With us, you can rest assured that our team is prepared to properly handle your home renovation.
Call 561-299-4000 or schedule a free renovation quote today to start your project!
