Give yourself time, especially if special documents are needed

PLAN AHEAD

Not too long ago in an article, right here in The Weekly Adirondack, it was said you could tell what time of year it was by the activity in the Code Office… Well, that again is proving pretty accurate.

With all this really unbelievable weather, the number of phone incoming calls has gone way up.

Most of the callers are looking for advice on projects they are considering for some point in the future.

But there is no lack of calls for immediate concerns.

Requests come in from title companies wanting property searches done…And from attorneys for buyers seeking any information about existing violations, historical information about permits, requesting copies of certificates of occupancy, if they exist, asking about the permitting process…

Or just about anything else the Code Office gets involved with.

Some of the most difficult situations have to do with an existing house built within the last forty years, and the buyer, or buyer’s attorney wants a copy of the certificate of occupancy…

And guess what, it doesn’t exist.

There may be a copy of the permit on file, but no record of inspections, no septic permit or inspections, and no certificates of any kind.

Should they be in the file?

Technically, yes. And many times they are, but not always.

Of course the caller will ask if we can just print one up and send it.

Nope, can’t do that, we have to go see the property and house first and verify to the best of our ability that it meets the minimum requirements of all the codes in place at the time it was built.

The older the house the tougher that is. Actually it’s impossible.

How can we tell how deep the footings are? Or what kind, if any insulation is in the house? Is there any steel in the footings? Where, or what is the septic system?

This situation comes up more often than some may think. And it can throw a real monkey wrench into the selling / buying of a house.

People are not happy with the situation, and we can’t blame them. But we are not going to issue a certificate of occupancy without some reasonable assurance for compliance.

We will check everything we can. Things like the obvious— smoke alarms, egress windows, exit doors, width of exitways, stairs rise and run, hand railings, guards, GFI outlets, garage fire separations, fire doors, the integrity of the fire separations,temperature relief valves on water heaters and boilers—and many other things that may be specific to a particular house.

Now, if we find that the stairway is too steep, the run [tread] is way too short, or the riser is way too tall, what do we do?

Maybe the house has battery operated smoke alarms and they should all be hard wired and interconnected, what do we do?

Of course the buyers are excited because they want to get in and get ready for the anticipated summer season.

And equally excited is the seller.

And all these issues can stop the whole deal.

The ideal solution is to close in escrow, fix everything up then release title.

The moral is, if you are selling a home, you may do a little investigating as if you were the buyer’s attorney.

Find out any potential problems and get them taken care of… then put the place on the market.

Owning an old camp is kind of like owning a boat. The two best days of ownership are the first and last.