Expired building permits
One of my pet peeves are building permits that don’t have a set expiration date. Most of the building codes have their permits expire 180 days after no work is done. However, this leaves open the potential for a permit to last a long time. For example, if a person pounds in a couple of nails every other month, it would be tough to prove in court that the permit expired. Recently, inspectors in my area did a survey to see what various jurisdictions did with permit expirations. I particularly liked Crystal Lake, IL’s approach. A permit for commercial construction lasts 1 year and a residential one lasts 6 months. In addition, there is a provision for a special permit with specific conditions. That would be very useful in a situation where a builder has been remiss in moving a project along. Recently, I had a case where as a condition of a sentence, the defendant agreed to a timeline of construction. It was not part of the permit because there was no provision for such a thing. It would have been helpful if the permit could have been issued with specific deadlines. The Crystal Lake ordinance also has provisions for extensions. I would rather see a set expiration date with a possibility of an extension rather than have to guess when a permit expired.
I just found out today that the permit I had to remodel the house had expired and that I had not contacted them to let them no the commencement date. now they want me to re apply for all permits the house originally had a contractor who pulled permits he worked for state farm insurance company he failed to have his work inspected also we fired him after finding he had installed dry wall on wet wood state farm paid him $50000 all of his work I had to rip out and start again it has taken us my wife and I 5 years to complete a long time I had called about the time frame the inspection dept, and was told not to worry call when it was finished. so now were do I stand all the work is completed does this mean the will make us destroy all our work im 65 my wife is 62 and not in good health we did the work our selves any advise would be greatly appreciated thank you.
I’m sorry but I don’t give legal advice on this blog. I strongly suggest you get contact a lawyer where you live who’s is experienced in the area of the law to see what your options are.
Any direction out there regarding what happens when work is pretty much done, but the permit expires?
Many municipalities will grant an extension of the permit if it is about to expire so the work can be completed or will reinstate it, for a fee, long enough to complete the work and obtain the final inspection. If a permit is expired, there may be outstanding code violations because of the incomplete work. It’s important to address such a situation in a cooperative way so that both the city and the builder achieve their mutual goals of completing the work according to the codes and getting final approval.