Certificate of Occupancy on Decks

i reside in si, ny and am in the process of selling my townhome. we purchased it in 1997 and just let the lawyers do what they do and assumed everything was taken care of. now that we are selling it we find that there is no c of o for the deck the guy we bought it from built himself. ironically, his attorney is representing the woman who is now purchasing our house and he is pressing us for a c of o knowing full well that he was the one to sneak it by our attorney back in 1997. do I have any recourse here? i'm probably going to lose my buyer because i don't have the money to get the c of o and our buyer is refusing to purchase the house "subject to." help!

[HomeGuru]

If the deck was built to code, it should not cost a lot of money to get the CO. Just submit building plans and apply for a permit. The building inspector will then come out and inspect and if everything passes, you get your CO.

Originally posted by HomeGuru
If the deck was built to code, it should not cost a lot of money to get the CO. Just submit building plans and apply for a permit. The building inspector will then come out and inspect and if everything passes, you get your CO.

Thank you for your reply. But what I am actually trying to find out is if the guy we bought the house from, who built the deck, and his attorney can be held responsible for knowingly selling me a house with an illegal deck. Thanks again!

[HomeGuru]

Your post title concerned the subject of CO and not seller disclosure. Yes the Seller and attorney are guilty of misrepresentation of a material fact. You are also guilty of conducting incomplete due diligence.
All you, your attorney or your Realtor needed to do was conduct a building permit check down at the Building Dept. The info is public record and the fact that the deck had no permit and is therefore illegal, would have been easily and simply discoverable.
Was there a Seller Disclosure form that had a line to the effect of "are there permits for all improvements?"

Originally posted by HomeGuru
Your post title concerned the subject of CO and not seller disclosure. Yes the Seller and attorney are guilty of misrepresentation of a material fact. You are also guilty of conducting incomplete due diligence.
All you, your attorney or your Realtor needed to do was conduct a building permit check down at the Building Dept. The info is public record and the fact that the deck had no permit and is therefore illegal, would have been easily and simply discoverable.
Was there a Seller Disclosure form that had a line to the effect of "are there permits for all improvements?"

I will have to look back through our closing papers to find that out. Our former attorney was and old and trusted friend of my husband's family. They recommended him very highly. Just goes to show you! Anyway,I guess what you're telling me is that I have no recourse here. Thank you again for your time and patience. Regards.

[HomeGuru]

If the old trusted friend is a real estate attorney, he should be whipped where the sun don't shine.
In many cases, people that need legal help turn to attorney friends or family not knowing that there are many legal specialties. So just the fact the person is an attorney, does not make the attorney qualified to do a good job. A family law attorney may not know real estate law.