legal question:

[TS-20]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

Hello all! I'm new to these forums and I was hoping I could find some answers here. I'de like to thank everyone in advance for reading or responding...

My parents bought their house 22 years ago in Miami-Dade county. Since the collapse of the real estate market in miami, MDC inspectors have been focusing on existing houses rather than new construction. Recently, an inspector came to my parents house and found numerous violations. Aparently half of my parents master bedroom was built (or added) without a permit. Half of the kitchen is also outside boundaries. The swimming pool was done without permit and is in violation of setbacks. and a few other permit violations.

The thing is that my parents have never done any additions to the house in the 22 years that they have lived there. The way the house is now, is exaclty the way they bought it, pool and everything. Now, after 22 years, the city is wanting him to tear down all those things mentioned and comply with county code.

My question is: Does my dad have a case against (someone) and if so, who? We're not even sure how this could have slipped through the finance comany/inspectors at the time of purchase . Some one told us that we can take the title company to court over this issue. Is that true?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

-TSWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[FlyingRon]

You can't sue the title company.
You might make a claim against the title INSURANCE company if you bought such a policy, however the issues described here are usually not things that are covered.

Your best bet would be to get a lawyer and see what recourse you have to defend yourself against the city given the long nature of the code violations.

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

Hello all! I'm new to these forums and I was hoping I could find some answers here. I'de like to thank everyone in advance for reading or responding...

My parents bought their house 22 years ago in Miami-Dade county. Since the collapse of the real estate market in miami, MDC inspectors have been focusing on existing houses rather than new construction. Recently, an inspector came to my parents house and found numerous violations. Aparently half of my parents master bedroom was built (or added) without a permit. Half of the kitchen is also outside boundaries. The swimming pool was done without permit and is in violation of setbacks. and a few other permit violations.


**A: so maybe 23 years ago of earlier, a previous homeowner made improvements without a building permit. In which case your parents are guilty.


######
The thing is that my parents have never done any additions to the house in the 22 years that they have lived there. The way the house is now, is exaclty the way they bought it, pool and everything. Now, after 22 years, the city is wanting him to tear down all those things mentioned and comply with county code.

My question is: Does my dad have a case against (someone) and if so, who? We're not even sure how this could have slipped through the finance comany/inspectors at the time of purchase . Some one told us that we can take the title company to court over this issue. Is that true?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

-TSWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

**A: they have no case at all.

 

[TS-20]

My parents have contacted a lawyer and have given him all of the paperwork they have on this issue. He hasn't responded back to them in about two weeks. I don't know if that is a bad sign or not...

Shouldn’t the home inspection company have told my parents about the obvious violations? I'll ask them if they had a survey done at the time. That should have told the inspectors clearly what portions of the house were in violation of code?

I think you are right about the previous owners adding on to the house without permits. Without the additions that my parents' house currently has, it would be worthless. I can see how somebody might have paid off a non licensed contractor to make all those additions without permit and then sell the house. I just don't know how they managed to get that passed inspection. Could my parents sue the previous owners for this?

thanks,
ts

 

[FlyingRon]

A home inspection company generally has pretty limited liability. You pay them to look for structural and other problems. Permitting, zoning, boundary encroachments, etc... are not the type of thing they are even inspecting for. A survey would have been nice, but generally they only place the structure on the lot. Unless you are preparing a very specific form of plat, they do not research and place the setbacks, etc... on the plat they prepare.

As I said, you should check with a lawyer to see what sort of appeal/exception avenue you have with the Miami-Dade to see if anything can be done due to the fairly long nature of the violations. You don't appear to have any recourse against anybody else.

 

[HomeGuru]

My parents have contacted a lawyer and have given him all of the paperwork they have on this issue. He hasn't responded back to them in about two weeks. I don't know if that is a bad sign or not...

Shouldn’t the home inspection company have told my parents about the obvious violations? I'll ask them if they had a survey done at the time. That should have told the inspectors clearly what portions of the house were in violation of code?

**A: no, since home inspectors do not inspect for code compliance. That's the local county building inspectors job.

##########

I think you are right about the previous owners adding on to the house without permits. Without the additions that my parents' house currently has, it would be worthless. I can see how somebody might have paid off a non licensed contractor to make all those additions without permit and then sell the house. I just don't know how they managed to get that passed inspection. Could my parents sue the previous owners for this?

thanks,
ts

**A: maybe but they would be wasting their money since the onus was on them to complete due diligence ie. getting their own building and zoning insepctions and research completed.