Our city is ordering us to apply for a permit. Is this legal?

What is the name of your state? West Allis, Wisconsin

My wife and I moved into our new house in May of 2004. The house was originally built in the 1920's and our sunroom was a later addition. In April we called our city and asked if a permit was needed to replace our sunroom roof. They said "yes" and so I applied for a permit to do this. An inspector for the city stopped by within a week (he stopped by unannounced and we didn't know he had examined our sunroom) and reported to the city that the sunroom was originally built as an add-on in the 1970's (not sure how he arrived at that date). Toward the end of April the city left a voicemail stating that a permit was never issued when the sunroom was originally built, so we needed to provide plans and a ton of documentation so the city could issue the permit. My wife and I did not respond to that voicemail yet.

Fast forward to today when we received the following letter from the city:

Department of Building Inspections & Zoning
RECEIVED MAY 17 2006
May 16, 2006
NOTICE & ORDER

[MY NAME] [MY ADDRESS]

RE: Work without a permit at [MY ADDRESS]

Dear Mr. [MY NAME]:

On April 3, 2006, application was made for a permit to replace a sunroom roof. A check of records found that no permit had been issued for the original sunroom. You were informed by [NAME], Plan Reviewer, that a permit is required for the sunroom per Section 13.05(1) of the Revised Municipal Code. As of the above date, you have not applied.

This is Notice of violation of Section 13.05(1) Revised Municipal Code. You are hereby Ordered to apply for the required building permit by May 31, 2006. Along with the application, you shall submit plans of construction and a survey of the property.

Should you have any questions, please contact me at [PHONE] or [NAME] at [PHONE]. Be advised that failure to comply shall result in the referral of this matter to the City Attorney.
Sincerely,

[NAME] Building Inspector
cc: Property File Referral File
Recall: 5/31/06

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I now plan to write the city and withdraw my application for permit. How can they take us to court if we did nothing wrong?

Any advice would really be appreciated. We've only lived in the house for two years. We're law abiding citizens and that's why we applied for a permit in the first place. But we've now learned to not run anything by the city ever again.

Thanks,
- Matt.

Withdrawing the application for a permit won't do you any good. You have run afoul of the city inspector and you HAVE to apply for a permit or be prepared to remove the sunroom at your expense.

Contact the inspector immediately and see what can be worked out. Not contacting him will only annoy him further. Contact the previous homeowner to see if they have any plans. If they were the ones who built the sunroom, you may have some leverage in getting compensation for the permit and inspection and other hard costs that you will incur as a result of this fiasco.

Well, I've definitely learned my lesson to not communicate future plans with the city ever again. No wonder so many people build without permits.

From the looks of it, they want 1) plans of construction and 2) a survey of the property. We do have a structural engineer report, home inspection, and two appraisals we can hand over. I can also draw some plans up if it will get them off my back. Does this look like what they are asking for?

Homeowner hand drawings are often acceptable to building departments down here in Florida, I don't know Wisconsin. I have had a number of homeowner building permits and have found the requirements to vary a lot. One thing that is consistent is if you ignore them you will get into more trouble. Give them what you can and see what you can negotiate.

Good Luck