• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

garage partially converted without permit

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

soyogirl2000

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? florida......recently found out that our two car garage was converted into an extra room that we are using as our son's bedroom is illegal. We just got an appraisal and was told that it was not concidered legal as there was no permits or ammendments filed. We were told that we could not conder the square footage as living space and further more would be responsible for bringing it up to code should we decide to sell, or worse, if anything were to happen and we needed to file an insurance claim that we would be denied. God forbid the ceiling fell or an electrical fire started while my son is sleeping. We purchased it from the original owner who was a realtor and thought that our broker would have known this to be something of uttmost importance. Do we have any recourse now that we have the owner for 5 years? Are there any programs that can help financially. Are we alone in the liability? Any advice would be appreciated.:confused:
 


SPR

Member
IMO, it would easier to make it back into a garage. Turning a garage that was never intended to be turned into a living space takes alot of trouble. People don't realize this. I believe that even with a permit, you may not even be allowed to do it.
 

John Se

Member
Hmm, no reply?

I suspect that they bought it as "non Livable" now having it re-appraised to up the value and try and get it included and they are finding out the it is and will always be "non livable" unless they get a permit.
 

fairisfair

Senior Member
call your city building inspector, they will begin the process to have the room permitted. It may include having to remove some drywall or other processes in order to inspect electrical, framing, foundation, etc. etc. Hopefully, since the person that built it was a realtor, you will find that it was built to code, although they should have known better than to avoid the permitting process. It is probably going to be more expensive than it would have been to permit the room in the first place, but really, if you want the room to be considered (as John Se has pointed out) as livable sq. footage, that is the only way to have it done.

As for the comment regarding turning it back into a garage, I don't know about where you live, but this is a common occurence in my state. Many people convert their covered "carports" and garages into livable space.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top