Buying a house with illegal / unpermitted construction means that you are the one who will be responsible for legalizing it to avoid fines from the city, complications for a mortgage, and re-insurance and liability issues as the new owner. While the sellers are required to disclose any unpermitted additions to the potential buyers, many times they fail to do so just because they did not know about the work or they do not want to risk a low appraisal. Depending on the scope of work, you may be required to undo it or spend an exorbitant amount of money to correct the violation and pull a retroactive building permit.

Therefore, it is important to have the property you intend to purchase inspected by professionals before you close the deal. We at CCS Inc provide pre-purchase and escrow inspection services to help potential buyers determine the true worth of their potential property and make a well-informed decision. Regardless of the property type you are preparing to invest in, we put ourselves in your shoes to identify the possible areas of concern and provide a realistic estimate of repair/legalization costs. Based on these findings, you can negotiate with the seller to resolve the unpermitted work, or ask for a steep discount to take on the additional risk and the liability to legalize it.

Some homeowners convert their garage into a living room, or a guest house, or an ADU without the necessary city permit and approvals. Therefore, it is important that the converted garage in your future property is up to the code, safe, and structurally sound.

We will inspect the property in question to verify the compliance of the converted garage with the applicable codes.

If a permit was not obtained prior to the conversion, we will help you calculate the costs associated with the remedial work and a retroactive permit which will also help you as a buyer in the negotiation.