If your neighbors were ...

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

building an addition, but did not have permits, would you report them to the city? Why or why not?

This would be the neighbors behind us that we know only in relation to the new fence that we all put up last fall.

I looked up the permits to see what they were building and they don't have any. It seems they are probably covering more than the allowed percentage of land area.

[JBaxter]

Oh anyone could call to check to see if they had a permit. I'd do it but I always play by the rules and expect others to do the same

[deannanb]

place the call - express your concerns

[elaineandmichaelsmommy]

yep i'd do it. I've watched too much holmes on homes. The homeowners may not even know that they need the permits and the contractor may be pulling the wool over them. Make the call.

[Melanie]

I'd be concerned not to. If it's not done properly and something were to happen (say fire...) it could affect you as well.

[LexyLou]

I guess I'm not the norm, but honestly, I wouldn't call unless it looked like they were infringing on my property or something.

[Neatfreak]

I am not sure that I can think of a reason to report their reno (as long as it does not affect your own property) to the officials without it seeming petty or un-neighbourly.

I would be more inclined to give them a call or talk to them in person and casually mention the permit process. They might not know about it, and a heads-up from a concerned neighbour is probably more appreciated than a call from a city official.

[jgenie]

I guess I'm not the norm, but honestly, I wouldn't call unless it looked like they were infringing on my property or something.

:yeahthat:

[JoyNChrist]

I guess I'm not the norm, but honestly, I wouldn't call unless it looked like they were infringing on my property or something.

Me too. I just wouldn't bother with it unless it was affecting me (which might be a bad trait of mine, but there ya go).

[sariana]

I would call, and have done something similar. If they disregard this rule, what else might they disregard, possibly to your detriment?

Talking to them directly seems like a less hostile approach, but I wouldn't be able to do it. The regulations exist for a reason, and it is the city's job (or association or whoever) to enforce them.

(DH actually did try talking to our neighbor directly, but said neighbor was a jerk about it. He still is not in compliance, even with the associaton on his back.)

elaineandmichaelsmommy, :rotflmao: about Holmes on Homes. My DH loves that show.

[TwinFoxes]

I am not sure that I can think of a reason to report their reno (as long as it does not affect your own property) to the officials without it seeming petty or un-neighbourly.



Same here. I wouldn't have even bothered to find out if they had permits.

OP, do you have a particular concern, or you just don't like the fact they don't have permits?

[SnuggleBuggles]

yep i'd do it. I've watched too much holmes on homes. The homeowners may not even know that they need the permits and the contractor may be pulling the wool over them. Make the call.

I agree. LOL at the HoH. I am jaded from watching that show.

Beth

[JTsMom]

I guess I'm not the norm, but honestly, I wouldn't call unless it looked like they were infringing on my property or something.
:yeahthat: If they were doing something outlandish, I'd call, but as long as it wasn't going to be a huge eyesore or something, I wouldn't.

[KathyN115]

Honestly, if I liked them, I wouldn't call. If I didn't like them or they were bad neighbors, I would definitely call. I am mean that way.

[o_mom]

If I liked them, I might have a friendly chat with them about if they have permits and what would happen if they didn't get one. Depending on how that went and what kind of structure we are talking about, might call if it appeared to be unsafe or seriously skirting the building codes.

If I didnt' like them, I'd just call.

[Snow mom]

I don't know where you are in CA, but your neighbors might be disregarding the permit process because the government has made it so impossible and that might be the norm in the area. My parents love in SF and have an unpermitted bedroom in their unfinished basement. It just wasn't practical to get permits (I think at the time it was a several year process and even then you were likely to be denied.) Most of my parents neighbors have similar unpermitted additions. You might want to see if there is another side to the story like this. Either way, I don't really think reporting them is the right thing to do. What do you hope to accomplish by reporting them other than them hating you?

[Toba]

I would call too. I could see the neighbor behind us doing this. Off topic, but this neighbor also thought it was a good idea to burn his cardboard in a 55 gallon drum when we first bought this house ... I glanced out the back window, saw flames that were taller than his one story house and immediately called 911 (I had no idea that he was burning cardboard, I literally thought his house was on fire). As soon as he heard the sirens coming down the street, he put the fire out really quick. Jerk. Did I mention that our lots are only 80x100 and we have trees all over the place? Just one spark and he could have lit up 2 or 3 houses. Dude, all you have to do is put the cardboard out on the street on Thursdays or drive it down to the municipal dump (that is less than 2 miles away) like the rest of us.

Anyway, yeah I would call. We had major renovation done on our house about 2 or 3 years ago ... new roof, new windows/doors and new siding. The contractor was a friend of my dad's so he was giving us a good deal and said we didn't need permits. I knew he was full of it and demanded the permits ... I'm not getting a huge fine and stop work order because you're too lazy to go get the permits. I used to work at a local fence company for years. Our policy was that the homeowner was required to get the permits if we installed the fence (which was about 75% of our business). You wouldn't believe how many people were shocked that they even needed a permit ... and quite a few said they had no intention of getting one, but that just meant we'd refuse to install. Permits are really not that expensive in relation to the work you're having done that requires a permit. I would call especially because you said you have no idea what he's doing since there's no permit to check. I'd be worried about whatever he's doing creeping over into my own property, KWIM?

[wellyes]

Personally I'd call if the addition was out of scope for the neighborhood. And it sounds like it is - if he appears to be not leaving enough open space on his lot.


I can see why there are mixed opinions on this. There are parts of the country where no one ever gets a permit for anything. Other parts, like my town? The permit guy drives around just to keep an eye on things - we've gotten his card placed in our front door if he's suspicious about something. Neighbors will call to check up if they see an appliance being delivered since you need a permit to install anything gas powered like a stove or dryer. An unpermitted shed or addition is absolutely unheard of.

[JBaxter]

I guess I'm not the norm, but honestly, I wouldn't call unless it looked like they were infringing on my property or something.

Unless their unknown ( possibly substandard) wiring causes a fire that spreads to other homes It happened in my hometown a few years ago. There are codes and standards for reasons.

[Toba]

^^^ I agree completely. :)

[bubbaray]

I wouldn't call unless it was likely to impact my home from a safety perspective or resale value perspective.

[pinkmomagain]

Personally I'd call if the addition was out of scope for the neighborhood. And it sounds like it is - if he appears to be not leaving enough open space on his lot.

I agree with this.

[m448]

Agreed with Jeana. If something is not permitted/inspected all sorts of things can affect a neighbor's property. From a simple drainage issue (they change the slope of their yard or put up a structure that makes drainage on your lot a nightmare) to wiring, poor outer structure that could fly off in a small storm.

I would call because once a structure is up the city has that much of a harder time getting it torn down. Most big cities (this was true in Miami where I'm from) also have helicopters that inspect the footprint of a home to make sure people aren't altering it without registering a permit.

[TwinFoxes]

I don't know where you are in CA, but your neighbors might be disregarding the permit process because the government has made it so impossible and that might be the norm in the area.

I was thinking the same thing. In LA I would say a large percentage of additions are un-permitted, because the process is a joke.

[JTsMom]

Maybe I'm just jaded, but I don't think having a permit is going to guarantee good work being done, nor do I think that not having a permit means it's going to be shoddy work. So many inspectors have "friends", that I don't put a lot of faith in the process.

[jenfromnj]

Agreed with Jeana. If something is not permitted/inspected all sorts of things can affect a neighbor's property. From a simple drainage issue (they change the slope of their yard or put up a structure that makes drainage on your lot a nightmare) to wiring, poor outer structure that could fly off in a small storm.

I would call because once a structure is up the city has that much of a harder time getting it torn down.

I agree with this--I would call and inquire not to be mean/nosy, but because what your neighbors are building could have an impact on your property (flooding, fire risks, etc)--family members have had a serious flooding problem in their garage since their uphill neighbors decided to expand their garage and driveway, since it affected the impervious surface coverage so much--they did not have the proper permits (not in NJ), but the town is hesitant to force them to undo the work they did, despite my family member's hardship. Definitely easier to nip any noncompliance in the bud (if there is any), than to try to fight it later.

Of course, I live in a state where permitting and inspections are taken really seriously, and not having the proper permits and inspections would come back to haunt you, either at reassessement time or when you go to sell your home, so YMMV depending on what it's like in your area.

[jenfromnj]

Maybe I'm just jaded, but I don't think having a permit is going to guarantee good work being done, nor do I think that not having a permit means it's going to be shoddy work. So many inspectors have "friends", that I don't put a lot of faith in the process.

You are definitely right that a permit is not a guarantee of good work, but at least making it "official" will cause some sort of record, which could be helpful if the OP could potentially be affected by whatever her neighbors are doing. And I say this despite being from the state that everyone probably thinks is the most corrupt of the 50 :).

[elizabethkott]

I'd call.
We're about to start construction on an addition ourselves.
If we had to jump through the hoops and meet with the village board, get approved, modify plans, pay for the permit and the variance, why shouldn't everyone else?
But I'm a rule-follower that way. It makes me feel better knowing *I'm* doing the right thing. But I do get annoyed when people (like our neighbors who SUCK) don't do the right thing and get away with it. So yeah, I would call.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

OP here. :)

I think we're not going to call.

I am very much a rule follower, so it does bug me in that way.

In the end, though, we have more reasons not to call.

It seems like they would be able to find out who called (since only their 4 neighbors can see the work being done - it's not very apparent from the street).
We're on flat land, so drainage shouldn't be an issue.
It's a one-story addition (we have all one story houses on our street & theirs) and we have a 7+ ft privacy fence.
What would happen if we called? Would probably just delay the construction and the half finished addition would be more of an eye sore.


I looked up the permit because I wanted to know what they were building. Pretty much everyone I know gets permits for work here. It's a big issue to sell with a unpermitted addition/remodels and most people want to improve their property value, not diminish it.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[heatherlynn]

No because I know someone else probably would.

[edurnemk]

Oh anyone could call to check to see if they had a permit. I'd do it but I always play by the rules and expect others to do the same

:yeahthat: Plus, if people start breaking rules without consequences, pretty soon everyone would be doing whatever they pleased.

[infomama]

Sort and sweet.....I'd call the building dept.

[TonFirst]

I know you've made up your mind, but I'd recommend you call anyway.

First, when you decide to live in a community, you are obligated to live by that community's rules and regulations. If you don't like a community's codes and ordinances, you should probably look for a home elsewhere. It's like if someone complains bout some draconian rule their HOA has in place, well, was the HOA there when you bought the house? Okay, then.

Second, I work for my city's government and I cannot tell you how much time, money, and goodwill wouldn't be wasted every day if people would simply raise concerns about an issue before it becomes An Issue, if that makes sense. Drainage is hard to determine unless you're an engineer or a site inspector who knows these issues well, and if the homeowner doing the addition does need to rebuild something, it's cheaper for him to do it now, before the addition is complete. It's also to the benefit of the entire community that the homeowner takes all the necessary environmental precautions with any debris or whatever results from the construction.

It's highly unlikely that your neighbors will know it is you who called.

[Toba]

Insuring the house if they sell would also be affected or even if they had to change insurers for some reason. My jackass BIL rented this house from DH's grandfather before we bought it. BIL did quite a few "projects" inside the home that were TOTALLY illegal/against code/whatever. He had a wood stove that was just inches away from SHEETROCK, and not the special cement like sheetrock (it's been a long time but I want to say it's called wonder board or something ... it's fire resistant or fire proof). Plus the thing it rests on (sorry, my brain is not working tonight) was against code too. He did a lot of other crazy crap that we have been slowly fixing since we bought this house. Grandpa was lucky that we bought it because I don't think anyone with a brain would have bought it in its condition (we got it for a steal, so we knew what we were getting into). Our home insurer gave us a REALLY hard time about a few things ... the wood stove had to go, they wanted a banister on the second set of stairs going downstairs (we live in a bi-level, so you walk up a flight of stairs outside, open the door to a small foyer, and then choose to either walk up or walk down a flight of stairs), which was nuts because I've never seen a banister going downstairs (with solid walls on both sides) in any bi-levels around here. They also complained because our railing for our porch only went all the way down to the last step on one side, which was the side closest to the front door handle. And yup, we had to get permits for all that stuff just to fix it (I also live in Jersey and I've lived in three towns here and they ALL were very serious about code violations). The only thing we did illegally (and I'm embarrassed to say because I really am one of those straight arrow people that follow the law as much as possible) was have a tree service come and cut down several older trees in our backyard and one in the front of our house that was ripping up the concrete driveway. No official said boo, and they were done within two or three hours on a weekend ... maybe the code violation guy is off on weekends. LOL It was a last minute thing and we had to get it done immediately because the tree in the front was leaking sap all over our brand new Ody.

[kransden]

I would call -BECAUSE in some places when you sell the house and if something there isn't supposed to be there, they'll make you tear it down and fine you. I know several people this has happened to. On inspector did it right after the addition was put on. The whole thing had to be ripped out. Take about some lost bucks!! An addition isn't an extra toilet snuck in someone's basement kwim?? They'll get caught and it could cost them $$$$ instead of the $ for the permit. So in this case doing the right thing is also the smart thing.

[baymom]

I am not sure that I can think of a reason to report their reno (as long as it does not affect your own property) to the officials without it seeming petty or un-neighbourly.

I would be more inclined to give them a call or talk to them in person and casually mention the permit process. They might not know about it, and a heads-up from a concerned neighbour is probably more appreciated than a call from a city official.

:yeahthat:

[sariana]

It seems like they would be able to find out who called (since only their 4 neighbors can see the work being done - it's not very apparent from the street).

We were once cited for something (because our idiot contractor failed to submit the full plans, but that's a different story) because a city inspector happened to be doing some surveying on the property next door and saw it. No one had to report anything; it was all just chance that she was there. Maybe your city decided to do a random sweep and happened to notice the construction. No one needs to know what really happened.


We're on flat land, so drainage shouldn't be an issue.

This is not necessarily true. Drainage has to do with what's underground, too. You don't know what effect their construction is having on the underground system.

It's your choice whether to report it, but I wouldn't worry about being "found out."