Selling a home without building permits

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ESP47

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Lets just say some guy I know did a little work to his house in the form of rewiring existing outlets and lights as well as redoing the sheetrock in the garage and putting a subpanel out there with new wiring to the outlets and lights.

Lets say this guy I know wants to sell the house in a few years. When he goes to sell it, are they going to know what work has been done or if a subpanel was out in the garage before he bought the house in the first place? I'm just wondering if they are able to see the existing home inspection and realize that this work has been done.

This guy is a first time home owner so he is just curious how it works :mrgreen:
 
Probably not, as long as the work meets code. There will be an issue if the work does not meet code, when the prospective buyer get's the house inspected, though.

If everything is all up to code, or better, there shouldn't be any issues at all.
 
Here in Canada the buyer should get the home inspected and if any issues come up the buyer can go to his City hall and say I would like to have all permits of work done on the said house to see that they pased inspection.If work was done and not paeesd all work can be removed.So If your friends work is top notch have an inspector come out and pass the work.In the end that seller may have a hard time selling,or sell it as is,buyer beware.
 
I'm in NJ so it might be very different in California. If the wiring was done to code and was done by the homeowner there should be no problem. The sheetrock in the garage is code here now. So updating the garage to reflect that should not be a problem. Here's how I would handle it here, it was done over a period of years, a little each year as finances allowed. The seller will probably hire a building inspector to check for any deviations from the code. It might be a good idea to get your own to do a run through first. In NJ and our Twp a building permit is based on the expense of the project. Minor projects usually do not require one. Good luck!
 
No Because no report is on file as to what was put in as long as it is not a 40 year old house and new 200 amp service is in it now. But the best way is too find out what local code is on the home building some are slow to update local codes but you should be okay.
 
Prior to selling our home in SC, I did all the wiring for the garage, the wiring for our pool, and we had a patio room put on, all without one permit. We sold the home years ago and didn't have any problems.
 
i'm a general contractor and see this all the time, as long as the home inpector passes the work there won't be an issue. but i have seen where a good home inspector ( very rare ) has noticed that the work didn't convey with the original building and has ask for work to be inspected by county the house resides in. but in most cases they don't make you rip anything down to inspect unless something raises a red flag , like if a hot tub was added here the inspector would want the wire exposed all the way to panel to make sure it was in a conduit from service panel to disconnect and on a g.f.i protected circuit. or if there was an insulation issue.
 
I'm looking at the electrical codes but they seem more generic than I thought they'd be. Are there usually no strict laws as far as outlets needing to be at a specific height or anything? Basically its a 50amp subpanel with a 15amp run on one side and a 20 amp run on the other. Both sides have a GFI as the first outlet and theres probably 5 outlets on each side with two of them being attached to the rafters so the flourscent lights can plug into them. The wiring coming into the subpanel is 6-3 romex. I know the codes are different for each area but that sounds about right, doesnt it?

Hippo, the house was built in 1958 and it only has 100amp service.
 
here in va you run 14-2 or 14-3 wire on 15 amp circuits and 12-2 or 12-3 wire on 20 amps and by code here you should have no more the 6 outlets to a circuit. but i have seen 3 rooms on 1 breaker too :wack: all appliances should have seperate circuits too.
 
Well, 6/3 with a ground is more than sufficient for a 50 amp panel, as long as the panel is bonded to the house panel or has been grounded by a seperate rod if the 6/3 doesn't have a ground. The outlets should be wired in accordance to code...here in Michigan a 15 amp circuit can run on 14 guage wire, but the 20 amp circuit needs to be 12 guage. As for the sheetrock, in Michigan all that is required is that it be fire taped to pass, meaning one coat of mud and tape. I wouldn't worry about the work not being done with a permit as long as it will pass inspection should the buyer or the seller request an inspection. All the inspectors usually do is make sure the circuits are wired in continuity, no open grounds or loops. Until recently, no GFI was required in a garage setting, only in kitchen and bath applications, and only if the outlet was within 6' of the water. I think it's required now in Michigan too, and only the first plug need be GFI and the others run off the load side in series.

Most times nowadays, all the building dept. is interested in is the $$$ for the permit.. Here in Michigan it's $50.00x the number of inspections a permitted job requires. You know it's gonna be a $100.00 bill as they want a rough and a finish on everything!!!Hope this helps, Geof
 
Thanks guys! Yeah the 15 amps are run on 14-2 and the 20 amps are on 12-2 romex. The subpanel has separate neutral and ground bars that are ran back to the main panel and connected to the single ground bar there. Nothing shady going on, "my friend" just didn't sit there with a code book and go word for word.
 
Home inspectors more often than not pass the house, as most of their work comes from referalls from real estate agents. Anyway, I have done every single reno to my house except for the NG to our stove and dryer, as well as the panel in my house and garage. Dont worry bout it, just pay off the house inspector....
 
ESP47 said:
Lets just say some guy I know did a little work to his house in the form of rewiring existing outlets and lights as well as redoing the sheetrock in the garage and putting a subpanel out there with new wiring to the outlets and lights.

Lets say this guy I know wants to sell the house in a few years. When he goes to sell it, are they going to know what work has been done or if a subpanel was out in the garage before he bought the house in the first place? I'm just wondering if they are able to see the existing home inspection and realize that this work has been done.

This guy is a first time home owner so he is just curious how it works :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

Maybe this homeowner should just do it correctly the first time? :colors:
 
Like has been said, probably not a big deal till you start adding additions to the building or on the property. I wouldn't get a permit for anything inside. If you add a patio I recommend getting a permit unless one was already there.
 
Not sure if you mentioned it, but on a sub-panel, if it has a grounding connector between the neutral bus and the ground bus, it must be removed. Only time they can be connected is at the main panel.

Grant
 
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