Member and Legal Services Director

In July of 2004, the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code went into effect. While most practitioners and homeowners were focused on the various provisions of the Construction Code that affect work done after the effective date, this law also has certain restrictions that apply to work done before the effective date.

Specifically, if a property owner did work to his property without getting whatever permits were required at the time the work was done, the municipality may have the authority to take action against the current property owner to remedy that oversight. The possible actions for the municipality range from requiring the current owner to pay the costs of the permits that should have been obtained along with some sort of penalty, to making the current owner bring all the work up to the current codes requirements (not just what was in place at the time), all the way to forcing the homeowner to actually remove the work and put the property back in the condition it was before the work was done.

Depending on the approach taken in each municipality, the costs of prior unpermitted work could be quite substantial to a current owner and/or a potential buyer. Unfortunately, because of the sheer numbers of municipalities in Pennsylvania – more than 2,500 – there is no single source to find out what permit requirements existed for each one at any particular point in time. In many cases, it may also be difficult for a particular municipality to provide guidance on what permits should have been received for certain work, as their own record-keeping requirements can vary greatly.

Given that there is no outside source a buyer can check with to see the compliance status of a particular property, it was decided that the Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement should be revised to ask sellers to provide whatever information they may have regarding permits that were (or were not) obtained for substantive work done to the property.

Paragraph seven of Form SPD currently asks buyers whether there have been any additions, structural changes, and alterations made to the property. With the new revision, this paragraph now will ask sellers to list, in a grid format, the additions, structural changes or alterations done to the property, the approximate dates of the work, whether permits were obtained (if that information is known), and whether final inspections/approvals were obtained.

In addition to these questions, paragraph seven also includes a notice provision. The notice advises buyers to check with the municipality to determine if permits and/or approvals were necessary for the disclosed work. It also notifies buyers that if required permits were not obtained, the municipality may require the current owner to upgrade or remove changes by prior owners. Finally, the notice alerts buyers that they can have the property inspected by a codes compliance expert and purchase expanded title insurance, which would cover work done to the property without a permit or approval.

The revised Form SPD will be released just about at the time you are reading this article. If you have any questions, please contact Hank Lerner, director of Member & Legal Services, at hlerner@parealtor.org or 800-555-3390.