Am I responsibile for unpermitted decks built by previous owners?
Someone from your area — probably your county — is going to have to determine the property laws since I have no clue on that part. I do know that most construction within cities must be approved before construction and, in some areas, inspected when complete. This is for both building code issues (stability, violation of safety protocols) and for assessment purposes. In rural areas there’s less regulation and no real motivation to report building since you’ll have to pay increased taxes. Some guy who lives a couple miles from my parents built a large garage just over the cusp of a hill and the assessors didn’t notice it for two years — he saved a lot of money on property taxes. In the LA area I would imagine they could do anything from fine you to force you to tear it down if it doesn’t pass code — I’d have it inspected.
You’re basically on the hook with the Building Department for the decks, but they’ll probably have a way for you to get them permitted retroactively (the other option would be to tear them down). Bascially, you’ll have to document the layout and construction of the structures to the satisfaction of the building inspector. If your decks are faulty in any way, either structurally or they violate zoning ordinances like setbacks and such, you’ll have to modify or tear down the existing structures. The only place you’ll really have trouble proving the structural integrity of the decks is with the foundations, since you can’t readily look inside the concrete to see what kind of reinforcement was used. It will greatly help your cause if you can find the original builder of the structures in question. I’d also talk to a lawyer about nailing the previous owner for any costs incurred. Disclosure, and all that.
The answers here seem to mesh with my personal experience over the past couple years, buying and rennovating an old house (in Oregon, not California). We were made very aware that we were responsible for all of the not-to-code changes made to our old house, whether we made them or not. (The previous owner had converted the garage to a bonus room, but had not followed code nor applied for a permit, so we were not allowed to officially count the room in the house’s square footage.) The house we purchased is very old, and for fifty years an old man had made all sorts of illegal changes. We bought it knowing this. Last year we remodelled the bathroom. The inspector was firm, but friendly and polite, as he made us change after change, many of which had nothing to do with out project. Basically, the law here seems to be “if an inspector can see the problem, he can make it an issue”. Things may be different where you are, of course.
as the current owner, am I responsible for a deck built by the previous owner that may be unpermitted? Yes. Now it’s your house, so now it’s your problem. Can this inspector, who didn’t come on my property but merely espied it from the street below, demand that we allow them to inspect the decks – built a few years ago? Very likely, yes. Most North American jurisidctions have similar regulations allowing inspectors to come check for changes to a property and/or code violations even without your permission. Imagine, if all a property owner had to do was refuse entrance to inspectors, then slumlords could do whatever they want without recourse w/r/t health & safety. Generally, municipalities are pretty reasonable about it, but they do have the power to do an inspection if they have reason to believe it’s warranted. The specifics of what notice they have to give you etc. will vary from place to place. If you contact the office the inspector is from (Township or whatever) they should be ab
I have to say that structural engineering code is probably one of the least oppressive bureaucratic regimes. A hillside deck is something you want to be able to pass muster. Imagine what would happen in a landslide if your deck is insufficiently anchored to the hillside below but is too well anchored to structure of yoru house. (Answer: your deck could pull your house down the hill with it.) If you approach the inspectors with a cooperative, safety-first attitude, you’re more likely to get a positive result. And you probably do have a good legal claim for any losses from reconstruction — maybe against your inspector, maybe against your seller, maybe even against your seller’s contractors who built the decks in the first place.
