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September 9, 2008
Anyone filed before closing using seller to sign off on filings?
We are buying a house that needs a complete gut plus and we'd like to shave off as much time as possible. I've seen mention of doing this as a way to save time and am wondering if anyone can tell me more or point me in the direction of info? The words I heard were "the buyer makes an application on behalf of the seller as agent for the building permits and seller signs off on filings" - and that we would need to make that part of our contract. Looking for any help/advice. Thanks!!
Comments
Considering the costs involved in drawing up plans and filing, you'd be putting yourself at some risk should the closing not go through or some other issue arise. I wouldn't want to lay out that kind of money without the property being mine.
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at September 10, 2008 9:08 AM
On the contrary, its quite prudent. You can plan and caculate your total "development" cost before you own the property and save on carrying the property. Developers do this all the time.
Posted by: chas at September 10, 2008 10:34 AM
If the seller agrees, you can obtain permits with their signatures. This is done quite often. Our company demo'd a 55000 SF warehouse while in contract. Time is money. The more work the owners were able to get done before closing saved them a lot of interest.
Don Perrone
Perrone Maintenance & Construction Corp
88 9th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
1-800-761-7847
http://www.PerroneMaintenance.com
Posted by: Perrone at September 10, 2008 11:23 AM
Thanks you three for writing! It sounds like reviews are mixed as usual :) but we think/hope that it will be a good way to save us time and money as we are pretty confident the deal will close. Could either of the people who have done this suggest language to put in the contract to ensure we are covered to do this? I know that is something my lawyer should handle but we are working together to make sure we have the best language and I thought I'd ask here. Thanks in advance!
Posted by: amybnyc at September 10, 2008 11:27 PM
another option is to file the day of closing and have your architect professionally certify the drawings which means you can get a permit within a day or two and not have to have the plans go through plan examination at teh DOB. Not all architects will be keen to do this as its seen as opening them to more liability but its actually not a big deal. However if it is a landmarked building that will not work as they will definitely need to review and that takes time. Anyway: thats what we did with ours and we started construction the monday after a thursday closing!
Posted by: 11216 at September 11, 2008 9:46 AM
It's very unlikely an architect would touch this as a self-cert. Self-certs shift the legal burden for following the plans correctly from owner to architect, so are generally used in instances where 1) it's the architect's own house, so he or she controls what will be built, 2) it's a filing for a limited simple scope such as the installation of a wall-through air conditioner, or 3) the management agency / building engineers are more stringent than the DoB (example -- tenant fit-out in a Class A office buildings are often self-cert).
It's possible to have the buyer sign the paperwork for a work application before the sale, I've seen this done before. One minor possible hiccup is that management agencies for coops don't like to do this, so if the house is part of a larger coop there is the possibility that the coop would not share the seller's interest in expediting the paperwork in this way.
But on the other hand, what's the big deal here? A permit might take a week, maybe two, so what's being held up? You probably need some drawings prepared for bids, depending on what you're doing, and usually the permit set is integrated in to the design set / bid set / construction set or whatever you're using to get the thing done.
I wouldn't sweat this if it's going to be a deal breaker for the seller.
Posted by: Smokychimp at September 11, 2008 4:27 PM
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