mombapo wrote:Hiya,
Turns out one of the apts in my multi-family was divided off after a special permit was received by the former owner for only 3 units, currently there are 4. One large apt was subdivided to create 2 smaller units. This situation has existed for 30 years.
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The inspector ...
First, a few questions and observations:
- "The inspector" ... What type of inspector? The end result may, or may not, be affected by the type of inspector (as it also depends on the following items).
- "a special permit" ... Was the permit for dividing the unit into two units? Who issued that permit? Was the work done under that permit inspected, a final inspection passed, and a CO (Certificate of Occupancy) or CC (Certificate of Completion/Certificate of Compliance, depends on which is used by that department).
- "has existed for 30 years" ... The one apartment was divided into two apartments 30 years ago or the building is 30 years old and the apartment was divided up sometime later?
Some "IF" observations:
- IF ... the inspector is from a city/county/fire department, you pretty much have to do what they say unless you can prove otherwise, thus the questions above for starters.
- IF ... the inspector is a private inspector (such as a home inspector for a sale) you will probably have to address the concerns of the buyer in a manner which shows that it was properly done, with a proper permit, all inspections, and final inspected and approved ... at the time of the permit.
- IF ... the permit was given but no inspections were made, the permit has expired and is as though it never existed, other than being evidence that work was permitted and some AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) dropped the ball and did not follow up on the permit, and the open permit is now raising questions.
- IF ... the original construction was with fire-resistance rated walls, you would need to get a copy of the original permit for the building to determine that, but if the original construction was with fire-resistance rated walls between dwelling units (apartments) then the walls separating the two smaller apartments which used to be one large apartment also required the same fire-resistance rating for the walls between the two smaller apartments.
- - UNLESS ... the permit included approved documents which showed those walls as not being fire-resistance rated and that was approved by the AHJ at the time of the permit .
- - UNLESS ... the plans were approved improperly, then the approval for the plans may be invalidated.
Those are for starters, however ...
- IF ... the permit was accompanied by approved documents (plans) and the work was inspected, and the work was approved, and the two apartments received a CO/CC, then there may be a defense behind it being grandfathered in to the code at the time of the permit, however, if it did not meet the code in effect at the time of permitting, then there is nothing to grandfather in.
Too many questions, too little information to go on.