What Happens If You Don’t Get A Permit Before You Start A Home Renovation?

When you plan a major renovation with a reputable contractor, they pull permits for things like structural changes, plumbing, and electrical work. But what if you plan to do a small renovation yourself, like redoing your bathroom? What if you want to hire the local handyman to add a closet? There are many situations where homeowners decide to skip getting a permit because of the extra cost, time, and hassle involved. But if you don’t get a permit, you could find yourself in trouble.

We spoke to real estate expert Tammi Brooks in Durham, North Carolina to find out what happens if you don’t get a permit before you start a home renovation.

Why Do You Need A Permit?

Brooks owns Inhabit Real Estate and has worked with homeowners in North Carolina’s Triangle region since 2006. In that time, she has seen lots of unpermitted home improvements ranging from minor updates to entire additions. When clients ask if they should get a permit for renovating, her answer is yes—especially with an older home. Permits ensure that the work meets current building codes and safety standards. While we all like to save time and money, inspections will ensure that any problems get fixed.

“The codes have improved so much,” Brooks says. “All of us prior to 1980 did not have grounded outlets in our bathrooms. But you need to put a grounded outlet in a bathroom now.”

The last thing you want to do is cover up corroded plumbing and unsafe wiring in the interest of avoiding a permit. Your family’s safety and peace of mind is more important. Not only that, but a future owner could try to hold you liable if you don’t disclose problems.

What Kind Of Work Requires Permits?

Most repairs and cosmetic updates don’t require a permit, like painting walls, shingling your roof, replacing a faucet, or installing new bathroom tile. You usually need a permit if you are installing plumbing, rewiring or adding outlets, or moving or building walls. Adding rooms and turning non-livable space into living space almost always requires a permit.

Brooks notes that requirements vary from county to county and city to city, so you should always check with your local permit office. One town may require a permit for minor electrical projects like installing a ceiling fan, and another may not.

What Happens If You Don’t Get A Permit?

You May Have To Stop Or Redo Work

If you don’t get a permit before starting your renovation and someone finds out, you could be ordered to stop work. Depending on where you live, you may have to pay fines or apply for a permit retroactively. Inspectors could make you tear out and redo some of the work. Your dreams of saving time and money have just flown out the window.

It Could Affect Selling Your House

Failing to get a permit could also affect your ability to sell your home. Brooks says buyers don’t expect to see a permit for work done decades ago, but they will ask questions about a recent renovation. You’ll have to disclose that you didn’t get a permit, which may scare off some buyers or impact the sales price.

Brooks once had clients who wanted to buy a home with a prefabricated sunroom attached to the house. “The home inspector noticed problems with the way it was tethered to the house,” she says, “and so we required them to retroactively permit it as part of the purchase.”

Inspectors made the sellers detach the sunroom—and it promptly collapsed. “Suddenly a thing that had value to us as part of the purchase of the home was now on the ground,” Brooks says. The sellers had to knock $45,000 off the purchase price so that the buyers could build a new sunroom.

“Honestly, it was a pretty great lesson on like why it’s important to permit things like that,” Brooks adds. “For the seller, that was pretty awful.”

You Could Be Denied Insurance Coverage

We hate to imagine the worst, but things like electrical fires and plumbing failures do happen. If something goes wrong during a renovation, not having the required permits could result in your homeowners’ insurance denying coverage.

So whether you’re doing the work yourself or hiring an electrician and plumber, don’t start that renovation until you have the necessary permits.