Residential Permits
Save yourself thousands of dollars when buying your next home!
I recently represented a purchaser who bought a cute little house in Winnipeg. The home had recently been completely redone on the interior, including some updated electrical. We had asked for a property disclosure statement, which disclosed that the electrical wiring had been updated without the seller taking out a City of Winnipeg permit.
Now, in this situation, what would you do? Your options are to either walk away from the property as the property disclosure statement is not satisfactory to you, accept the property disclosure statement and sign off on it, or make an amendment to the offer conditions.
I talked with my client about all of these options. She decided to move ahead with my suggestion on making an amendment request to her offer, which stated that the seller was to issue a City of Winnipeg permit, have the electrical inspected and provide a closed permit, prior to possession.
This was, of course, in the best interest of the purchaser. If she were to have removed all conditions and moved into this property, at any given time the City could have knocked on her door and asked to inspect the electrical. If any deficiencies were found with the wiring, she would have had to be responsible for correcting it. Not to mention, she would have to take out a permit as well. The City does not care if the prior owner said it was done correctly or not, and this would have put her at risk for the cost of repairs if any were needed. Also, her now knowing about this, would have negated her title insurance regarding the wiring, so she would not have been able to have been covered this way either.
Now, this did make the road to a final offer a bit bumpier than anticipated or wanted. We did have to move possession back by a week, in order to give the seller enough time to complete the conditions. When the City went in to inspect the property, they did find deficiencies that resulted in the seller having to get their electrician back in to the property. We are not aware of what those deficiencies were, however, after the final inspection the City approved the wiring and the condition was satisfied. Now she can move into her new home knowing that the electrical in her home is safe and that she won't have to incur any unexpected cost in the future to have it done properly.
This could have also cost my client thousands of dollars if she were to have moved forward with the purchase, without this condition.
It is so very important to make sure that you protect yourself in your home sale or purchase. It is equally important that you take out a City of Winnipeg Residential permit for any updates you do to your home, whether you are thinking about selling in the future or not. They do have staff that monitor the home listings, and they will come knock on your door and request an inspection on any work that may have been done that you did not pull a permit for. That is their job. It is our job as home owners to make sure that when we do any renovations to our properties, that we take out a permit if required.
It is my job to make sure that you are protected when purchasing a home that this has already been taken care of for you.
I also want to point out that we shouldn't assume that our electrician pulled a permit if we have hired someone to do updates in our homes. While almost all of the electrical companies out there offer this as part of their service, arranging for the permit to be taken out on your property, it is something to remember to verify with them prior to hiring them or having them start the job. If it is not included in their quote, ask them about it.
You can find all the information that you need about when you would require a City of Winnipeg permit on their website, (link below), and to do residential searches to see if a there has been any permits taken out on a specific property.
City of Winnipeg Residential Permits Online
If you have any questions regarding this post, please feel free to ask. If you have specific questions for the City of Winnipeg Residential Permit Department you can dial 311 and an operator will connect you to the right department.
Tina August, Royal LePage Top Producers Real Estate, 6-1549 St. Mary's Road, Winnipeg, MB, R2M 5G9 204-989-6900.
