Special offer

Permitted but not inspected…The Shocking Truth- Cle Elum Home Inspection

By
Home Inspector with NCW Home Inspections, LLC

Permitted but not inspected…The Shocking Truth- Cle Elum Home Inspection

                                                          Building Permit


One item a buyer should be aware of is if any permits have been issued to a home that has not been completed. This will be especially true if the plan is to perform any work on the home that will require a permit. Uncompleted permits can hold up and complicate any future work to be performed.

Here is an interesting example-

There have been 6800 electrical permits pulled in Washington State that have never been inspected between January 2009 and August 2011.

                                                Washington State

Washington State requires that any electrical permit that is pulled must have the inspection within 12 months of the issue date.

In addition the permit holders are required by Washington Administrative Codes (WAC 296-46B-901(10)(a)) to make inspection requests within:  3 business days after completing the installation; or 1 business day after energizing circuits or equipment, whichever comes first.

Washington State has offered an amnesty on electrical permits. Their reason is to ensure safe electrical installations have been performed and completed per these expired permits.  The amnesty is from any compliance action for any electrical contractor that purchased an electrical permit:  Since January 1, 2009, and is expired with no request for an inspection of the electrical work.

To qualify for the amnesty, the contractor must obtain a new permit and request inspection for the work before February 15, 2012.

The contractor must apply for a new permit and let the local supervisor aware that the new permit is replacing an expired permit.

After February 15, 2012 the department will take compliance action on all identified permits with inspection request violations.

Ensuring compliance has been performed can save you some headaches in the future.


“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

Steve Jobs


NCW Home Inspections, LLC  is a Licensed Washington State Home Inspection service located in Wenatchee Washington serving Chelan County, Douglas County, Kittitas County, Okanogan County and Grant County Washington and the cities of Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Cashmere, Orville, Cle Elum, East Wenatchee, Quincy and many more…      

Your Wenatchee and Chelan Professional Home and Structural Pest Inspection Service

Comments (3)

Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Permits are only as good as a jurisdiction's ability to enforce them.

Dec 31, 2011 07:51 AM
Jay Markanich
Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC - Bristow, VA
Home Inspector - servicing all Northern Virginia

My understanding out here is that 70% of people who pull permits to begin a job (to be "in compliance with the law") don't have the final inspection.  That way they avoid the tax!  There is a lot of liability that they don't avoid!

Dec 31, 2011 08:58 PM
Donald Hester
NCW Home Inspections, LLC - Wenatchee, WA
NCW Home Inspections, LLC

Charlie, This is always the issue with permits.

Jay, I do not have the statistics on that but it would not surprise me. Then you buy a home that has an outstanding permit then you find that it not been inspected.

I did an inspection for a client that had an obvious un-permitted addition. The county wanted engineering on this addition. The potential buyer walked because of all the hassle that was going to be get this all approved. Since it was a foreclosed home the buyer would have to assume the costs.

Jan 01, 2012 06:10 AM