Permits- Do I really need one?
Do I really need a permit for demolition? Will the city ever notice? What will happen if I don't get one?
I called the 311 phone number today for the City of Minneapolis. They say we need two permits for our next project. The first is a general building permit. The second is a street use permit for the dumpster we will need.
My question is, has anyone ever been caught without a permit? What happens? Why do they care? They just want my money, right? Or will they reassess my property value and tax me even higher?
Maybe if they had some reasonable hours I'd be less resistant, but their 8:00-3:30 business hours leaves a lot to be desired for someone who works in the other Twin City.
posted by Kassie @ 12/27/2006
6 Comments:
I can only speak for NYC (Brooklyn specifically) but (a) hardly anyone gets caught for unpermitted demolition work but (b) when they do the city comes down on them like a ton of bricks (so to speak).
If Minneapolis is anything like NYC, it doesn't have the money to pay for roving inspectors. Even if an inspector should stumble on a suspicious job he's usually way late for his next scheduled appointment.
Almost invariably, if an inspector busts you it's because you pissed someone off and they filed a complaint against you with Buildings. Usually it's a neighbor who might be torqued about the loss of his parking spot to your dumpster or the noise and dirt of the demolition. But it could also be another GC looking to screw with a competitor.
do you really think they send inspectors to this neighborhood? i say improve your home and fuck the house police.
Charity
St, Paul waives permits for most DIY projects.
Technically you are supposed to pull the permits, but the bottom line is that for the work you are doing, probably no one will ever notice.
Where it becomes more necessary is in cases such as mine, where the building was purchased with outstanding work orders. When I go to sell, the buyer will want to see that I ameliorated the work orders, complete with permits. (So I will need to get a new truth-in-housing, and if I didn't pull permits I would have to do so around the time of having my house reinspected.)
Hope that helps!
Great blog, by the way...
We're over in St. Paul, but we never pulled permits for demo... when they did the roof, they had a dumpster, but I guess if there was a permit required, they would have pulled it themselves. If I did anything, it'd be the dumpster permit, but only if it's there more than a couple of days. (I hope the city of St. P doesn't read blogs!)
We've had a variety of work done without permits, but they have been needed each time. I know we need it for this project, I just don't want an inspector anywhere near my house. Who knows what they would find?
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