Home Warranties and Inspections - Permit for basement

I am planning on purchasing a house that has a finished basement. The basement looks nice and the owner said he had contractor do the basement, but does not have the permits for it. Is this a deal breaker and should I look elsewhere, or what can be done.

Thanks

Does that mean it was done without permits on the sly? I would be concerned with non-code work having been done. In addition that sounds like an improvement that would result in higher taxes, which possibly are not currently being paid.

Is any of the basement space designed as living quraters, i.e. bedroom(s)? That would open a different can of worms.

Yes, there is a bedroom and bathroom down there. It also has its own A/C. If I were able to negociate the price of the house, would I be able to get the permits or is it beyond that?

2 items -

Some areas do not require permits for basement remodeling. The city code office can answer that.

The incuding the space as a bedroom will effect the value of the home. If it is a room with a legal egress window and access, the additional bedroom will contribute to the value when the home is financed. If it is not legal, it is not a bedroom and only a finsihed basement space, which is far less and will not qualify on the finance appraisal. - Was the home advertised using the basement "room" as a bedroom?

Dick

As Dick alludes to, one of my thoughts was code-required egress if there was a bedroom involved.

Building codes vary from area to area. If basement finishing was not permitted, the building code office may require the seller to get a permit, have an inspection, bring the work to code or even rip it out. We have had one case here in the forums where a listing realtor wanted to know what to do because the sellers basement was not permitted and the work had to be torn out.