Home, Land, Property Buying and Selling - building permit question in Oklahoma

When we had our house built in 1998 we asked the builder to include heat/air and A.C. outlets/light fixtures in our bonus room over the garage. The room looked like an open attic since there was no sheet rock/paint on the walls. In 2004 I sheet rocked and painted and carpeted the room and turned it in to a game room. I never got a permit since I figured the heat/air and A.C was already there so there couldn't be any safety violations and just really didn't even think a permit was needed. Well now we're planning on selling next year and noticed the county website doesn't show the bonus room in the floor plan. In 2005 we refinanced and had a mortgage company appraisal which included the additional space of the bonus room. So, do I need to do anything or can I sell it without notifying the county?

Do you have the purchase documents that show the wiring, etc,? If it was included with the orginal construction, so it would have been inspected. Because the room was not finished, it could not be listed as living space.

If you have the documents and did not do any wiring or plumbing, this could not be inspected unless you called to ask for an inspection.

I have no documents that show anything about this room. I was present in 1998 when the final inspection was performed and the inspector spent maybe 30 seconds in this room. Like I said, this space is not reflected in the square footage on the county's web site. I guess my question is do I have to get it inspected after the fact? Do I need to since my last mortgage appraisal included the space?

Go see the building inspector who should have documentation of your permits and inspections. You should have gotten a permit to finish out the bonus room, as the unfinished area was converted to finished living space. Even though all you did was install drywall, paint, and carpet, it should have been permitted.

Building codes vary from area to area, as does the permitting and costs and inspections. Failure to get a permit can result in fines. Your tax assessment is based on finished living space as is your homeowner's insurance.

The permit and the assesment value will also enable you to easily include the space in your livable square footage when you go to sell.

Nothing is worse than claiming space and accepting an offer based on that space, but only to find out the buyer's pre-purchase home inspector, appraisor or county assessor cannot justify the area you claim. - That is a hard place to be in when your only choice is to reduce/renegotiate the accepted price downward.

Dick