My parents bought a house in 2006. It had a guest house and a main house.?

Question

They were told that the guest house was built, they lived in it while the main house was built.

Now the county says that there is a permit to build a garage pulled in 2004 that was never finaled. The "garage" is the guest house. They want the additional money for the permit since it is living space as well as penalties.

My questions.... Who's responsibility is this? Shouldn't the seller have disclosed that he had an incorrect permit pending? What should we do?

Answer 1

Your parents have 2 choices.

Obtain the permits or tear the place down.

It was their responsibility to verify that proper permits were filed.

Answer 2

Actually yes. This should have been disclosed before the purchase. The title company should have caught that. Contact them to see what to do next. If you need help locating the title company that closed this loan let me know. [e-mail]  I would be more than happy to help out.