LAKE COUNTY ? The Lake County Community Development Department”s building division is proposing a measure that would address problems that arise when unfinished homes go into foreclosure.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors is holding a public hearing Feb. 17 in the Lake County Courthouse to consider establishing a mechanism to inform potential buyers about outstanding permit issues and recoup the county”s costs involved with correcting violations.
“What happens is that with the housing market the way it is, a lot of people just walk away from these homes. Often, people then buy the homes and after the fact they figure out that there are problems with the building permit,” Lake County Chief Building Official David Jezek said.
When a property owner stops asking for inspections and stops communicating, the building department sends the owner certified letters and posts notices on the property to bring the owner into compliance.
“After we have gone through all of the notification stages we can, this is something that will allow us to put notice on the public record that this building permit might be in a situation where it is in violation and nonconforming,” Jezek said.
With foreclosures on the rise, Jezek said there are currently more than 100 building permits in Lake County in this situation.
“These properties go up for sale in foreclosure, and people buying property in foreclosure may not do all the checks to see if there are outstanding issues. Then they buy the property and see that there are outstanding issues with the permits. This is an effort to make things more clear to the downstream person who gets the property,” Jezek said.
The measure to be considered would allow the county to put a notice of the outstanding issues on the property title that would turn up in a title search.
Additionally, Jezek said builders who walk away from homes in various stages of construction without a final inspection can cause blight in the neighborhood and create “attractive nuisances” where children can play and get hurt.
The measure also seeks to recoup the county”s costs involved in noticing the owner, sending an inspector, holding public hearings and taking whatever abatement measures are necessary. According to Jezek, the buyer would pay the costs, unless the previous owner resolves the permit issues and has a final inspection done before selling.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636 ext. 37.
