Enclosed Garage

[CANative]

Faillure to obtain a permit rarely equates to an illegal land use.

If lack of permits for a garage conversion would result in the inability of a property to transfer then a cost to cure (getting the permits or reconversion) would be appropriate.

It's site and location specific. That's the argument I always seem to have with you Mike. Your area (New York) appears to be very anal in these matters. Wasn't New York the first area with zoning laws and building codes? Likely because of the extremely high densities and intensity of development.

I wouldn't have any sort of argument if you would tone it down a bit so as to make it clear that you're perspective is what goes on in your area of practice.

 

[Dale Smalley]

My guess if they left the garage door it was not brought up to grade and is not living area. I see this mostly in PUDs where there are also restrictions. They leave about 4-6 feet in the front for storage and convert the rest. I would call it a garage with a cost to cure. CYA

 

[Mike Kennedy]

Absent the specific Local Municipality, see Florida State


3401.1 Scope. Alteration, repair, addition, relocation and change of occupancy of existing structures and buildings shall comply with the provisions of the Florida Building Code, Existing Building.

SECTION 302 ADDITIONS, ALTERATIONS OR REPAIRS

302.1 Existing buildings or structures. Additions or alterations to any building or structure shall comply with the requirements of the Florida Building Code, Building for new construction. Additions or alterations shall not be made to an existing building or structure that will cause the existing building or structure to be in violation of any provisions of the Florida Building Code, Building. An existing building plus additions shall comply with the height and area provisions of the Florida Building Code, Building. Portions of the structure not altered and not affected by the alteration are not required to comply with the code requirements for a new structure.

http://ecodes.citation.com/cgi-exe/cpage.dll?

http://ecodes.citation.com/cgi-exe/...ref=/nonindx/ST/fl/st/b600v07/index.htm#b=302

FLORIDA EXAMPLE:

City of Orlando (of interest to Op)

REGULAR AGENDA (CONTINUED)
Discussion ensued over the many illegal conversions throughout Orlando and the non-conforming situations.​

"She also informed the Board that denial of the requested variance will require the property owner to convert the illegally converted living space back into a garage or carport in order to accommodate the one required parking space. Discussion ensued over the site plan." ​

http://www.cityoforlando.net/planni...f Report/September 2005/September Minutes.pdf​

SUPPLEMENTAL EXAMPLE
WASHINGTON STATE

"On the disclosure she stated there weren't any additions/conversions to the home but according to a document I located from the county assessor the conversion was completed sometime between 1981 and 1986. according to the building department in order to validate the conversion we will have to hire an architect to create plans and submit an application as if we were going to build it from scratch. we will also need electrical permits and our inspections. We will be charged double as a penalty for not have the permits at time of original construction. i Based on this information, do we have any recourse or are we just out of luck for being naive?"

http://www.trulia.com/voices/Remodel...gal_gara-57804​

 

[Mejappz]

My guess if they left the garage door it was not brought up to grade and is not living area. I see this mostly in PUDs where there are also restrictions. They leave about 4-6 feet in the front for storage and convert the rest. I would call it a garage with a cost to cure. CYA

I see that as well Dale. Just last week I did a PUD were the garage was converted, The seller offered the buyer to convert it back to it's original state but the buyer wanted it to be left "as-is". They wanted to use it as an extra bedroom instead of a place to store their cars. Like, Greg said this often times comes down to what indiviual buyers prefer some like to have the garage used for storage purposes while others like to have grandma living there. BTW... I called it a converted garage and added a cost to cure.

 

[Mike Boyd]

I give it value as a garage then deduct my estimated cost to reconvert and to eliminate the door into the M.bedroom. There is at least one item (the door to the bedroom) that makes this an illegal and possibly dangerous conversion. If it had been permitted there would not be a door. I might give it GLA value but deduct an equal amount under appeal. In most cases, the exterior design factors in the garage door. IMHO, garage conversions are ugly as well as creates some functional depreciation due to lack of covered parking.