Jim Onderisin said:
I'm not worrying about smoke or CO detectors. They have little to do with value.
Neither does the name of the seller, but we have to report it. Quite often, prior sales of the subject have nothing to do with value, but, again, we must report it. And take a look at some of the actions taken against appraisers who don't!
Report it. If it is a concern of the lender, let them deal with the issue. A CO detector is not expensive and in many cases you can get them for free from many fire departments, as well as smoke detectors. I used to be involved with a fundraising program to distribute these through the fire departments here for free to those who need one.
But I would definitely mention whether or not one exists if it is a requirement to have one simply because I wouldn't want to waste time in court on a wrongful death case. Win or lose, it is still a waste of time that could have been avoided by writing one simple sentence in the report.
Furthermore, if you are stating the current use is legal as an SFR, and the state says it is illegal because such device does not exist, then you have a whole other problem. Not so much on the legal/illegal use, and not so much with any board of aprpaisal as they will think of this as nothing but fodder, but when you go to court on a wrongful death case, THAT'S where a good attorney will nail you. There is a difference between the laws that govern appraisal and those which define negligence. Attorneys can turn a little thing like that into a major issue NOT related to USPAP or appraisal.
JD