Michael
McCann and McCann-craft, Inc. offer legalization services
to secure required and missing certificates of occupancy (C.O.’s)
and to correct and remove building code violations on existing
residential properties.
When placing
their residence on the market, owners frequently discover
that their property has legalization problems that must be
resolved before the house can be sold. Sometimes these improvements,
such as an enclosed porch, deck or added bathroom, were constructed
without obtaining a building permit and were even present
when the current owner purchased the house years before. In
the past, legalization problems may not have been noticed
or were overlooked by title companies and banks. But in today’s
lending environment, banks will refuse to grant the purchaser
a mortgage until legalization problems have been resolved
by the current owner. Additionally, title companies will not
grant title insurance with legalization issues.
Very often,
real estate agents are the first to find out that a home their
agency is marketing has legalization problems or open certificates
of occupancy that can potentially delay or prevent a property
from being sold. These problems can come to light during a
search of records by the agent or the title insurance company,
frequently right before a scheduled closing. Without a resolution
of legalization problems or the issuance of a final C.O.,
banks will deny the mortgage. Therefore, the closing will
be held up as the owner scrambles to clear up the problems,
potentially risking losing their buyer.
Usually,
when these problems come to light, the owner is then faced
with finding a licensed architect to draw up stamped plans
to submit to the town’s building department. Once the
plans have been drawn up and approved by the building department,
the owner frequently must then find a licensed trades’
person, such as a carpenter, plumber or electrician, to make
the necessary corrections before the architect will certify
that the C.O. problem conforms to the building code.
Michael
McCann, as a licensed architect can help
a real estate agent and owner resolve these problems quickly,
while the owner has the convenience of dealing with only one
person overseeing the whole process. As a licensed architect,
Mike has familiarity with the New York and Connecticut State
Building Code and can draw up any required plans. With 35+
years experience as an architect and builder in New York and
Connecticut, he has dealt successfully with many building
departments, inspectors and planning boards in obtaining building
permits and C.O.’s.
Mike’s services include securing building,
plumbing and electrical permits, if required. This will encompass
stamped architectural drawings, permit applications by a licensed
architect, plumber and electrician, all with required contractor
insurances. He can perform code compliance inspections of
existing conditions and provide architectural services, if
a variance is required. Mike will provide and supervise the
work as necessary to make existing conditions code compliant,
secure and supervise governmental inspections, if required,
and apply for and secure the required C.O. |
