My grandfather’s house, built in 1902, is still standing today despite having been built and later completely remodeled without any building permits at all. Yet statements like “You can’t construct a home without building permits” appear to ascribe metaphysical properties to legislative edicts; not having a building permit is treated as the equivalent of defying the law of gravity. In any case, the reason for skirting building inspection should be obvious: the moment you improve your property, your tax bill goes up.
The owners of a palatial home in West Vancouver, recently assessed at more than $6.7 million, have been ordered to demolish a building resembling a small residence and constructed without permits, at the back of their property.
“I can’t recall ever seeing a case like this,” West Vancouver District mayor Mark Sager told Global News in an interview Monday. “You can’t construct a home without building permits.”
“ Strong property rights under British common law were once the cornerstone of our enviable Canadian prosperity, but modern statutory law is turning this bedrock foundation to quick sand!”
Slight correction – there is no law of gravity. It’s just a theory.
And one that has yet to be proven to exist.
Meh… taxes vs. code.
A lot of hair brained stuff gets built without licenses and inspection from faulty electrical to ground water contamination not to mention gas and basic structural considerations. Even in licensed situations if you close a wall prior to inspection, yer ripping it down.
Additionally, too close to the property line, rip it down, tie in to existing sewage or no septic field plan, rip it down. No material safety data, rip it down. Built on an easement, rip it down.
Around here the new paranoia is over a potential terrorist backflow attack. No backflow inspection, no occupancy permit.
Good times.
Yup. There is a beautiful old post-and-beam framed barn on a local farm that is 106 ft long, 46 feet wide, and 48 feet high. It was framed in 1896 without engineers, architects, building codes, or municipal permits. Constructed from local squared hardwood timber, the mortise and tenon joints are pinned with dowels and the rafters are tamarack. It is still standing as straight and as sturdy as it was when built; and it has witnessed the collapse of many barns of much more recent construction.
I don’t know anyone that pulls a permit for construction in our little corner of rural Saskatchewan.
My brother inlaw from a city was stressing one day when we were putting a fence up in my yard about getting caught without a permit. Blew his brain washed cuckservative mind when I told him most contractors out here refuse to work unless there is no permit.
good grief. no permits? try this: do an inspection, order any shortcomings to get up to snuff, pass the final inspection AND LEVY A NICE BIG JUICY FINE TO DETER OTHERS BUT FERGAWDSAKE IF THE STRUCTURE IS SOUND LET IT STAND.
and YOU CanaDUH can go kcuf yerself.
Kritter,
Offending structure most likely does not meet the zoning by-laws. Bringing it up to the Building Code is doable perhaps with some kind of financial penalty such as increased permit fees but if it substantially breaks zoning by-laws, it must be removed or demolished. Just get that permit and save yourself a lot of grief.
These are Communists working in the BC government. Communists who get paid FABULOUS $6-figure taxpayer funded salaries … but they HATE wealthy people who aren’t communists. So they’re using their POWER to PUNISH this wealthy man.
And if they’ll do this to wealthy people … what do you think they’ll do to us wage slaves?
BTW … I highly doubt their primary objection is “Life, Health, and Safety” which is the primary purpose for building codes. Why? Because the building can be retroactively inspected … all the plumbing, wiring, structural components, etc. it can ALL be inspected. The owner/builder can provide photos, they can do destructive investigation by pulling off drywall. They can inspect and certify the building without tearing it down. So this isn’t about “Safety”. This is pure PUNISHMENT for flaunting their RULES and POWER.
Criminals go free on NO BAIL. But rich people pay $100’s of thousands of dollars for the “crime” of building more housing? How fudged-up has our society become.
No, I expect this is ALL about ignoring their zoning code. They are MOST butthurt that someone didn’t get the Planning Dept. blessing for their project. They didn’t get the setbacks and the height and the design review right. They weren’t made to install only night-sky compliant fixtures. They didn’t paint it the correct “earth tone” colors. Demanding a tear-down is purely PUNITIVE. It’s worse than finding someone for hiking in the woods. Although your country appears to have a serious Communist bent.
Ha! They have to file for the demolition permit!
ROLMFAO
Filed remediation plan…. $$$
Sued for non payment by primary contractor…
Built near unstabilized creek embankment…
These people are skinflints and scofflaws.
One ownes an HVAC company.
Throw the frigging book at ’em.
$10 says they bypassed their water meter.
Audit the living spit out of them.
They’re crooked as a dog’s hind leg.
At the last place I lived in Calgary I built a deck out back and tore down the front veranda and built a new one and only learned later that I needed building permits to do so.
That occured when I went to sell the place and hired a lawyer for the necessary paperwork to insure all was in order.
He went and secured all the necessary documents on file with the city, including a survey of the property. He showed it to me and asked if I’d made any changes. I told him about the deck and the front veranda.
He asked if I could provide him with the building permits so the survey could be updated as required by law. I said no because I didn’t get any permits. The lawyer mulled it over for a bit and said: “fuck it, we’ll just let it slide” and that was the end of it.
Don’t ask don’t tell.
Here in the SF Bay Area … all the Karen’s in the Planning Departments have determined that “every oak is sacred” … So … I had a project with a very large, old, oak tree … and we played ball with the Karen’s. We surveyed it (including the drip line) … hired an arborist to write a 5-page report on its health and the impact of our project that encroached 2ft into 5% of the drip line. Karen DENIED our project.
After that … I advise my clients to cut down all oak trees close to their project and grind the stumps below ground. And when the city asks where these trees went that they see on Google earth … we say the oak trees died of root fungus. And they were removed … for safety.
So who ratted them out?
Karen who lives next door. I see it ALL the time here in the SF Bay Area.
I’m going with the judge.
Worked for a municipality. saw a lot of unpermitted crap built. The victim is the buyer who can be in actual danger from faulty work. Gas leaks, electrical shorts, collapsing decks? Faulty work does kill.
Hire an unlicensed contractor or cousin Eddie who doesn’t bother with permits or inspections? Don’t expect sympathy when you show up in my office to complain.
Oh and that barn built in the 1800s without permits – it is the survivor of all the barns that have fallen down.
Just get a recommended contractor and pull the permits – benefits outweigh any imagined savings.
Not buying it completely. When I was growing up my father and all his friends did their own electrical, plumbing and carpentry work around the house, and sometimes for neighbors.
I followed that tradition into adulthood in my own places and those of family and friends.
I even hired myself out as a carpenter (unlicensed) as a part-time gig when I lived in ranch country west of Cochrane. My other part-time gig was harvesting and selling firewood (also without a license).
Life was free and easy then if you just ignored the rules.
By the way, probably more than 90% of the buildings worldwide standing today were built without a permit.
I had a friend who did his own wiring … but only had 5” of unsheathed wire in the box and it only extended 2-1/2” out of the box. It’s supposed to be 6” and 3” by the Electrical Code. The building official made him tear it all out and re-wire everything.
Yeah … that was a CRUCIAL violation of Life Health and Safety! Gawwwd … power hungry pricks incapable of seeing the big picture.