Selling a House With Unpermitted Additions in Miami-Dade

In much of Miami-Dade, especially Hialeah, Westchester, Little Havana, Kendall and Sweetwater, a lot of houses have space that was added without a permit: a converted garage, an enclosed Florida room, a back efficiency with its own entrance, or an extra bathroom. Families built them for good reasons. The problem comes when it's time to sell.

• The records don't match the house. The Miami-Dade Property Appraiser lists the square footage and bedroom count the county knows about. If the house has more than that, a buyer's appraiser often can't count the extra space at full value.
• Lenders and insurers ask questions. An appraiser may note unpermitted work, and some lenders won't close until it is resolved. Insurers can also be cautious with additions that have no inspection history.
• Code enforcement. If an efficiency is being rented, or a neighbor complains, the city can open a code case. Fines can become recorded liens.

Florida courts have long held that a seller of a home must disclose known facts that materially affect its value and aren't readily observable to the buyer. If you know the garage was converted without a permit, the safe course is to say so. A cash buyer who is buying as-is still wants to know, but the disclosure doesn't kill the deal the way it can with a financed buyer.

• Legalize the work. You can apply for an after-the-fact permit with the building department that has jurisdiction. That's the City of Hialeah, the City of Miami or another city if the house is inside one, or Miami-Dade County permitting if it's unincorporated. Expect drawings, possibly an engineer, inspections, and sometimes opening walls. Some additions can't be legalized as built because of setbacks or zoning and have to be removed.
• Restore it to the permitted layout. Removing a kitchen from an efficiency or putting a garage door back can be cheaper than legalizing it.
• Sell as-is. We buy Miami-Dade houses with unpermitted additions and price the offer on what's actually permitted, plus what it would take to legalize or remove the rest. You don't have to do the permit work first.

Open permits are a related but different problem: work that was permitted but never inspected. See our story on selling an inherited house with open permits in Plantation, and our Miami-Dade code violations guide.

We're based in Miami Lakes and buy throughout Miami-Dade, including Hialeah, Miami, Kendall, Sweetwater and Miami Gardens. Call or text 305-812-9445 (hablamos español), or send us the address.