Seymour’s building official, James Baldwin, has seen an increase in the number of homeowners and businesses that ask his office for help closing old building permits or getting new ones long after work has been completed.
Stricter bank and real estate regulations mean more people need to verify the work they performed met permitting guidelines, he told the Board of Selectmen at its meeting earlier this month.
The board approved new permitting fees of $100 and $150 to help the building department address the growing need.
“Recently the department has taken on quite an additional workload,” Baldwin told the board. “And it’s basically a direct result of some of the banking laws that have come in, state laws that have tightened up.”
Baldwin said when families or businesses go to refinance mortgages or sell properties, they get stalled if the banks determine there was un-permitted work or work where an existing permit was never closed out. For example, if a homeowner never received a final inspection, the property might have open permits lingering, which get flagged by banks during refinances or sales, Baldwin said.
“It has created a real nightmare. So all these people and businesses are looking to the town for a remedy,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin said the issues include additions, changes to mechanical equipment such as furnaces, and accessory buildings like sheds or garages that were never issued building permits.
He said he’s also seen situations where homeowners applied for permits, but never had the proper inspection for final approval, and permits that expired without the work being completed.
The town building office gets about four requests a week for help sorting out permits and verifying there are no violations, Baldwin said. Each case takes at least two hours to handle.
Baldwin estimated it takes up about 40 percent of the staff’s time, including inspections of the property where work was done.
The new fees are $100 for each open permit on residential properties and $150 for each open permit on commercial properties. Baldwin said the department is working with homeowners to get the work completed as soon as possible.
Baldwin said charging the fees will help the department recuperate the cost of much of its time spent researching and addressing the requests.
“We definitely want to work with these people and help them out as best we can, but we need a fee structure to go along with it,” Baldwin said.
Residents who haven’t taken out permits yet can alternatively apply for the town’s regular building permit and pay that fee instead, Baldwin said. Those who have open permits that need attention will pay the new open permit fee, even if they already paid a fee when they first applied for the permit.
Selectmen approved the fee structure, but questioned how it compares to other towns.
“This is a recent phenomenon,” said Town Counsel Richard Buturla, explaining that Seymour may be one of the first to adopt this kind of fee. “This wasn’t happening five years ago.”
Selectman Paul Roy said he supports the fees, but wants to see a review in six months to evaluate whether they should be adjusted.
