Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Sorry Harrassed Housewife, but there is no statute of limitations for code violations. They can come after you now, or in 50 years from now. There are potentially some defenses, including Laches and Estoppel - arguments which effectively say that the agency attempting to now enforce the code sat on its hands too long, and should now be prohibited from enforcing the rules, but that is a stretch. First, when it comes to public policy rules like the building code, Courts are very reticent to prevent code enforcement from doing their job by allowing these defenses. Further, you would likely have to prove that they knew about the violation and did nothing about it for six years. It doesn't sound like that is the case here. You want to talk to a land use attorney to see what you can do to minimize the impact of this problem - you can be forced to tear the whole thing down, and code violations can reach the level of a crime with jail time for failing to comply.

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