Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

illegal 2nd flr bathroom, never came up at Closing

I bought a house in W Hempstead NY in mid March 2002 & at the closing everything went fine w/ the title search. (are title companys responsible for finding permit issues?). On Friday (7 months later) I recieved a letter from the building department of Hempstead NY asking me to take action on a permit filed in 1998 by the original owner of the property for a second floor bathroom. When I bought the house nothing was ever brought up about the second flr bath being illegal or not having a permit (the original owner sold the house in 1998 to the couple that we bought the house from in March 2002). Is the Title Search company or my lawyer responsible for finding out about any outstanding permits filed w/ the building dept against the property before my closing. Now I'm going to have to pay out of my pocket to fix this problem....who should pay?

thank you for your time.


Asked on 10/07/02, 8:49 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

David Slater David P. Slater, Esq.

Re: illegal 2nd flr bathroom, never came up at Closing

Your title company should have picked up this violation. Make a claim with them Good luck.

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Answered on 10/07/02, 8:53 pm


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