Government Code Inspection

Code Inspection – Unless you plan to sell your home as-is, the Residential Sale Contract requires the seller to order any Government Code Inspections where they are required for change of occupancy. The buyer of your home cannot move in until getting an occupancy permit, which can only be issued after your property has passed such code inspections. Most areas in St Charles and Jefferson County do not require a code inspection. But all of unincorporated St Louis County, and cities within St Louis County, such as Ballwin, Hazelwood or Florissant, do require a code inspection. Ballwin also requires a Fire District Inspection to sell your home. If a code compliance inspection is required, and you plan to list your home soon, it is recommended to order this inspection at least a week or two before actually listing. Although the sale contract allows for negotiation on code repairs, it is typical and expected by the buyer and their realtor for the seller to make the repairs needed in order to obtain minimum code compliance for a re-occupancy permit. Otherwise, you would have to allow the buyer, or their hired contractor, to enter your home to complete the repairs before closing. And buyers are not readily willing to make repairs on a home that they do not yet own. By ordering your code inspection in advance of listing your property, you will know ahead of time as to the cost of any needed repairs. Should a repair be costly, such as an updated breaker box, we would include these major updates in the advertising of your property with the goal of getting a higher sale price.  NOTE: Some municipalities require the cited violations to be competed within a certain time frame even if you end up not selling the property. This is rare, but you might want to inquire about this before ordering. Especially if you’re considering selling a property as-is or might not sell unless you get a price you had in mind.

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Re-inspection – Upon completion of any cited code violations, you need to call and set up a re-inspection appointment. Sometimes a municipality can get very busy and become back logged on their inspection appointments. So, it is best to plan on a tentative completion date for the repairs and call the municipality about a week prior to this targeted date. Then request the re-inspection for a few days after your anticipated completion date for the cited repairs. One re-inspection appointment is included in the $25 to $80 inspection fee that you will have to pay. An additional fee typically is charged if a 2nd re-inspection is needed for any repaired items that still did not pass. A Code Compliance Letter is usually issued once everything has passed. There are time limits on the amount of time you have for ordering the re-inspection and for how long the compliance letter is good for, which is typically 2 to 4 months from the date of the initial inspection. Be sure to ask about this when applying. If your property did not sell within in this time frame, some municipalities will grant a 30- or 60-day extension. To get an extension, a request usually has to be made in writing. If your clear compliance letter has expired, another code inspection will have to be ordered and the fee paid again. But this second inspection will usually always pass if not too much time has elapsed since you had the first one. Before ordering a second code inspection, we would wait to do so until we are under contract with a buyer.

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Negotiating Code Repairs? If you decide to wait to order your code inspection until an offer is accepted, the sale contract states that the seller shall immediately order any required code inspections. Should there be any code repairs that you are NOT willing to correct, you must notify the buyer in writing within 15 days after acceptance of the sale contract with your buyer. Occasionally, a municipality may have over a 2-week back log on code inspections, making it difficult to meet this 15-day deadline. This is another reason why the code inspection should be ordered at least prior to accepting an offer. If we can’t get the code inspection done within the 15 days, we would notify the buyer in writing with an Amendment to the Sale Contract to extend this time period. And typically, the buyer and their agent will understand and agree to sign this extension. If you do send written notice to the buyer with a list of any code repairs you’re unwilling to correct, then a 10-day negotiation period starts for you and the buyer to reach an agreement on these repairs. Some owners will briefly consider renting their property if having difficulty in selling it or a lot of repairs come up. But before you could let a tenant move in, you would still have to correct the minimum code repairs as an occupancy permit is still required for a new tenant. Then some owners may consider selling the property as-is so as to not have to be bothered with code requirements or buyer requested repairs from their personal inspection of your home. We can certainly change pace and advertise the property to be sold as-is. But to do so, a property will need to be priced 80% to 70% off of the normal market value to attract the type of buyers who purchase as-is properties. Unless a property has been extremely neglected, the repairs needed to get to a successful closing typically do not cost anywhere near the 20 to 30 percent discount needed for an as-is sale. Sellers choose to sell as is when funds are not available for making repairs, or a quick sale is desired more than the desire to get more money. Or if the home is in need of major renovation to sell at normal market value.