Unpermitted plumbing work: getting it resolved before closing

The water heater in the garage has a 2021 date on the label. The county’s permit history for the house ends in 2009. Nobody thought about it until the buyer’s agent ran the address, and now there are three weeks left on the contract and a question that the lender, the insurer, and the title company all want answered.

Unpermitted plumbing is one of the most common closing snags on older homes in Lee and Collier County, and it is fixable. This guide covers how it surfaces, what an after-the-fact permit involves, and how the timing and the money usually get sorted out.

How it surfaces

• The permit search. Both counties keep permit records online by address. Anyone can pull the list and compare it with what is visible in the house: a new water heater, a repiped supply, an added bathroom, a pool heater, a converted lanai with a wet bar. A gap between the two is the finding.
• The inspection. A general inspector or a 4-point inspector notes a water heater with no drain pan, a relief valve that discharges nowhere, a missing expansion tank, or a bathroom that does not appear on the county sketch, and asks whether it was permitted.
• The seller’s disclosure. Florida sellers disclose known material defects, and unpermitted work is one. A seller who did the work themselves, or who was told about it at their own purchase, is expected to say so.

Whichever way it surfaces, it becomes a question for three parties: the lender, who may not fund against a property with open code issues; the insurer, who may not bind a policy on unpermitted plumbing; and the title company, which flags it as a possible lien or violation.

What an after-the-fact permit is

An after-the-fact permit is exactly what it sounds like: a permit for work that already exists, pulled by a licensed contractor who takes responsibility for it, inspected as if it were new. The county does not want a form; it wants to see that the work meets current code. That means three things:

1. A licensed plumber signs on. The permit is pulled under the plumber’s license, and the plumber is saying the work is right. Most plumbers will not put their license on work they have not inspected and, where needed, corrected.
2. The work is corrected to current code, not the code from when it was done. A water heater installed five years ago without a permit is inspected against today’s rules for the pan, the drain, the relief valve discharge, the expansion tank, and the connection.
3. The inspector sees it. For a water heater or a visible connection, that is a walk to the garage. For a repipe or a bathroom addition inside closed walls, the county may require openings so the inspector can see what is in there, and drywall gets patched afterward.

When the inspection passes, the county closes the permit, and the property record shows the work as permitted and inspected. That is the document everyone at the closing table is waiting for.

The water heater case, because it is the common one

More after-the-fact plumbing permits here are for water heaters than for anything else, because a like-for-like swap feels like an appliance replacement and gets done by a handyman or a big-box installer without a permit.

What the inspector looks at is the list of things that make a water heater safe in a Florida garage or closet: a drain pan with a drain line to the outside or a floor drain, a temperature and pressure relief valve with a discharge line that ends where the code says it should, an expansion tank where the home has a backflow device or pressure regulator, proper strapping and clearance, and a correct electrical or gas connection. An unpermitted unit often has two or three of these missing. Correcting them is usually a short job. Then the permit is pulled, the inspection is scheduled, and the permit is closed.

Timing against a contract

The plumbing work is the fast part. The inspection schedule is not, and the county sets it. Plan for the whole process to take weeks, not days, and start the day the problem surfaces. Concretely:

• Notify everyone at once. Both agents, the lender, and the title company. Surprises at the closing table are worse than delays.
• Get the plumber out immediately to look at the work, say what needs correcting, and file the permit.
• Ask about an extension or escrow if the inspection cannot happen before the closing date. Some lenders and title companies will close with funds held for the completion; many will not. That is a negotiation between the parties, not a plumbing question.

Who pays

There are no figures here, because it depends on the contract and the market. The general pattern: the seller is responsible for the property’s condition and disclosure, so the seller usually pays to resolve unpermitted work that predates the contract, whether or not the seller did the work. Buyers sometimes agree to take it on in exchange for a price adjustment or a credit, especially when they are planning to replace the item anyway. Whichever way it goes, put it in writing with the permit number and the final inspection named as the deliverable.

Where a homeowner’s part ends

Pulling your own permit history, reading the water heater label, and comparing the two is something any homeowner can do in an evening, and every seller should do it before listing. From there it is licensed work: the correction, the permit, and the inspection all go through a licensed plumber, and a second round of unpermitted work to fix the first is the one outcome that makes everything worse.

If a permit search or an inspection has turned up unpermitted plumbing on a home you are buying or selling, send us the address, the item in question, and a photo of it. We will tell you what the inspector will want to see, what it will take to get there, and how to fit it inside your contract dates.