Selling a house with work done without a permit, or an open permit, in Florida and Arizona

What counts as unpermitted work

Unpermitted work is any building work that needed a permit and did not get one. Your building department decides which jobs need a permit. Jobs that can need one include a garage turned into a bedroom, a room added at the back, a closed-in porch, a new roof, new wiring, a moved wall, a water heater or air conditioner swapped without an inspection, or a pool fence.

An open permit is the other half of the problem. Someone pulled a permit, the work may even be finished, but the final inspection never happened, so the permit was never closed. A buyer or title company can find it in the permit records.

This guide explains what Florida and Arizona law say and what your choices are. It gives no legal advice. Your city or county building department decides what your house needs, and a lawyer can advise on your sale.

• Garage, porch or carport turned into living space
• A room or bathroom added
• Electrical, plumbing or gas work
• A roof replaced
• Air conditioning or water heater replaced
• Walls removed or windows and doors made bigger

Compare the house with its records

Start with what is on file. In Florida, start with your county property appraiser's record of the house. In Arizona, start with the county assessor's record. These records can show the living area, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and the year the house was built. The building department's permit search lists each permit and its status. When the house has more rooms or more area than the records show, or a new roof or air conditioner with no permit behind it, that is the work a buyer's inspector or appraiser may also notice.

Florida: the permit rule

Florida Statutes section 553.79(1)(a) makes it "unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, or governmental entity to construct, erect, alter, modify, repair, or demolish any building within this state without first obtaining a permit." The local building department applies the Florida Building Code and decides which jobs need a permit.

A local government may send a written notice before a permit expires, by email or mail, naming the permit and its expiration date (section 553.79(1)(c)).

Florida: closing an open permit, even an old one

Section 553.79(16) gives any property owner a way to close a permit, "regardless of whether the property owner is the one listed on the application." The owner may keep the original contractor or "hire a different contractor appropriately licensed in this state" to do the work needed and get the inspections. A new contractor is liable only for the work they do, not for the first contractor's defects. The owner may also act as an owner-builder under section 489.103(7).

Two more rules can make this easier. If a permit has expired but its requirements were "substantially completed," as the building office decides, it may be closed without a new permit. And a building office "may close a building permit 6 years after the issuance of the permit, even in the absence of a final inspection," if it finds no apparent safety hazards.

Florida: protection for the next owner

Section 553.79(17)(a) protects buyers. A building office "may not deny issuance of a building permit to; issue a notice of violation to; fine, penalize, sanction, or assess fees against an arms-length purchaser of a property for value solely because a building permit applied for by a previous owner of the property was not closed." The same paragraph says the office keeps all its rights against the owner who pulled the permit.

For a seller, this has two sides. A buyer who pays fair value is protected from your old permit, so an open permit does not have to stop the sale. The building office can still pursue you, the owner who left it open, so closing it before or during the sale protects you too.

Owner-builder work in both states

Both states let owners do some work on their own homes without a contractor's license, and both treat a quick sale as a sign the work was done to sell.

In Florida, section 489.103(7) lets owners build or improve one-family or two-family homes for their own use. The owner must sign the permit application in person and supervise the work directly. A sale or lease within 1 year after completion "creates a presumption that the construction was undertaken for purposes of sale or lease."

In Arizona, section 32-1121(A)(5) exempts owners who do the work "themselves, with their own employees or with duly licensed contractors" on structures "intended for occupancy solely by the owner." Offering the property for sale or rent "within one year after completion or issuance of a certificate of occupancy is prima facie evidence that such a project was undertaken for the purpose of sale or rent," except in an action against an owner-occupant.

If you did the work yourself as an owner-builder

Florida's owner-builder rule in section 489.103(7) comes with duties. The owner must sign the permit application in person and must provide direct, onsite supervision of all work not done by licensed contractors. Before the permit is issued, the local building office gives the owner a disclosure form to complete and sign, which explains that the owner is the party of record on the permit, the limits on what can be built, the rules on hiring workers, and the money and insurance risks if a worker is hurt.

If you pulled an owner-builder permit and never finished the inspections, the permit is still open in your name. Under section 553.79(16), you can close it yourself as the owner-builder or hire a licensed contractor to do it. Remember the 1-year rule: selling within 1 year after completion creates a presumption that the work was done for sale, which the owner-builder exemption does not cover. Ask a Florida lawyer if your sale falls inside that year.

Telling the buyer

Both states follow the same court rule. In Florida, Johnson v. Davis (1985) held that "where the seller of a home knows of facts materially affecting the value of the property which are not readily observable and are not known to the buyer, the seller is under a duty to disclose them to the buyer." Arizona's Court of Appeals adopted the same rule in Hill v. Jones (1986), a case where sellers knew of past termite damage and did not tell the buyers.

Work done without a permit can affect value, insurance and the buyer's loan, and a buyer may not be able to see it. Write down what you know: what was done, when, by whom, and whether a permit was pulled. Give it to the buyer before the contract is signed, and keep a signed copy. Selling as is means you make no repairs. It leaves the duty to tell in place.

Selling as is: what to tell the buyer →

Why a buyer's lender cares

When a buyer borrows, the lender orders an appraisal. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, section B4-1.3-05 (June 4, 2025), says that "if the appraiser identifies an addition(s) that does not have the required permit," the appraiser "must comment on the quality and appearance of the work" and "its impact, if any, on the market value."

So an unpermitted garage room or back addition gets a written comment in the appraisal, and the appraiser decides what, if anything, it adds to the value. A lower appraisal can mean a lower price, or a buyer who cannot get the loan.

Why passed inspections protect you after the sale

Florida Statutes section 553.84 gives a right to sue to any person damaged by a "material violation" of the Florida Building Code, against the person who committed it. A material violation is one in a finished building that may reasonably result, or has resulted, in physical harm to a person or significant damage to the building or its systems.

The section has an exception that matters to sellers. It does not apply when the person got the required permits, the building office approved the plans and the work passed every required inspection, as long as there is no personal injury or damage to other property, unless the person "knew or should have known that the material violation existed." In plain words, permitted and inspected work gives you a defense that unpermitted work does not.

Fixing it: hire a licensed contractor

If you decide to permit or redo the work, check the contractor's license first. Both states treat unlicensed contracting seriously, and an unlicensed job can leave you with the same problem you started with.

In Florida, section 489.127(1)(f) makes it unlawful to act as a contractor "without being duly registered or certified." A first offense is a first-degree misdemeanor, and it becomes a third-degree felony for a repeat offense or during a state of emergency declared by the Governor. Section 489.128 says a contract with an unlicensed contractor "shall be unenforceable in law or in equity by the unlicensed contractor."

In Arizona, section 32-1153 bars a contractor from suing to collect pay for work that needs a license "without alleging and proving that the contracting party whose contract gives rise to the claim was a duly licensed contractor when the contract sued upon was entered into and when the alleged cause of action arose." Arizona also has a residential contractors' recovery fund for homeowners harmed by residential contractors, defined in section 32-1131 as contractors "licensed to perform work on residential property." Section 32-1132.01 caps the individual award at $30,000.

Getting a permit for work already done

Building departments handle work that was done first and permitted later in their own way, so call yours before you hire anyone. A typical path has these steps, and the inspector decides what must be opened, changed or redone.

What a buyer will ask about the work

A careful buyer, a buyer's inspector and a buyer's lender will ask the same questions. Having the answers ready keeps the sale moving and shows you told the buyer what you knew.

• What was built or changed, and when?
• Who did the work: you, a licensed contractor, or someone else?
• Was a permit ever pulled, and what is its status?
• Has anything about the work leaked, cracked or failed since?
• Does the insurance company know about the added room or the conversion?
• Are there plans, invoices or photos from the work?

Pricing the house if you sell as it is

If you sell without fixing the work, the buyer prices in the cost and the risk of dealing with it. You can do the same math first, so an offer does not surprise you.

Get a contractor's estimate for permitting the work as it is, and one for removing it, such as turning a garage room back into a garage. A buyer will look at the lower of the two, plus the time it takes. Put that number next to your expected sale price in the net proceeds calculator, and compare it with what a cash buyer offers for the house as it is.

Work out what you would keep from a sale →

Your three choices

There is no single right answer. It depends on what the work is, whether it is safe, what your building department requires, and how soon you need to sell.

An example with made-up numbers

These numbers are made up to show the math. They describe no real house. Get real estimates for your own.

Say a garage was turned into a bedroom years ago with no permit. A licensed contractor estimates $9,000 to get it permitted, after the inspector asks to open part of a wall and add an outlet and a smoke alarm. Turning it back into a garage would cost $6,500. The work would take six to eight weeks either way, and your monthly mortgage, tax and insurance come to $2,400.

Words you will hear from the building department

Building departments use their own words. Here is what the common ones mean.

First steps this week

Find out what the records say before a buyer does.

• Look up your address in your city or county building department's permit search, and write down every permit and its status.
• Compare the records with the house: rooms, garage, roof, air conditioner, water heater.
• Gather what you have: old permits, contractor invoices, plans, photos.
• Ask a licensed contractor what it would take to close an open permit or permit the work.
• Write down what you know for the buyer.

Selling a house with code violations in Florida →

How BIMINIO buys houses with unpermitted work

BIMINIO buys houses as is in Tampa, Miami, Orlando and Lakeland in Florida, and Phoenix and Glendale in Arizona, including houses with additions or conversions done without a permit and houses with open permits. Tell us what you know on the first call. The repair budget behind your offer comes from a scope of the work led by our founder, a trained architect, and it counts the work the house needs.

A cash offer is below full market value. You get a written offer within 24 hours, with the comparable sales we used and proof of funds. After you accept, there is one building inspection of under 30 minutes, and the price in the written offer is the price at closing. You pick a closing date from 7 to 35 days out, and we pay the closing costs.

Code violations or liens →