Home

[Karnerblue]

Is anyone here familiar with the procedures a small city building inspector might go about in his duties. More specificially, would it be appropriate for this individual to approach a home and stick his head in the front door and ask "what's going on" without being invited in or having any kind of appointment scheduled with intent to do a formal inspection.

[lovescats]

maybe you need a building permit for what you're doing or an occupancy permit or something similar

Is the home listed as vacant

[Karnerblue]

We live in the home and we were having HW floors put in, that's all.  Either way, I am wondering if it's normal procedure for them to just drop in as they were "riding by and heard something ..."  His explanation was just that.

[RoughDraft]

Not sure where you're going here.

We just had hardwood floors installed and there was no city building inspection involved.

[on the bay]

That sounds creepy. I would call the city govt and ask about him. I would expect a government worker to write a letter first-something like just wanting to make sure anything done is up to city building regulations. Even then, I would wonder how they knew or cared that we were putting in hard wood floors! Unless your building is a historical building.

[KarenQVC]

It seems odd to me.  I would check out the city website for building codes and only engage if I knew I was innocent.  Maybe they want to raise assessed value?

[CatLoverDogsToo]

No he cannot stick his head inside your home and ask what is going on. Hearing something such as hammering doesn't mean work requiring inspection is being done. You are under no obligation to let anyone in your home. I had a similar situation with a local inspector insisting I had vinyl siding installed on my home in 2009. I did not, it was installed in 1993 and all paperwork and city permits were obtained at that time. I was doing some work in my garage that did not require any permits as I was painting something I made. He was nosy, and I told him to leave. He did. That was the end of that.

The inspectors are most likely trying to increase the value ot the property to get more property taxes.

[RoughDraft]

I don't know the laws in your city, but where I live, if a permit is filed with the municipality to have major construction changes (usually the sort that alters the size of the house, etc.), the property owner would be notified and an appointment would be scheduled to visit the site.  Proper identification and a copy of the application would be required before the home owner would grant permission to allow the inspector in.

If your work didn't require a permit and this person just "happened by", I consider you fortunate that you weren't harmed or robbed.

[Princesswife]

I live in a smaller town and the city inspector drives around and will stop and see what's going on if he sees work being done. I would still call and make sure he was an inspector  because there are a lot of nuts around.

[Karnerblue]

thank you all, your responses have been helpful.  I am going to call and ask because first of all he didn't announce hmself or show any kind of ID.  Though we live in a very small community and I've live here all my life, I would still expect him to handle this in a more professional manner.