Renovating your Ocean City home may bring in a higher price when it’s time to sell — yet doing renovations without the proper city permits can be a disaster. Construction and renovation permits may be inconvenient but they can prevent your home from burning down or prevent your renovation project from being dismantled by inspectors. Renovation without a permit can also void your homeowner’s insurance.
Understanding Permit requirements
Building permits are required for many projects, large and small, including renovations and additions, to ensure safety and compliance with building codes. Any project that changes adds, or subtracts electrical wiring, square footage of a structure, or alters plumbing usually requires a permit from city hall. Types of permits include:
- Renovation permits
- Building permits
- Electrical permits
- Plumbing permits
- Foundation permits
- Fence permits
Renovation Permit vs. Building Permit
The scope of the planned project determines what kind of permit you need. In some towns, a renovation permit is acceptable as long as one wall of the original structure remains standing. In others, the permit depends on the dollar value of the work planned. The difference between renovation and new construction is described in the city’s zoning bylaws. If you hire a contractor to oversee the project, the contractor usually gets the necessary permits.
Ocean City residents and contractors are urged to contact the building department to inquire whether a permit is necessary for the work planned. A phone call is free, but doing work without a permit can be expensive. Permit fees include zoning reviews, interim inspections, and occupancy permits. Some projects are a flat fee while others, like building renovations, are calculated on the value of the work done. A full schedule of fees can be found in an online code portal.
A renovation project in Ocean City valued at 50 percent or more of the appraised property value can trigger a requirement to raise the building above the probable flood level for the area.
What Can a Homeowner Do Without a Permit?
Property owners may do the following work without a permit:
- paint,
- lay tile or other new flooring,
- replace windows of the same size,
- exchange a new electric stove for an old one, or
- swap out old sinks, toilets, or tubs for new ones (without changing the plumbing).
All projects that involve structural changes, including enlarging windows, plumbing a new bathroom, finishing a basement, adding a water heater, or adding a room to a house, all require permits. Roofing, a new driveway, and installing new HVAC units outside a building also require permits in Ocean City. These permits ensure that the work is done in compliance with health and safety codes.
Importance of Checking Property Records
How much do you know about your home? Are you sure that previous owners made safe and appropriate changes to the property?
By understanding renovation permit requirements and researching previous work done on your home, you can make better decisions about your plans for the property. Ask a building inspector or professional contractor to walk through the property with you and point out any deficiencies that will impact your plans. These can be things like:
- outdated electrical wiring that is no longer to code
- parts of the structure that were not built with fire stops
- insulation that needs to be replaced
- missing supporting beams
- use of the wrong size lumber
- setbacks from the property line
- whether a private septic system on the property is the right size for the number of bedrooms
You may learn that a previous owner did not adhere to the building code for spacing joists and other supporting beams during a renovation. That means that any renovation you do in that area may not be adequately supported by the underlying structure.
Similarly, an addition on a substandard foundation or footings won’t properly support the addition of a room above it. If a previous owner did not properly connect new plumbing to the existing pipes, there may be a failure that breaks a connection and fills your home with water, ruining its contents. These issues are not always caught by a home inspection done for a property sale.
Check the history of your property by visiting the building department in city hall and asking to see the file of permits for house renovations on your property, checking with the Ocean City tax assessor’s office, or searching on PropertyChecker.com. If work was done without permits, it may take some detective work to match up the current structure with the city’s records.
It’s in your best interest to review permit records on your home. If a previous owner did their own work without a permit, getting a contractor or inspector to review the techniques can bring you peace of mind.
How to get a permit for home renovation in Ocean City?
If you’re planning to renovate a home in Ocean City, log on to the building department’s website and create an account to make an application or call 609-399-6111 to ask any questions and have forms mailed to you.
Application process
All permit applications concerning exterior renovation or construction received by the Ocean City construction office go to a zoning board for initial review. The zoning board has up to 10 days to act on the permit application, while the construction office has a 20-day review period.
During this period, the construction office reviews the plans for adherence to the code. When the permit is ready the applicant is informed and is reminded at that time about things like restrictions on work hours due to noise. Construction and renovation permits generally expire after 60 days.
Each permit requires at least one interim inspection partway through the project to ensure that codes are followed. The Ocean City construction office does most interim inspections within three business days of notification.
Required Documentation for a Building Permit
In addition to basic information about the location, owner, and type of structure (home, office, garage, storage shed), the Ocean City construction office requires the applicant to provide:
- three copies of architectural plans or drawings of the proposed work
- the contractor, plumber, or electrician’s name and license number
- an approximate cost of the project
- a permit fee equal to $30 per $1,000 of the project cost
Penalties for Ignoring the Permit Requirements
If you think you can get away without a construction permit, consider your neighbors. People often report other residents who are working without a permit, particularly if the project is noisy or too close to the property line.
Permits are overseen by building professionals. If you get a permit to renovate but go about the task without regard to safe building standards and codes, the building inspectors will know. In these situations, the inspector will require the work to be corrected before final approval is given to finish the project and close the permit. Closed permits are usually reported to the city assessor’s office (improvements can result in a higher assessment for property taxes), and the information is then picked up by insurance companies.
Fines and penalties
If residents of Ocean City do work on their homes without permits, the result may be:
- A city inspector will visit and tell the residents that they need a permit and that work should stop until it is properly permitted.
- The city may fine the resident $2,000 for unpermitted work.
- The resident may get away with doing unpermitted work, but if something goes wrong (such as a poorly wired outlet shorting out and causing a fire), their homeowner’s insurance is voided, and they must pay for repairs out of pocket.
Legal actions
Ocean City construction office inspectors and employees seek to persuade rather than penalize. If a homeowner does not have a permit for a project, the inspector may give the person a few days to fill out paperwork for a retroactive permit. If the homeowner does not comply, the construction office has the option to get a legal stop-work order.
Contractors who are licensed by the state are unlikely to participate in an unpermitted renovation project because they risk revocation or non-renewal of their professional license. Loss of a professional license can have serious financial consequences beyond that of a fine.
Ocean City can fine residents a penalty for renovation without a permit up to $2,000.
Stop work orders
Licensed contractors usually avoid getting in a situation where a city issues a legal injunction telling them to stop working on an unpermitted project. Unlicensed contractors may face additional legal consequences, such as in 2015 when the state fined 208 of them for illegal work in Ocean City. Some of the fines were more than $100,000.
Stop work orders are legal injunctions requiring a project to stop immediately. These are generally reserved for dangerous situations, such as a construction workplace where employees are at risk of injury. Rather than seeking stop work orders city inspectors and construction officials try to persuade property owners to comply, and may do so through the contractor on site.
Increased permit fees
City building inspectors have statutory authority to review any property for health and safety issues. They are authorized by city bylaws to take action to ensure that structures are not dangerously out of compliance with fire and safety codes. If inspectors stop renovation work on a property for safety reasons and the property owner objects, there is a process for an appeal hearing before the five-member Construction Board of Appeals.
In extreme cases inspectors may seek condemnation of a building deemed unsafe to enter. It’s possible for the city to seek reimbursement of legal fees related to code compliance and increased inspections through penalties for noncompliance.
