Does Notice of Commencement Mean the Florida Permit is Closed?

 

When looking at properties, I spend time researching how old the roof is, looking to see if the home has shutters, and determining the latest comparable sales.

Finding a notice of commencement means the work was preformed on a particular area of the real estate property, but it does not mean the contractor who was hired to complete the work actually finished the job and closed the permit. 

To find out if a lien has been closed out, it is best to let a title company provide the buyers and sellers with a lien search and discover this answer. I ran into this open permit issue and helped my sellers close out the open permit. This open permit was due to the contractor overlooking to process the final paperwork and final inspection and complete his job. To close out the permit involved the city, the building department specifically,  the contractor, the sellers and multiple telephone calls. The contractor waited until the last minute to close the permit, which was very unprofessional. We realized to leave the permit open was also truly unprofessional. Many mortgage companies will not let the prospective buyer purchase a property with an open permit. Yes, open or expired permits can stop or postpone a closing. Certain cases involve hiring a new contractor to inspect and possibly fix the old work and having the building department from the city inspect the work.

There is a new Florida Statue as of July 9, 2019 allowing local governments to close an open permit or expired permit six years after its issuance, as long as there are no safety hazards. This bill helps a real estate transaction from failing due to the presence of an open or expired permit.