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There's been indication that the Pennsylvania House will move on a bill that will help the home buying process in many municipalities. Watch for a call-to-action as early as today on this issue.
House Bill 1480 (Santora, R-Delaware) will protect buyers and sellers of real estate by amending Act 99 of 2000. This act was created to protect real estate sales by allowing municipalities to inspect "for-sale" homes for property maintenance violations, but also requiring that certificates of occupancy be issued unless the property is "unfit for habitation." The intent of the act was to allow private negotiations to take place, between sellers and buyers, regarding which party would pay for necessary code-related repairs. Unfortunately, some municipalities have chosen to define "unfit for habitation" as any property maintenance violation, no matter how minor.
"Unfit for habitation" should be more clearly defined to provide better guidance to local code enforcement officials. Refusing to issue an occupancy certificate for minor code violations can cause delays in closings and other unintended consequences that may lead to undue financial burdens on the seller. PAR members have seen evidence of real estate transactions unable to close due to minor code violations that label homes "unfit for habitation." These violations have included wrong-sized house numbers, missing sump-pump covers, malfunctioning window sashes, lack of illumination of basement stairs, and cracked curbs and sidewalks, even when other sidewalks and curbs on the street are similarly cracked.
Withholding use and occupancy certificates, which are needed in some municipalities to allow settlement to move forward, stifles the negotiation process between buyers and sellers. PAR supports this proposed amendment to Act 99 because it would require that certificates be issued by municipalities who choose to conduct resale code inspections, regardless of the nature of code violation found. The amendment creates a new category of "Temporary Use" certificate that would allow a sale to move forward, but require that substantial code violations be corrected prior to the new owner inhabiting the property. It would also require that all other code violations be corrected within a certain time frame, with financial and other penalties left in place for failure to comply. |
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