**URGENT ADVICE NEEDED**

[Bella1980]

I am buying a house in Florida. $175K cash. There is an open permit on the house for the electrical. The sellers agreed to close it out. We are meant to close on Thursday. My realtor called me tonight and said the sellers no longer want to close out the permit and that they just want to back out of the contract and rent the place instead because they don't want to put any more money into the property.

He said I can just do it myself and it will be a few hundred dollars. I'm not sure what to do. Something is seeming off. Please please tell me what you think? The realtor wants to know if I want to go ahead and buy the house with the open permits still. 

[StartingOver10]

Open permits in Fl are a title issue.

Contact the building department that has the open permit and find out exactly what is wrong. In some instances its a small thing and easily fixable at a nominal cost. Other times it can be a huge issue. (I can tell you some horror stories, but you don't need to know that right now).

Don't just ignore it and close anyway. You need to know the scope of the issue. It could be a bigger thing than what the seller is saying and that's why they don't want to take it on - or they could just be lazy. Hard to know without having all the facts.

EDIT - makes sure you get the info direct from the building department that shows the open permit. Don't rely on the title co info or the seller's agent. This literally can run the gammit from a missing final inspection on a fence (for example) to a room built without a permit (initial permit may have been pulled for patio and room addition put on instead - don't laugh. I've seen it more than once).

Last Edit: For an electrical issue it can be just a missing final - or a whole lot more. The building department will have more info for you to make an informed decision. Did you have the property inspected by a good inspector? Get details from him too.

[jgodfrey82]

Also, let that seller know that he cannot just cancel the contract if you have satisfied every other condition. Florida sales contract calls for a clear and marketable title. If he doesn't close the permit, you can close with it as an exception to title, or you can let him cancel if he wont close it and sue for specific performance. Filing suit costs money though, so figure out what the real permit issue will cost to fix and make a business decision.

[ezdriver]

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@Bella1980 wrote:

I am buying a house in Florida. $175K cash. There is an open permit on the house for the electrical. The sellers agreed to close it out. We are meant to close on Thursday. My realtor called me tonight and said the sellers no longer want to close out the permit and that they just want to back out of the contract and rent the place instead because they don't want to put any more money into the property.

He said I can just do it myself and it will be a few hundred dollars. I'm not sure what to do. Something is seeming off. Please please tell me what you think? The realtor wants to know if I want to go ahead and buy the house with the open permits still. 

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I am surprised that your Realtor would ask such a question without having done some basic due diligence on your behalf. The reason why the permit is still open is not difficult to ascertain and that is something that the Realtor can do for you. Otherwise, contact the building department directly and get some answers. I certainly would not close on that transaction until I was 100% comfortable that I knew what I was dealing with. My guess is that it is more than a simple or cheap fix otherwise the sellers would not have offered to go ahead with the purchase provided that you accept the open-permit situation.