Construction permit, electric permit and plumbing permit for starters. And inspections when the work is done.
In New Jersey, all Certificates are issued by the City involved. Like I posted above, new properties require an initial Certificate of Occupancy, where they check permits. So your $1M endeavor will hit a stall on a $75 permit.
NO CLOSING CAN TAKE PLACE WITHOUT A CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY!!!
Not to mention-by the time you pay for building the house, moving it, etc-would you really make enough to make your scam worthwhile?
:dubious:
Holy crap! That’s a big house. Our house was moved three blocks, back in the early 70’s. A basement was poured and steel I-beams installed to supplement the wooden floor joists.
Fairly simple move compared to the Ellicott house. Wow.
House-moving is fairly common around here. I’ve seen them move a Victorian with a wrap-around porch, a large brick house, and some smaller homes. Seems to be popular, moving a house from town to a nice piece of land in the country. But houses are cheap here, so it’s likely cheaper to move a house than to build a new one.
[Eddie Murphy] How can you steal a house? My uncle owns this house. [/EM]
So, in other words, Geiselcat could technically get away with this??
In any and all words, no.
Agreed.
This apparently varies by region. I bought and sold 6 houses in Arkansas, including one that we completely gutted (and yes, permits and inspections are required at all stages of the operation, and were a total pain in the ass). None of them required any sort of certificate of occupancy at closing. Also in Arkansas, in areas outside of city limits, there are fewer building permits and inspections required. I think only an electrical inspection, in fact. My dad just built a house, and I think this was the only one required, but I could be wrong.
None of this is to say that the OP is in any way plausible. Our neighbor’s daughter moved a house about 10 miles. It cost $40K, and required taking down several electrical poles along the way. Obviously, roads would also need to be closed for the move.
I’d like to add that if you somehow managed to do this, and the buyers later had any trouble with the house, or found out it wasn’t brand new construction, you’d be hit with a whopping lawsuit, and I’m sure they would also notify the guvmint.
I also think something might come up when the lawyers did the search.
Yep,
Even on the rural 40 acres I own It would be pretty much impossible to even build off the grid with out getting caught with out the correct permits. If the building department doesn’t notice it, the assessor probably will. It would take either incredible luck on your part or incredible incompetence on the County’s part.
The problem there is that there are many, many inspections. From foundation, through roofing. A new house just showing up doesn’t get a C.O. A house being built is inspected all through the building process. A finished house can’t be inspected and will fail on every inspection. Cause it can’t be inspected.
Case in point. I’m building an addition on my house. Did all my homework and got all the damn inspections. I shingled it before the building inspector could look at the roofing underlayment. You could see the underlayment clearly from the inside through the ridge vent, or by just pulling up to look under the shingles. Nope. And all along the edges. He would not sign off on the roofing. So I will have a conditional CO at the building department.
Outside of the logistical nightmare of moving the house, it’s not just that easy to plunk down a new dwelling.
Try to sell it?
The title search/insurance is going to come up with an unimproved property. The assessor will be called, and probably the building department. Someone is going to know that this house just sprang up. It may be from a neighbor. Or satellite and aerial photos. It won’t get title insurance (as useless as it seems to be) and therefore, no loan will ever get approved.
Not to encourage the OP on his life of improbable crime, but a good friend of mine moved a house (in 2 pieces) 150-odd miles from one part of rural Texas to another, and he built the foundation, dug the septic, and did all the wiring and plumbing (and stitching-back-together) himself without a permit, CO, or anyone official sniffing around. This was on unincorporated land in Travis County, maybe 10 or 15 miles from Austin City Limits, but as there was no town and the house wasn’t visible from the road, I guess he figured it was worth the risk. But the house was bought at an auction for cash, not financed.
I once stayed at a bed and breakfast in Fredericksburg, Texas, that they claimed was moved from Vermont, which may be a record of some kind. The building may be the oldest in Texas, it was older than the Alamo.
On the other hand, couldn’t this plan work if the intention is to keep the house and live in it?
How would that get around the need for a C.O. or any of the other requirements?
The various mortgage companies would no doubt track you down through the municipal tax records. Then your credit would be shot, the government would be fining you, etc. etc.
As Ichbin mentioned, if you plan to live in a rural area, you get around it via the good standby: security through obscurity.
So you’re asking if you can build a POS doesn’t-meet-code shack on land you own that will lose all its value as soon as you have to move out of its crumbling remains?
Yeah, I guess. Some places. Sometimes. If nobody official ever needs to come to your house and finds out.
You can steal anything you want if you get away with it, too. Same question.
Unfortunately, this would also mean no legal way to connect electricity or water. The electric company will not set a meter without a proper electrical inspection. The water dept. will not set a meter until you’ve passed their inspection. You’d end up having to steal your utilities as well.
And the previous posters are not kidding about the tax assessor. Our county assessor is rabid about driving around and looking for “added value”. A friend of mine’s mom got taxed for two houses because she had a detached garage.
Exapno: heh. 
Many of you are missing a key point about this idea. You seem to think that people are constantly on guard, watching out for anyone attempting to do what I proposed. The main reason the idea is interesting is because no one has ever done this! (as far as I know). It’s never going to occur to any public offical that I might have done this. There might even be quite a bit of evidence that the house was moved, if anyone was looking for it, but they won’t be, because it would never occur to them. I actually think that it would take a careless blunder that forced someone to consider that the house must have been moved to bring the truth to light. The main trick here is getting the house there without major public awareness. I think I’d want to do all the moving stuff though people who don’t live anywhere near the area. Permits? Possession is 9/10s of the law. Once the house is there, I think I will find a way to convince everyone that it’s not their problem to worry about. I’ll pay off the theiving code enforcers whom really don’t care about the rules, but rather just want a reason to make everyone “pay the toll” for their useless intervention into other people’s private business. They’ll come along and say “You can have your house as long as you waste lots of money doing A, B and C.” I’ll say okay and they’ll go away. This has always been my experience with regulators of this sort. I may have to admit to a lesser crime by telling them “I’m sorry, I did the work without the proper permits. I know I made a mistake, what can I do to fix it now? I want to work with you to resolve my error.” Their answer will basically consist of “You have to do A, B, and C”. No talk of payment will be stated, but obviously A, B and C will be quite expensive, and will not benefit me in any way. They won’t want to just plain shut me down, because they can’t benefit from me that way.
You haven’t met many Building Officials, have you?
Cite?
How to you propose to do the actual moving without anyone noticing a house going down the road?
Building permits aren’t about possession. They are about meeting building codes.
It hasn’t been mine.
Stop work orders are issued to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public. The Building Official whill shut you down if you are in violation. It has nothing to do with you “benefiting” them.
For those who have come down solidly on the “it’s impossible” side of the question …
Err, did everyone miss Airblairxxx’s post above? Not only is it possible to steal someone’s house, it’s been done. In fact, I had planned on doing a search for that story myself when I saw the thread title and remembered it. Thanks, Airblairxxx, for saving me the trouble!
As Geiselcat says, not every inch of U.S. soil is constantly monitored. Somebody took the house from the people in the article and put it up somewhere where, AFAIK, it has never attracted notice.
