Which building department covers your house
Permits for houses in Ohio come from a local building department that the state Board of Building Standards has certified. Under R.C. 3781.10, a department may enforce only the type of code it’s certified for, and R.C. 3781.06 defines residential buildings as one-, two- and three-family dwellings and their accessory structures. Who that department is depends on where the house sits:
| Area | Residential building department |
|---|---|
| Akron and 24 other Summit jurisdictions, including Cuyahoga Falls, Fairlawn, Green, Hudson, Tallmadge and the Bath, Copley, Coventry, Springfield and Richfield townships | Summit County Building Standards |
| Canton, Alliance, Massillon, North Canton | Each city’s own department |
| Unincorporated Stark County, plus Brewster, East Canton, Hills and Dales, Limaville, Magnolia, Meyers Lake, Minerva and Waynesburg | Stark County Building Department |
| Louisville, Hartville, East Sparta | Their own residential departments (the county handles commercial) |
| Medina County | Medina County Building Department; Brunswick, Medina and Wadsworth have their own |
Call the right department before you do anything else. It can tell you what’s on file for your address, including open or expired permits that were never finaled.
A building department isn’t the housing inspector
Two different offices can touch an older house, and sellers often mix them up. The building department handles permits for new work: additions, remodels, new systems. Housing or code enforcement deals with the condition of existing homes, such as a failing porch or a broken window in a rental.
The Stark County Building Department says outright that it does not do code enforcement on existing one-, two- and three-family homes. In Akron, permits run through Summit County Building Standards while the city’s own Housing Compliance Division handles housing code orders. So an unpermitted basement doesn’t usually trigger a code case on its own. It surfaces when a buyer, appraiser or inspector notices it, or when you apply for a permit for something else and an inspector sees it.
What usually turns out to be unpermitted
Sellers often don’t know about unpermitted work until a buyer’s inspector or appraiser asks. Common examples in this area:
- a finished basement with a bedroom, a bathroom or new wiring
- an enclosed porch or a converted attic counted as living space
- a deck, garage or addition built by a previous owner
- a furnace, water heater or electrical panel swapped without an inspection
- plumbing moved during a kitchen or bath remodel
Work done before you bought the house still counts. A buyer doesn’t care who did it, only whether it’s safe and whether their lender will accept it.
How Ohio’s disclosure form handles it
Ohio’s Residential Property Disclosure Form, effective June 2022, has no question about permits. Question L asks whether you know of any violations of building or housing codes, zoning ordinances, or any nonconforming uses of the property. Other questions ask about the systems unpermitted work tends to touch: electrical, plumbing, heating, the roof and the structure.
That leaves gray areas. Knowing your basement bathroom had no permit isn’t the same as knowing of a code violation, but if the work is visibly wrong, or an inspector has told you so, disclose it. Our guide to the Ohio disclosure form explains who must fill it out, and an attorney can tell you how your facts fit.
Getting work permitted after the fact
In many cases you can apply for a permit on work that’s already done; ask your department how it handles it. Expect three things:
- Opening up. The inspector needs to see framing, wiring, plumbing or insulation, which may mean cutting into finished drywall.
- Corrections. Work that doesn’t meet the code in force has to be fixed before the inspector signs off.
- Time. Plans, inspections and corrections can take weeks, longer if drawings or an engineer are needed.
This route pays off when the work was done well and the house is otherwise ready to list. If the work was done badly, a retroactive permit can turn into a remodel. Our guide on selling a house with open permits covers permits that were pulled but never closed.
Selling with the work as it is
If you’d rather not open walls, disclose what you know and sell to a buyer who accepts the house as it is. Appraisers may give little value to unpermitted living space, so a financed buyer’s price can drop anyway. A cash buyer who plans to update the house prices the work directly.
If code enforcement has already cited the house, see selling a house with code violations. For older wiring someone patched without a permit, see selling a house with old wiring. To get a number on the house as it stands, send us the address.
