City staff, realtors seek to reduce surprises for homebuyers by sharing permit search and permit-close procedures

Construction services staff briefed the council on January 28 about steps the city and the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors (GTAR) are taking to reduce situations in which a newly purchased home contains unpermitted work that the buyer discovers afterward. The presentation and public comment clarified city enforcement practice, a new administrative closing policy for older work, and limits set by state law.

At the meeting, JC Hudgison, construction services manager and chief building official, said construction services and code enforcement increasingly encounter property conditions discovered after sale and that educating the realty community is a practical first step. “We went to GTAR. We had about 45, 50 realtors present. We went over how to search for a permit, how to see this information,” Hudgison told the council, describing a January 14 seminar that provided permits look‑up instructions, staff contacts and guidance about “after‑the‑fact” permits.

The training aimed to help realtors and prospective buyers find permitting records on the city website, Hudgison said, and to share staff contact information so questions can be directed to the correct unit rather than reach code enforcement only after a complaint is filed.

Kamaria Petasnago of the city legal department reiterated a separate point in a previously distributed memo: when staff become aware of an apparent code violation the city’s enforcement role is to cite the property owner. “According to Florida statute, if code enforcement determines that there is in fact a violation of the City of Tampa code, that lien is filed on the property that’s in violation of the code,” Petasnago said. “It is not the direction of our legislature to go figure out when a property is for sale, who sold it, when it was sold, who did work, etcetera. The burden is on the property owner to bring that property into compliance.”

Hudgison told the council the department is able to administratively close cases for work that has been in place without reported problems for more than six years. “If a project has been undisturbed for over six years, it can be administratively closed,” he said. Staff said that practice reduces the number of long‑past repairs that otherwise would be pursued through full enforcement when the work does not present a safety problem.

Representatives of GTAR said the association welcomed the seminar and will continue outreach. Jacob Brunnell, GTAR director of government affairs, told the council the association has about 28,000 members and that educating new and experienced agents about permit searches, the seller disclosure rules and recommended inspectors helps protect buyers.

Public commenters described recurring problems where buyers discover accessory dwelling units or enclosed porches lacking permits after purchase and said remedies are often limited or costly. Steve Michelini, who identified himself in public comment as affiliated with the local builders’ association’s governmental affairs committee, urged cooperation among builders, realtors and staff and warned that some administrative changes could create hardship for small projects.

The council did not take any formal vote on a policy change at the workshop; staff said outreach, the permit‑search tools on the city website and the administrative six‑year closure practice are the immediate steps under way.

Why it matters: Buyers typically rely on sellers’ disclosures, inspectors and title searches but those channels do not always reveal unpermitted work. The city’s effort to educate realtors is intended to reduce surprise discoveries and subsequent enforcement for homes that may be many years past the date of alteration.

What’s next: Staff said it already posts permit history online and will continue outreach to the realty community. Legal staff cautioned that private disputes between buyers and sellers – including claims for nondisclosure – are civil matters for the parties and not a city enforcement function.