The most basic and obvious safety related practice would seem an OC permit.

To me, this means the place has been looked at, considered finished, or finished enough to be habitable without incident.
I am being very liberal here and not 'splitting hairs' lest i entertain beuracratic opposition on the cost of this basic function.

Nope, i'll keep it simple heat, water,lights and some sort of 'contained' enviorment (i.e.-doors, windows..) to a finished and habitable degree.

My question is, how many states/countries actually have an OC process ?

Ventura County, California. Check.

I bought a house last year and the occupany permit from 1979 is hanging in the garage.
Scott

In the county I live in, there is no inspection as to the building itself. The only requirement for permanent power is a sign off by the health department for septic system.Building permits are required for all new construction.No structural,electrical,plumbing or heat/ac inspect.In Ga. all three of these trades must be state licensed,but it is left up to each county to enforce its own area.As far as I know there is no statewide building contractor licensing.

It works sort of the opposite way around in England.

There's no occupancy permit here. When "planning consent" is granted for a new home or for major renovations to an existing property, it will eventually have to be signed off by some official to show that all the requirements stated in that consent have been met. However, there's nothing that I'm aware of that says one can't live in the property in the meantime.

The only thing that can happen is that a local council can get an order to tell someone they can't stay if they consider that a property is unfit for human habitation. I've never heard of that being done except in very severe cases, such as where a building is so bad that it is served with a demolition order.

All in all, most people here, at least in this part of the country, work on the principle that you don't tell the local authorities anything if you don't have to. In other words, if some official driving by can't see what you're doing, you just go ahead and do it!

Sparky,

In NJ you need a Certificate of Occupency (CO) before you can move into a new building or an addition to your house.Some town have a CCO or Continuing Certificate of Occupency when 1 business moves out and another one moves in.

ga.sparky56,
it is the same here.
Harold,
it would seem NJ is one up here, kudos...
Paul,
once again you've proven us a small world here.


all;
i do not know of any stats on OC's ,Goggle isn't doing me any good here.

my interest lies in the fact that an OC would seem the basic minimal and economical approach to all the obvious safety issues that arise out of sub-standard construction.

note that there are people here defaulting on loans on the premis of sub-standard construction the banks loaned out on.

third party home inspectors , even tradesmen are being solicited to testify to such atrocities here.....

as this seems to have some legal leverage, the banks themselves are sending out thier own inspectors to job sites.

they are, merely a pair of eyes, meant to protect thier own interests, and would not know an outlet from an omlet as far as our trade goes.


.....interesting that the finanical institutions, and not those orginizations that continually laud themselves as public safety pillars would take action here.

Do any of your state/county/city AHJs legally define what constitutes "living in" or "occupying" a property?

Clearly you are legally entitled to be physically present on your own land or in your own building. Where does that cross the border into occupancy? If you sit down in your unfinished building with a take-out from Taco Bell or wherever are you occupying it? What if you bring your sleeping bag and spend the night there?

If you start moving in furniture and storing it in an unfinished home, are you, yourself, occupying the building?

It seems to me that it would be quite hard to define the boundary here.

good point Paul, quite the grey area here...

speaking for the state of Vermont only, there are some serious loopholes.

'Camps' which abound here are usually considered such via a 'permanent' resident status.

So it is arguable that one could reside in such for 364 days, and viola! have all tax assessment, septic concerns,potable water, etc, follow suit.

Any authority in my experience focuses on rental property here.
As a former landlord i can see why they would, as there exists greater legal leverage for said authority to actually act on problems that may arise...

[This message has been edited by sparky (edited 01-01-2003).]

Did a rough-in once for a customer,the service was built,panel and breakers were installed,rough plumbing,septic installed.Was paying as he went from savings. He was unable to get loan to complete house.Poco put in perm. power. No switches receps or lites installed. WE went back and put blanks on everything.Btw no sheetrock.Tried, in front of 3 witnesses, to get him to sign a liability form. Refused!We took pictures of every room and the blank covers.He has been living there for 4 yrs, still not finished!Are we liable if he gets hurt tinkering with the wiring?

I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me that under the circumstances you took all reasonable steps to make sure the wiring was left in as safe a condition as possible, i.e. you convered up all exposed live connections. In fact, I'd say you probably took more than reasonable steps to protect people.

If someone comes along afterward and messes with it, that's his fault as far as I'm concerned.

excatly my thoughts, as well as actions in my billing which portrays work i've done only.....

I have not confirmed this, but I've heard that, (besides Final Inspections from all Inspectors) even a Lawn (or start of one via seeding) is required to get a CO on a new Home on Long Island (NY).

Bill

the 'other' side of the coin Bill, i would postulate some revenue driven overtones there...

~btw, what's a lawn?



[This message has been edited by sparky (edited 01-04-2003).]

Occupancy Permits... Oh, ya!
On the projects I deal with (Bank Branches to be exact), one very common item which will keep the Permit to Occupy from being issued, is failure to comply with California Financial Code section 13000 (FC13000 - 13330); which is more known by the slang trade name of:
"AB-244"
(California Assembly Bill 244, circa 1993).

If the ATM Area lighting (amongst other things such as Landscaping, etc.) does not conform, no Occupancy of the building will be permitted until compliance is achived. The local Police Department is usually involved with this one being issued or not.

Basically for ATM lighting, the P.D. or Building Department wants to see an Isometric layout showing lighting power levels (in Fc) at certain points. Layout also includes luminare(s) data - such as specs and photometrics, plus lumens maintenance; and data per on-sight testing of installation.

Certification is required by a Licensed P.E. in the Electrical Power and Lighting field, however some jurisdictions allow the installing EC to certify and compile the plan page - if that AHJ feels the EC is qualified to do so.

This, along with some ADA items, are some of the "Last Minute" things which revolve around issuance of an Occupancy Permit.

Having been so much involved on this aspect prior to my personal career changes of late 2001, a certain P.M. at the company I worked for in 2002 was not interested in hearing what I had to say about final things; per a certain turn-key project in Bell, CA.
Talk about stuck between rock and hard place!
The Client's Const. Deveolpemet P.M. personnel (which I had dealt with many times in the past on the same issues) was "Pushing" me to "Try and make sense" with the clown I mentioned before. The Clown was reluctant to listen to me, was pissing off the whole Client's rep staff (Architects, Property Mgrs, etc.), jeopardizing the whole entire move-in schedule (which for a bank is a very big deal!), all because the joker wanted to push for some extra - and figured this would put them in a "must do" position!
Too bad that clown didn't get sued for contract items!!!

Man I am SOOOOO glad to be away from that Bozo!

Scott s.e.t.