Unlicensed contractors are tearing down older houses and building new homes under theguise of “additions,” selling them before major safety problems are discovered, according to Fairfax County supervisors.
Owners planning on “flipping” homes have exploited legal loopholes to avoid licensing, according to Lee District Supervisor Dana Kauffman. On average, the county receives three permit applications a week for additions that are actually “substantially altered new homes,” he said.
“They knock down the house to the foundation — and usually these are 1950s or 1960s ramblers — and then they build a three-story castle on top of it,” Kauffman said. “Before the county catches up with them on the permits, they sell it.”
The unsuspecting new owner, he said, is left to deal with any number of violations.
“We have a lot of abuse out there, and owners are getting left holding the bag,” said Providence District Supervisor Linda Smyth. “They have no real way of going back when they have a problem because these people have left.”
County authorities do not track down original owners, said Fairfax County spokesman Greg Licamele, “because of the lack of a paper trail, and a lack of jurisdiction to do it.”
The problem appears to be yet another symptom of the building boom, where revamping and quickly selling homes became enormously profitable. Such ventures, however, have recently become less lucrative with the downturn in the housing market.
Only in some situations have county staff required homeowners to fill out an owner/developer affidavit that affirms they are exempt from licensing as a contractor, Kauffman said.
Virginia code defines an owner/developer as someone who performs or oversees improvements worth $70,000 or more on a property, or $500,000 on multiple projects within a year. The board on Monday unanimously advocated a review of the issue by the county’s Permits Task Force.
