Does an existing unpermitted ADU on a property I'm buying transfer any liability to me at closing
Polk County has a few properties on my radar right now and two of them have what the listing agent calls a "studio cottage" in the back. No permit history on either one, both have tenants in them. I've done enough flips to know that unpermitted work is usually somebody else's problem until the second it becomes mine, but I have never bought into a situation where the unpermitted structure was already cash flowing. My question is whether the liability for that cottage, code violations, potential demolition order, back fees, whatever the county decides to chase, follows the deed to me at closing or whether the seller has to resolve it first. My attorney says it depends on how the purchase agreement is written and whether I push for a permit status contingency. That part I understand. What I don't know is whether Polk County or Florida generally has a lookback period where they can come after the new owner for work that predates the sale, and whether the tenant lease in place on an unpermitted unit creates a separate exposure I haven't thought about yet.
