Many Novato homeowners want to know, will the city of Novato inspect my house before I sell? Here’s Realtor Erin McGinnis with the answer. Watch the video or read below!

Novato Resale Inspection

The answer is no, the city will not inspect your house before you sell. The city discontinued its resale inspection program in June 2022. Prior to that, the city inspector would come inside your house, take pictures and compare them to photos or information from the last time the home sold. The city would issue a report calling out any unpermitted work.

Many other cities in Marin County still have resale inspection programs in place.

Still, You’re Not Off the Hook

If you’re going to be selling and you have done work on your house without the needed permits, it’ll be up to you to disclose that to a buyer. This is a legal requirement, so don’t hide anything! There’s a form for this, and your Realtor can help you do that.

Even better is to get your past projects permitted and finalled before you go on the market. Many buyers get uneasy about unresolved permits, and it’s usually better to take that objection off the table.

Common Permit Issues

Did you know the most common permit issues we see with our clients are with water heaters and furnaces? In Novato, you need permits for replacements, and people either don’t know this, or they think their contractor handled it. But often, he didn’t. It does cost more to get a retroactive permit. It’s the regular permit fee plus a penalty.

How to Search for Your Home’s Permit Records

If you want to see what permits are on file for your house, you can look it up online. Just Google ‘Novato permit search” and click on the City of Novato link in the top search result. Or here is the link: Novato permit search

If you have questions about this, or need your parcel number, please reach out to us today.