Variance on property

d0ri

Has anyone bought or tried to buy a house with a variance (on land use)?  Was this an issue?  How did it go?

Would you buy a house with a variance in land use?  For instance, a variance issued on the house to be inside a utility easement, would this bother you?

MTJunebride

I haven't bought a house in this situation, but I am a county planner and process variances for people all the time.  I would say generally it is a good thing to know that the house has a variance because that means it was properly permitted and they didn't just build it without permission or permits like some people do.  I would check into what kind of utilities are in the easement and how they can be accessed if necessary.  I would also review the easement agreement (or plat) if you can find it to figure out what to do if the utility company has to repair something in part of the line that goes under the house.  Hopefully the line is not actually under the house and the utility easement is wider than the utility line.  But it wouldn't bother me as long as you check into these things and also confirm that a permit and c/o were issued for the house.

d0ri

We are trying to build. We got the building permit before we found out there was a line along one side of the property which now affects the minimum setback. I guess we can technically start building since we got a permit. Nobody seems to have a record of the line except the utility company. The county or planning department is not aware of any easement there for that line. So now we're trying to get at least a variance.

I'm asking about variance because I wonder how it affects resale or the house value. If it does, maybe we'll just forget about the property and file for damages to the title company.

The lawyer we talked to mentioned eminent domain. So even though they didn't properly acquired or recorded the easement, it would be hard to get the line out and release the easement since the line has been there for 10+ yrs.

Thanks for the reply. If you have additional knowledge to share given the additional info, please share.