In the current times of a very difficult economy, and businesses struggling to survive, you would think that local governments would want to help businesses grow and survive by being business friendly. You would also think that local governments would want to streamline their process, and regulations, to maximize their revenues and minimize their costs. That does not seem to be the case in Pompano Beach.
Many municipalities are instituting new procedures and process to minimize review time and reduce costs. Not in Pompano Beach! If you click on the picture to the left you will open a link to a pdf file of what Pompano Beach posts on their website as their review schedule. Remember, that as you read the flow chart, days mean business days. Zoning is the first stop and you can see they have 15 days, or three weeks, to review your application. It has been our experience that Zoning takes the full three weeks. Hopefully your application doesn’t have to go to Forestry and Fire. That is another 10 and 5 days respectively. After 6 weeks, if you have no comments from any of the above, you finally get to Building. Then! They have another 30 days. Do the math! That is three months just for the first review.
If you are planning on opening a business in Pompano Beach, beware. If you are a property owner maybe this will help you understand why it is taking your contractor so long to get the permit to do the improvements you hired them to do. Your government’s bureaucracy!
Permit applications, and all associated documents, that are submitted as a part of your application are considered to be legal documents. Depending on the type of documents, they may require original seals, and signatures, by the architects and engineers that prepared them. The actual application requires original notarized signatures. Copies of originals will not be accepted by the building department.
Modifications to the original documents with the use of whiteout or liquid paper is not permitted. Cross out the error or write over it. Do not try to cover it, or re-copy it. Most building departments will not accept permit documents and applications modified in this manner. Signed and sealed plans that are modified in this manner will also not be accepted.
Remember these documents are viewed as legal documents. Do not modify them!
A policy change that has occurred over the past couple of years that seems to have begun infecting Broward County building departments is the dreaded, “proof of ownership” policy. Miami-Dade County has just about been completely engulfed by this painful cancer, and their are some spot locations showing up in Palm Beach County. If you are not familiar with building permit procedures you are probably wondering what the hell I am talking about.
Almost every municipality has a place for the Owner’s signature on the building permit application. Back in the day, you could probably have Micky Mouse sign it, and as long as the signature was notarized, the building department accepted it. Not anymore! Whoever signs the permit application must show “proof of ownership”. Not a big deal for a property owned by an individual. You can go the Property Appraiser’s website, print-out the information, and submit it with the building permit application. If that information isn’t current because of a new buyer, typically, and depending on the building department, a recorded warranty deed, or a settlement statement works.
The real problem occurs with properties owned by corporations. The building permit application has to be signed by one of the officers of the corporation. A great resource is Sunbiz.org. It is the Florida, Division of Corporations website. You can track down corporations and their officers. It can be a real pain in the butt sometimes to find the information you are looking for, because of LLC’s and shell corporations. Once you find the officers, you may also find that they refuse to sign the building permit application. An option is the “power of attorney” letter, if the municipality accepts such a document, and they will have their own procedures for the format of that document.
I always suggest to my Clients, when you get a sales call, go to the Property Appraiser’s website first, and then if a corporation to Sunbiz.org. It is the best way to confirm ownership. The person signing your contract, the Notice of Commencement, and the building permit application needs to be the legal Owner of the property. Our services include a review of our Client’s building permit packages, to verify the ownership.
There are the “runner” type of permit processers that will try to submit whatever you give them, and bill you for it. We do not! Our initial consultation and document review are included in our fees. Please feel free to contact us for your professional building permit processing needs.
“Is there one central location where I can get building permit history in the Sate of Florida?” That is one of the most common questions I hear, and the answer is very simple. No! In South Florida alone, there are roughly one hundred building departments. Each having it’s own database, systems and procedures, and none of them link to each other in anyway. Some building permit data may be available on an individual municipalities website, but the quantity, and quality, of information varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
If you are looking for actual copies of building permit documents, the situation is even more dire. There are only a couple of municipalities that make copies of those documents available online, and that is only recently. For example, about a year ago, Miami-Dade County converted from paper document submissions to digital permit document submissions in pdf format. Those documents can be retrieved via their website. Anything before the conversion is on micro-film and you have to physically go to their office to retrieve copies of the documents.
One of the services we offer at Permit Source is building permit document research and retrieval. You could spend hours just trying to get information by navigating through poorly designed websites, making phone calls, or leaving messages that go un-returned . Our years of experience and daily interaction with the South Florida building departments allows us to move through the process much more efficiently. We already know the procedures, and where to go, to get the information and/or documents you need.
The second quarter of 2010 has seen a Fannie & Freddie Real Estate Owned inventory increase of 74% compared to the second quarter of 2009. That is a year to year comparison. In addition, RealtyTrac says there were 94,466 foreclosures in the first half of 2010 in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, alone. This unprecedented number of foreclosures has created in increased demand for REO property preservation companies, permit processing services and foreclosed property maintenance services. Many of these property management and property preservation companies offer a limited selection of services.
Permit Source has joined forces with Maintenance Dynamics to offer a “One Stop Shop” for REO property maintenance and preservation services. We can offer you complete property maintenance services. We provide a comprehensive package consisting of everything from simple trash-outs, lawn maintenance and re-keys all the way up to major renovations and new construction projects. The services we offer are for residential as will as commercial properties and we can supply everything from consulting services to full brick and mortar construction. In addition, there are numerous issues that can hold up the sale and occupancy by a new owner, such as open or expired permits, code enforcement liens, unsafe conditions like a faulty roof or exposed plumbing and electrical wiring. We are here to help resolve these issues and more. We do everything from lawn care to unsafe structure resolution.
If you are a real estate broker, asset manager, or investor managing foreclosed properties in the Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County areas we can offer you a “One Stop Shop” for property maintenance and property preservation services. Please feel free to visit our websites, or contact our offices, for more information on our property preservation and property maintenance services for foreclosed properties. Private home owners are welcome too!
In the current times of a very difficult economy, and businesses struggling to survive, you would think that local governments would want to help businesses grow and survive by being business friendly. You would also think that local governments would want to streamline their process, and regulations, to maximize their revenues and minimize their costs. That does not seem to be the case in Pompano Beach.
