Is square footage of a home or major home improvements recorded at the county level?
March 8, 2010 by Homes Redo
Filed under home improvements
I am looking at buying a house up in Pennsylvania but the seller inherited it from a relative and knows little about it. Where would I be able to find info about the square footage and major home improvements (mainly the last roof replacement)? Is it recorded at the county level? Both the seller and I do not live in the town where the house is located and it will be a month or more before we can get up there but I want to do some research ahead of time. Thanks.
goto the town hall and ask them for the records that simple.
It depends on the structure of the government in which the home resides:
In the city = City Hall
In a rural area = County Clerk’s office
Tax assessor might have some of it.
Building permits might as well
The building department will have all permits, which are public information.
In New York that is not recorded. Do not think any state does. What you might find is a list of work permits issued. The local municipality would have those records. Definitely a permit was issued if the roof was ever replaced Try the Building Code Enforcement Office
The square footage is, but home improvements aren’t. You may be able to check for any permits but each area requires permits only for certain things. My state does not require a permit unless you are adding square footage, so there would be no record of roof replacement.
The square footage will be recorded at the tax assessors office, that is part of the mechanism for determining the tax liability, so it will absolutely be recorded there.
The building permits department may have information about improvements, but in my area, they only retain those permits for 7 years. That is assuming that the owners got permits, many people just get the work done and do not bother with permits.