There is an important part of taking on a home renovation -- the building permit.
You may know of friends who have had their basements finished over the past few years and maybe none have obtained a building permit first. They assumed that since the renovation did not extend beyond the existing walls of their home, they were free to make any changes they wished. According to Ray Leclair, a real estate lawyer your friends have been breaking the law.
"It's a municipal by-law under building code," he says. "The impact of it is that there could be a fine for the homeowner or the municipality can say remove the structure or they'll condemn the property."
Most of us realize that major renovations such as building an addition to a home require a
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