Irvine Proposal for Home Inspections

Did you know that the city of Irvine is trying to enact a scheme that will cost you another large fee for selling your home?

The proposed city inspection scheme will require you to pay $131 for a city inspector to do an inspection that means nothing. In addition, you will have to pay additional and unspecified sums to correct any item specified by the inspector, permits for items that have been changed or altered in the past (even by a previous owner) and any additional reinspections.

Nobody knows how much this will really cost Irvine homeowners. The city has not revealed all the hidden costs of this scheme to make unwary homeowners pay for all the overhead of running its inspection department.

How does this impact Irvine homeowners in selling their homes? Any report issued by the inspector will have to be shown to the prospective buyer. That means that, if you have done a simple appliance replacement such as a garbage disposal or dishwasher without a permit , you can be cited. How long will it take and how expensive will it be to buy these unnecessary permits (with 100% late fees)?

We must either pay or go--to the City Council meeting at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 22.

JIM BUTTS

Irvine