Property resale stalled over certificate
Owner says he remodeled, extended house, but city won’t approve occupancy.
LAKE WORTH — In May 2015, Tom Curtis, a New York real estate lawyer and broker who lives part time in West Palm Beach, bought an abandoned property built in 1950 in Lake Worth.
The site, at 1602 Crestwood Blvd., was vacant for years and was in terrible condition, Curtis said.
He paid $71,800 for it, according to the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s website, and spent close to $300,000 fixing it.
“I gutted it and completely added about 500 square feet,” said Curtis, 77. “I filed complete working drawings with the city for a complete renovation of the property. It was an entire remodel. Things had to be done twice because they weren’t done right.”
Curtis said he’s still waiting for a certificate of occupancy for the entire three-bedroom, two-bath structure. A certificate of occupancy is a document that certifies a building’s compliance with applicable building codes and other laws, and indicating it to be
in a condition suitable for occupancy.
On July 25, 2017, Lake Worth issued a certificate for the 473-square-foot addition Curtis added to the house, not for the entire structure, an issue he would like to see corrected.
“It was a complete remodel,” he said. “It’s absurd.”
But William Waters, the city’s director of community sustainability, said Curtis is wrong. “We can only give a certificate of occupancy for the addition to this house and not the whole thing, as it was not a remodel,” Waters said. “The building permits issued did not cover the entire building. Mr. Curtis does not like this fact.”
Waters said the city doesn’t have the authority to issue a certificate of occupancy for an existing residence unless the entire structure was brought up to current code and was substantially improved and renovated.
“This building was not substantially renovated as defined by the building code,” Waters said. “The plans specifically state it was an alteration Level II, which does not require that the entire existing building be brought up to current code.”
Curtis said he’s been trying to sell the house but hasn’t had much luck. He said not having a certificate of occupancy for the entire site has hurt him. “It impacts the sale and impacts the lender,” he said. “It’ll be much harder to get a loan on the property with that kind of screwup. Lenders look at everything, and this will make it much more difficult to sell.”
Curtis has been in the real estate business for decades. He said Lake Worth is looking for people like him to invest in the city. “They want people like me to rebuild buildings,” he said. “But I’m not going to do it again if this is what happens. I’m losing money on this property.”
The current asking price, Curtis said, has been lowered from $332,000 to $328,000. Realtor.com is now listing the site for $326,400. “We’ve had a ridiculously low offer from a so-called investor,” Curtis said.
Curtis met with Waters and City Manager Michael Bornstein on Feb. 13 to discuss the issue. That’s when Curtis was told the city would issue a certificate of occupancy only for the 473 square feet he added. “I told him that’s an oxymoron because it implies you can’t occupy the rest of the house,” Curtis said.
He said he emailed proof it was a total remodel because Waters said it wasn’t on the original application. Curtis emailed The Palm Beach Post the same application, dated Aug. 14, 2015. Under the additional permit description, Curtis wrote, “remodel entire house.”
“It should have been a certificate of occupancy for the whole property,” Curtis said. “They’re off the wall in Lake Worth. It’s so absurd that Waters has all these certificates, all these degrees and no common sense.”