A fence line and side yard on a Port Washington property. | Eric Berman, REALTOR® — The Eric Berman Team at Compass

By Eric Berman, REALTOR® | The Eric Berman Team at Compass

TL;DR:

An open permit is one that was issued but never closed out with a final inspection, and it sits in the municipal file indefinitely until someone resolves it. The buyer's attorney will ask for the certificate of occupancy and confirmation that nothing remains open, and that request is where most Port Washington sellers learn their file has a problem. The recurring culprits are ordinary: decks, finished basements, sheds, generators, pools, ductless air conditioning, fences, and — in several villages — trees. Penalties for legalizing after the fact are real, running double the standard fee in the unincorporated Town area and triple in Manorhaven, and in Sands Point an expired permit doesn't resume at all, it starts over under current code. Sellers who pull their file eight to twelve weeks before listing resolve these quietly. Sellers who wait resolve them on a buyer's deadline with no leverage.

What an Open Permit Actually Is

The phrase confuses sellers because it sounds like a violation, and it usually isn't. An open permit means work was properly applied for and approved, and then the file was never closed — the final inspection was never scheduled, or it failed and nobody followed up, or the contractor finished and moved on without requesting the certificate.

Nothing happens as a result. No notice arrives. A homeowner uses the deck or the finished basement for fifteen years with no indication anything is unresolved. The permit simply waits.

Worth knowing: Manorhaven's building department states the owner is ultimately responsible for obtaining the final certificate and for scheduling inspections, even though the general contractor typically makes the appointments. Sellers who assumed their contractor handled it are, as a matter of village policy, mistaken about where the obligation sat.

There is a second and more common situation — work done with no permit at all. A previous owner finished a basement, enclosed a porch, or added a bathroom without filing. That leaves no open permit, because there was never a permit. Instead there is a gap between what the building department's records show and what physically exists. Buyers' attorneys look for both.

The Clock Most Sellers Never Knew Was Running

Permits expire, and the terms are stricter than most homeowners assume.

In Manorhaven, work must commence within six months of issuance and be completed within one year, or the permit must be renewed before it expires. Baxter Estates runs the same clock. A homeowner whose contractor pulled a permit, finished the visible work, and never scheduled the final inspection may be holding a permit that lapsed years ago on a project that looks entirely complete.

Sands Point is the sharpest version. Village code requires permit extensions to be obtained until a certificate of occupancy or completion is issued, regardless of whether any work is being done, whether the property is occupied, or who is using it. And if a building permit expires, it becomes null and void immediately — the owner must reapply for a new permit and comply with all requirements and fees in effect at that time, as though the original permit never existed.

That distinction matters enormously. In Sands Point, a lapsed permit from 2011 is not a paperwork cleanup. It is a fresh application, judged against today's code, at today's fees, on today's review schedule. A seller discovering this five weeks into a contract has a serious problem.

What Actually Turns Up on This Peninsula

The recurring items are ordinary. Decks and deck expansions. Finished basements, especially those with an added bathroom or bedroom. Enclosed porches. Dormers and second-story additions from decades back.

Sheds and accessory structures. In the unincorporated Town of North Hempstead area, a shed over 100 square feet requires a permit, and accessory structures cannot occupy more than 40% of the rear yard. Sellers with a shed, a pergola, and a pool house sometimes find the cumulative footprint is the problem rather than any single structure.

Generators. These are not merely an electrical permit. Town code permits generators and above-ground fuel tanks only in the side or rear yard, with the outer face at least five feet from the side and rear property lines and no more than five feet from the dwelling. A generator installed after a major storm — and a great many were — can be nonconforming by placement even where a permit exists.

Air conditioning, including ductless. This is the one sellers are most surprised by. Nassau County requires permits for effectively all HVAC installation and replacement, not just new construction, and that includes ductless mini-split systems. The work requires two separate approvals: a mechanical permit for the equipment and an electrical permit for the wiring, both pulled before installation. Mini-splits have been installed heavily across older Port Washington housing stock over the past decade, often marketed as a simpler alternative to ductwork, and the paperwork frequently did not follow. Processing times commonly quoted for residential HVAC permits run several weeks even when the filing is correct the first time.

Pools and pool fencing. In-ground pools require six-foot fencing in the Town area, and that fencing must be installed by a licensed fence erector.

The scope of what requires a permit is broader than almost any homeowner assumes. Flower Hill publishes its list, and it includes heating and cooling systems both new and replacement, boilers and pool heaters, cesspool replacement, change of grade, converting a basement or garage to habitable space, curb cuts, decks and patios, driveways, drywells, dumpsters, fireplaces and chimneys including gas inserts, hot tubs, oil-to-gas conversions, oil tank abandonment, retaining walls, PODs, doors — new or replacement — and plumbing down to the installation or replacement of sinks, toilets, and gas appliances.

Doors and toilets. That is the standard, published by the village, and it is why assuming a file is clean is a poor bet.

Why Fences Jam Up Closings

Fences deserve their own section, because they catch sellers who did nothing wrong by their own reckoning.

In the unincorporated Town area, code permits a maximum six-foot fence at the rear and side property lines, but nothing forward of the building line established by the front of the dwelling. A homeowner who ran the same fence around the side of the house and toward the street may have created a nonconformity without touching anything structural.

Fences also require a permit and a licensed installer. Only fence erectors licensed with the Town may erect a fence, and a homeowner installing their own must file an affidavit of exemption first. The Town further advises having a surveyor stake the property lines before any fencing goes up — advice that goes unheeded constantly, which is how fences end up sitting a few inches onto a neighbor's property.

The penalty for skipping the permit is explicit. The Town's residential fence permit application fee is $64, and legalizing a fence erected without a permit costs twice the normal fee. Manorhaven is harsher still: its building department states that applying for a permit after work is done results in triple permit fees.

What makes fences uniquely disruptive is visibility. A finished basement requires someone to go looking. A nonconforming fence is apparent from the sidewalk, and it is frequently the item holding up a certificate while the addition everyone worried about clears without incident. Because the six governments sharing the Port Washington address each maintain their own code, a fence height that is fine in one village may not be a mile away.

The Trees Nobody Warns Sellers About

This one has a cruel timing problem. Pre-listing cleanup is exactly when trees come down — a seller tidying the yard before photographs, taking out the dying oak that has bothered them for years, opening up the view. In several villages on this peninsula, that is the moment a violation gets created.

Sands Point makes it unlawful to remove, destroy, or substantially alter any tree with a trunk circumference greater than 20 inches, measured four feet six inches above ground level. The enforcement detail reveals how seriously the village takes it: where a tree was removed without a permit, the circumference is measured at the highest point remaining at or above ground level. The code anticipates that people cut first and ask later, and it measures the stump.

Flower Hill requires a permit for the removal of almost all trees, explicitly including trees the owner considers dead, and warns of severe financial penalties for unauthorized removal. A homeowner who reasonably concluded a dead tree was a hazard rather than a regulated feature can find themselves on the wrong side of that.

The practical guidance is simple and worth following literally. Before any tree comes down for any reason — including storm damage, disease, or a contractor's recommendation — check with the village building department first. The permit is usually straightforward. The penalty for skipping it is not, and it surfaces at the worst possible time, when a buyer's attorney is already reviewing the file.

Why an Expediter Is Usually Worth the Money

Most sellers have never filed a building application, do not know which forms a given village requires, and cannot tell from a records printout whether an entry represents a closed permit or an abandoned one. That is a reasonable thing not to know, and an expensive thing to learn on a deadline.

A permit expediter does this professionally. They know which desk to approach in which village, what each office requires, and roughly how long each takes. They know when a situation needs an architect or engineer and when it doesn't. Most importantly, they can tell early whether something is a routine close-out or is heading toward a variance — and that determines everything about the timeline.

They also know the traps. The Town of North Hempstead, for instance, will not accept front yard setbacks estimated from Nassau County Assessor overhead imagery; it requires an actual field survey or a FOIL request for surveys already in the property file. A seller who submits the wrong documentation loses a full review cycle finding out.

The fee is modest against what it prevents. A seller working alone typically loses two weeks identifying which office holds the file, another learning the correct form, then waits through a cycle to discover something was missing. Engaging an expediter before listing rather than during attorney review is where the value concentrates — given runway, they can often resolve quietly what would otherwise become a negotiated credit at closing.

When the Work Was Never Permitted at All

Unpermitted work is the harder version, and the instinct is to say nothing and hope. That instinct is a mistake for two reasons.

New York's Property Condition Disclosure Statement is mandatory. Since the March 2024 amendment, sellers complete a fifty-six-question form covering property condition and environmental factors, and the previous option of providing a credit instead of the form no longer exists. Questions touching permits and code compliance appear on that form, and answering inaccurately creates exposure that outlasts the closing.

And it usually gets found anyway. A buyer's attorney compares records against the listing. A square footage discrepancy, a bedroom count that doesn't match, an appraiser noting finished space the file doesn't reflect — any of these opens the question.

Resolution paths vary. Some work can be legalized through an application and inspection, at penalty fee rates. Some requires bringing the work up to current code first, which can be substantial in older construction. Some needs a variance from the zoning board, adding a hearing cycle. Occasionally the honest answer is that it cannot be legalized as built, at which point the seller and their attorney choose between removing it and disclosing it.

None of those paths is fast.

A Composite Example: The Mini-Split and the Fence

Consider a composite drawn from patterns that recur here. A Port Washington homeowner lists a colonial after nineteen years. During attorney review, the buyer's counsel requests the certificate of occupancy and a permit search.

Two items come back. A three-zone ductless system installed six years earlier has no mechanical or electrical permit on file — the contractor never mentioned one was needed. And a rear fence runs six feet high around the side of the house, past the front building line, with no permit.

The mini-split is legalizable: an application, both permits, an inspection, penalty fees. Roughly six weeks. The fence is harder, because the portion forward of the building line is nonconforming regardless of permitting. The homeowner can seek a variance, which means a hearing on the board's calendar, or cut the fence back to conforming height and position. The variance route would add roughly two months. The buyer's rate lock has five weeks left.

They cut the fence back. The materials cost is modest; the timing is not. The closing moves twice, the lender re-verifies, and the seller absorbs a credit to hold the deal together.

Pulled three months earlier, both items resolve during the prep window — with the variance option genuinely on the table and nobody's rate lock in play.

Where to Start

Confirm jurisdiction first, since requesting a file from the wrong office returns nothing and costs a week. Whether a separate village tax bill arrives is the fastest indicator.

Request the complete building file and ask directly whether anything remains open or expired. Ask whether an appointment is needed to review records — several offices on the peninsula work that way.

Walk the property against the file. Look specifically at the deck, the basement, every shed and accessory structure, the generator and its distance from the property line, any ductless or central air equipment, the pool and its fencing, and the perimeter fence — including its height and how far forward it runs.

Before removing any tree for any reason, call the village first.

If anything is open, expired, missing, or nonconforming, call an expediter before deciding how to handle it.

Engage a New York real estate attorney one to two weeks before listing so the disclosure and the records review happen together.

Eight to twelve weeks is comfortable. Anything involving a variance, or anything in Sands Point where an expired permit restarts from scratch, wants more.

The Honest Bottom Line

Almost every older home on this peninsula has something in its file that doesn't match the house. That is not a scandal. It is the accumulated result of decades of ordinary homeowners hiring ordinary contractors and moving on with their lives.

The only real question is when the seller finds out. Before listing, it is a task with a budget and a schedule. After a contract is signed, it is leverage — and it belongs to the buyer.

This post covers process, not legal advice. Permit, code, disclosure, and variance questions should go to a New York real estate attorney. Village codes, fees, and requirements differ across the peninsula and change over time — fence provisions in particular have been amended recently. Confirm current requirements with the relevant village or the Town of North Hempstead before relying on any figure here.

For sellers starting to think through timing, a current look at Port Washington home values is a reasonable first step, and a conversation about what a specific file might turn up is available whenever it is useful.

FAQs

Do ductless mini-split air conditioners require a permit?

Yes. Nassau County requires permits for effectively all HVAC installation and replacement work, not only new construction, and that expressly includes ductless mini-split systems. The work requires two separate approvals — a mechanical permit for the equipment and an electrical permit for the wiring — and both must be obtained before installation rather than after. This surprises sellers regularly, because mini-splits are often marketed as a simpler retrofit than ductwork and many installations across older Port Washington homes were completed without either filing. Flower Hill's published permit list confirms the same standard, covering heating and cooling systems both new and replacement.

Does removing a tree really require a permit?

In several villages on this peninsula, yes, and the rules are strict. Sands Point makes it unlawful to remove or substantially alter any tree with a trunk circumference greater than 20 inches, measured four feet six inches above ground — and where a tree was removed without a permit, the circumference is measured from the remaining stump. Flower Hill requires a permit for almost all tree removal, explicitly including trees the owner believes are dead, with severe financial penalties for unauthorized removal. Because pre-listing cleanup is exactly when sellers take trees down, this is worth confirming with the village before any work begins.

Can a fence really hold up a closing?

It happens more often than sellers expect. In the unincorporated Town area, code permits a maximum six-foot fence at the rear and side property lines but nothing forward of the front building line of the dwelling, so a fence carried toward the street can be nonconforming even at a modest height. Fences also require a permit and, in the Town, a licensed fence erector unless the homeowner files an affidavit of exemption. Unlike a finished basement, a fence is visible from the sidewalk and gets noticed immediately. Height limits are not uniform across the six jurisdictions here, so confirm with the applicable building department rather than the neighborhood standard.

What happens if a permit has already expired?

It depends on the jurisdiction, and the range is wide. Several peninsula villages require work to commence within six months and finish within one year unless renewed. Sands Point is the strictest: village code provides that an expired permit becomes null and void immediately, and the owner must reapply and comply with all requirements and fees then in effect as though no prior permit existed. That means an expired permit from years ago is not a cleanup — it is a new application judged against current code at current fees. Sellers in those villages should build substantially more runway into their timeline.

Does a seller have to disclose unpermitted work?

New York's Property Condition Disclosure Statement is mandatory, and since the March 2024 amendment it is a fifty-six-question form with no option to provide a credit instead. Questions touching permits and code compliance appear on it, and answering inaccurately creates exposure that survives the closing. Beyond the legal requirement, unpermitted work usually surfaces anyway — through the attorney's records comparison, a square footage discrepancy, or an appraiser noting finished space the file does not reflect. Sellers should work through disclosure questions with their attorney rather than deciding independently what is material.

By Eric Berman, REALTOR® | The Eric Berman Team at Compass

Eric Berman | Long Island & Queens Associate Broker | Compass
1468 Northern Blvd, Manhasset, NY 11030
(917) 225-8596 | eric@ericbermanre.com | theericbermanteam.com