Miami-Dade County eliminates permitting and inspection fees for Chinese drywall repairs
Dec 3, 2009
Miami-Dade County announced today, December 3, 2009, that it will eliminate homeowner permitting and inspection fees for victims of Chinese drywall beginning in mid-December. The policy will be retroactive to victims who have already made Chinese drywall-related repairs. Average savings are estimated to be $1,200.
To read the announcement, which was made in a letter from Mayor Carlos Alvarez, click here.
A story from the South Florida Business Journal describing the new program is reprinted below.
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Miami-Dade to help Chinese drywall victims
South Florida Business Journal – by Oscar Pedro Musibay
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez is calling on the county’s building department to eliminate permitting and inspection fees for homeowners in unincorporated parts of the county and West Miami who are making repairs tied to Chinese drywall.
Alvarez also directed the county’s building department to make the rule retroactive, so homeowners who have made repairs would be eligible for the program.
County officials, who had suggested a partial reduction of fees prior to Alvarez’s direction, will also eliminate some reviews to expedite the process.
The savings on permits and inspections for a single-family home with $20,000 in replacement costs would be about $1,200, according to the county.
Alvarez could not say how many homes might be affected. He also said that the county is reaching out to homeowners who made repairs illegally without permits. County officials will review cases individually and consider whether to apply penalties.
Alvarez said he understands that those who failed to obtain permits would be hesitant to come forward, and the county would work to resolve the matter without additional costs. However, he could not rule out the possibility that some would be fined.
“We are encouraging people through this program to do this right,” he said.
Homeowners dealing with Chinese drywall can also try to get their property taxes reduced. Unlike the county permit program, which mostly applies to unincorporated Miami-Dade, the property appraiser’s program applies to the entire county.
But, homeowners shouldn’t expect a dollar-for-dollar reduction based on the cost to fix the home because the land on which it sits is unaffected, property appraiser spokesman Patrick Smikle said.
To be eligible, homeowners need to provide one piece of evidence, which could include professional inspection reports, insurance claims and proof that materials were made by Knauf Plasterboard (Tianjin) Co. Ltd. or other defective drywall makers, according to the appraiser’s Web site.
Starting last winter, complaints about high-sulfur drywall began surfacing in Southwest Florida, and eventually spread to the entire state and several others states. The product was imported after U.S. supplies were depleted during the building boom and hurricane rebuilding efforts of 2005 and 2006. Florida has an estimated 35,000 homes that may contain Chinese drywall.
In South Florida, homeowners in Homestead have reported problems with drywall made in China. The first reported signs of high-sulfur Chinese drywall in South Florida’s condominium towers emerged in Aventura and West Palm Beach.
In September, a Louisiana federal judge declared Chinese company Taishan Gypsum Co. – one of the largest manufacturers of contaminated Chinese drywall imports – in default in a class action lawsuit.
U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon’s order holds the company in default for failing to respond to the lawsuit.
Other Chinese defendants in the federal class actions, such as Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin, did respond to the lawsuit.
Alvarez said the county would continue to eliminate the fees, and judge the program’s effectiveness and its impact on the county departments in the coming months. But, department heads have told him the program is doable for now.
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