Santa Cruz County Environmental Health Services Errors will cost my Family $70K

I'm going to defer to crash, but up here, in Oregon, the extent and the kind of repairs and remodeling/restoration you're doing would essentially make the 2016 work permits void - it's too extensive to be a simple repair, so you'd be starting from scratch - and if an engineered septic system was not required in 2016 - a possibility - but ordinances now require one in 2022, that's where you're caught.

Or: it may not be that they "changed their minds", it could be that the law changed.  It happens.

I have an engineered system.  It's less than $32,000 to remove what I have and install a brand-new identical system, should the need arise - and about half of that cost is to remove existing equipment.

My annual costs are the mandatory maintenance contract (~$400/year) and an $80 filing fee the annual re-certification.

I hate the damned thing, but this is the house Ms. Barbara wanted...

I and if an engineered septic system was not required in 2016 - a possibility - but ordinances now require it in 2022, that's where you're caught.

It should have been required in 2016 as the code violations now referenced were present at that time too, but they decided to overlook that fact, and alter the bedroom count for the benefit of the seller (non local LLC). I have a county stamped document pointing out the code violations and recommending a new system. This is very clearly a favor to the seller. This process is a total sham, and one I will not be a part of again.

No, they didn't do what you're accusing them of doing.  When you purchased the house, the title company should have told you the house had been modified without a permit for the work, or the home inspector you (should have) hired should have warned you of the two code violations - the garage and the extra bedroom.

An unpermitted addition cannot, by law, be included in the official property description.  It does not exist if there was no permit issued for the work.  Period.  The permit is the county's guarantee that the work was done according to code, in a workmanlike manner (sorry, that's the terminology), and is therefore safe for human occupancy and(or) suitable for the purpose for which it is intended.

You don't have that.  The county does not have to approve the work if they weren't able to inspect it before the work was completed.  They can't see inside the walls or under the foundations. If the county officially recognized the third bedroom and that garage, they'd also assume some liability should those additions fail.  I wouldn't expect them to do it.

You and your wife are both professionals.  You know it works like that.

The county is playing hardball but they aren't doing anything nefarious, and they are not at fault nor are they to blame for the current situation.

Have you looked into applying for a code variance?  The violations are not of your doing and it might be possible to receive a variance for non-complying structures that would solve your problems.

A variance is normally granted if the remedy (a new septic system) creates an undue burden ($70K) on the property owner if the cost can be traced to some geographic or geologic condition of the land itself, which, by your description, would seem to be true of your property.

You sound just like them. "Not our fault we issued an unpermittable permit". 

No, they didn't do what you're accusing them of doing.  When you purchased the house, the title company should have told you the house had been modified without a permit for the work, or the home inspector you (should have) hired should have warned you of the two code violations - the garage and the extra bedroom.

No, and yes.

Title insurance only covers legal title to land.  There is a blanket exception for unpermitted work and they don't look for it, and don't insure it.

The home inspector should have found it.  I'm not at all surprised that the home inspector did not mention it.  Perhaps that inspector also carves out unpermitted work because its so common to find unpermitted work in county coastal jurisdictions in California.  Most counties are just more lax about it.

You sound just like them. "Not our fault we issued an unpermittable permit".

They didn't do that.  If you don't want to hear it, that's up to you.

I may sound like them, and if so, it's because I spent 25 years writing planning and development (construction) ordinances for various jurisdiction in several states, I also served as a code violations administrative judge, and as a member of variance appeal boards.

None of them were in Santa Cruz, County, California.

You're telling us how you're running into a lot of dead ends.  There's a reason for it.  The way this shit works may suck, but that doesn't change that this is how it works.  I was simply hoping you might get further if you understood that.

No, and yes.

Title insurance only covers legal title to land.  There is a blanket exception for unpermitted work and they don't look for it, and don't insure it.

The home inspector should have found it.  I'm not at all surprised that the home inspector did not mention it.  Perhaps that inspector also carves out unpermitted work because its so common to find unpermitted work in county coastal jurisdictions in California.  Most counties are just more lax about it.

Absolutely correct about title insurance.  A title company warned us of a potential code violation - there wasn't one - when we bought our first house which was nice, but it isn't their job.  I could have been more clear.  Thank God there's you!

Southern Oregon has a lot of DIY and unpermitted "wildcat" construction.  We grant few variances, but we do grant them for situations not entirely unlike this one, IF permitting the non-conforming uses do not endanger anyone or impact anyone else's property.

Just sayin'.

Is it unrealistic to expect EHS to address a septic code violation DURING a septic tank replacement?