Selling a Heights Home With an Unpermitted Addition or Garage Apartment: The Disclosure and the Permit Record

What does the Texas seller's disclosure notice ask about unpermitted work?

Section 5.008 of the Property Code prescribes the notice and sets who owes it. A seller of residential real property comprising not more than one dwelling unit located in this state gives the purchaser a written notice as prescribed by that section, or a written notice substantially similar that contains, at a minimum, all of the items in the prescribed one.

Item 9 asks the seller to write Yes if aware and No if not aware, and its first entry is the one an addition or a converted garage answers to: room additions, structural modifications, or other alterations or repairs made without necessary permits or not in compliance with building codes in effect at that time.

The same item carries another entry a seller with unpermitted work should read next to it: any notices of violations of deed restrictions or governmental ordinances affecting the condition or use of the Property. One structure can put an answer on both lines, because a permit question and a recorded restriction question run separately.

Where you do not know, the statute has an answer for that too, and it reaches an owner who bought the house with the work already standing. The notice is completed to the best of the seller's belief and knowledge as of the date it is completed and signed by the seller, and where the information the notice requires is unknown to the seller, the seller indicates that fact on the notice and by that act is in compliance with the section.

Timing carries a right for the buyer. The notice is delivered by the seller to the purchaser on or before the effective date of an executory contract binding the purchaser to purchase the property, and if a contract is entered without the seller providing the notice required by this section, the purchaser may terminate the contract for any reason within seven days after receiving the notice. That right attaches to the notice the section requires.

Subsection (e) lists eleven transfers the section does not apply to, among them a transfer pursuant to a court order or foreclosure sale, a transfer by a trustee in bankruptcy, and a transfer from one co-owner to one or more other co-owners. Whether a particular sale is one of them is a question for a lawyer who has read the file.

Houston adds a notice of its own. Under chapter 10, article XV, it is the duty of each seller to ensure that each buyer receives, in connection with each sale or conveyance, the deed restriction notice that section prescribes, given to each purchaser at the final closing of the sale and purchase, or earlier at the seller's option, signed and acknowledged by each seller and each purchaser, and recorded afterward in the real property records of the county where the property is located. Failure to comply is a misdemeanor punishable upon conviction by a fine of not more than $500.00, and each sale or conveyance for which the seller has failed to comply is a separate offense. That article carries its own exceptions to what counts as a sale, and this page does not set them out.

What work in Houston needed a permit in the first place?

The permit requirement is printed for the public on the Building Code Enforcement investigations page. Any owner or authorized agent who plans to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, or change the occupancy of a building or structure, or to erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove, convert or replace any electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system regulated by the code, must first apply for and obtain the required permit, and no person shall perform or allow such work to be done without obtaining a separate permit for each building or structure.

Exemptions exist, and the sentence that travels with every one of them is printed alongside: exemptions from permit requirements do not exempt the need for permits required by other codes or ordinances, and do not authorize any work that violates the provisions of this code or any other codes, laws or ordinances of this jurisdiction.

The Residential One-Stop Guide sets out the work exempt from permit as a numbered list, each entry with its own figures and conditions. Three of those entries cover an accessory building, a fence and a deck. Other than storm shelters, one-story detached accessory structures, provided that the floor area does not exceed 120 square feet. Fences not over 8 feet high that are not constructed of masonry or concrete and that are not electrically energized. Decks not exceeding 200 square feet in area, that are not more than 30 inches above grade at any point, are not attached to a dwelling and do not serve the exit door the code requires.

The same guide exempts minor repair and maintenance of existing structures, three of its items carrying an aggregate limit: painting, tarping, wallpapering, tiling, carpeting, cabinet and counter top repair and replacement and similar finish work; repair to gypsum board on existing walls that is not part of a fire-rated assembly and does not exceed an aggregate of 100 square feet; repair, using the same material, of exterior wood fascia, trim and soffits that do not exceed an aggregate of 128 square feet; and roof covering that does not exceed an aggregate of 100 square feet.

Two more lines in the same guide apply once the work reaches a larger scale. Demolition, removal or disassembly that exceeds the total calculated demolition factor of 1.50 at any time during an alteration project constitutes a building demolition and requires plan review and inspection as new construction. And no vertical building additions or floor additions shall be approved on existing foundations without a structural analysis of the existing foundation and supporting framing that is sealed, signed and dated by a Texas registered professional engineer indicating compliance with all appropriate provisions of the Houston Construction Code for the occupancy, type of construction and number of stories proposed.

Additions, remodels, conversions of existing buildings and residential accessory structures are issued under the Residential Addition Permit, which answers to the Residential Code and chapter 10, requires plan review and inspection, and is valid for 6 months. Based on scope or other conditions it may require approval by any or all of Structural, Planning, Utilities, Stormwater, Traffic, Forestry or Flood Plain.

Section 10-2 routes the application. The building official forwards each application for the issuance or amendment of a building permit to the planning director or the director's designee to determine compliance with chapters 26, 33, and 42 of this Code and the Construction Code provisions relating to driveways, sidewalks, parking lots and alleys, where the scope of the work involves one or more listed items, among them the construction of any new structure or building, an addition to any structure or building, and a change in occupancy designation of a structure or building or portion thereof. The fee for that review is collected at issuance, is not refundable, and is in addition to any other fee imposed by law.

Section 10-3 adds a step before any permit issues. No building permit shall be issued until a declaration has been submitted to the building official stating that the construction, alteration or repair sought, and the use to which the improvement or building is to be put, will not violate deed restrictions or restrictive covenants running with the land, except for a permit solely for the demolition of a building, for the repair of a building using substantially the same materials and methods as its construction, or for interior remodeling that will not change the building's use and occupancy classification within the meaning of Chapter 3 of the Building Code. The declaration is subscribed as true under penalty of perjury, and the guide notes that it must be signed by the property owner and will be validated against HCAD records, with proof of ownership uploaded where ownership does not match.

How do you find out what the city's permit record actually holds?

The Sold Permits Search is where a Houston permit history starts. It searches permits sold in a rolling three-year period, and it offers the same window by council district. The page states the limit in its own words: basic permit history is available for the previous 3 years.

So the search answers a narrow question. A garage apartment built in the nineteen nineties will not appear in it whether or not a permit was ever issued, and neither will a garage converted long before the window opened. An empty result proves nothing about work older than the window.

For a complete history or other records, the published instruction is to contact the Open Records section at the number it lists, or to use the public information page. A complete history is what that request asks for, and it is worth making by address before a listing photograph is taken.

There is also a Permit Activity Report, which provides information on new construction, remodeling, and change-of-use permits by ZIP Code.

How the City comes to look at a specific property is a separate route. The Investigation team is a support service for the inspection groups and investigates 311 reports for possible permit violations, and the published response window is 7 to 10 business days.

None of that settles the question a buyer asks next: whether a permit that does exist covers the structure standing there now. On recent work a survey is part of the file, since the City states that a legal form survey must be provided to the inspector on the first scheduled structural inspection, for all new construction and for additions that extend the existing footprint, including all slab on grade, and pier and beam foundations.

What does the city charge for construction that was never permitted?

The 2024 Building Code Enforcement permit fee schedule carries a line for it. The investigation fee for unpermitted construction is charged per occurrence, at $319.46 minimum or double fee whichever is greater, and that fee is in addition to the permit fee.

Keep the year beside the figure. A published notice raised most permit, license and registration fees by 1.3910 percent effective January 1, 2026, on a Consumer Price Index basis, and the schedule carrying the investigation fee above is the 2024 one. Confirm the current sheet before budgeting from either number. That notice attaches conditions of its own: single trade permit applications submitted before the effective date were grandfathered under the 2025 fee structure, construction plans submitted before it had to meet all prerequisites to qualify for 2025 fees, and mailed invoices reflect the rates in effect on the invoice date.

That same 2026 notice sets the administrative fee at $33.56, which is also the administrative fee printed on the Residential Addition Permit, and sets the minimum fee for most Building Code Enforcement permits at $91.06 and the minimum for plumbing permits at $97.56. The 2024 sheet adds that all permit fees are subject to the minimum and administrative fees, that plans submitted for a building permit are charged a non-refundable plan review fee calculated at 25 percent of the estimated building permit fee, and that the reinspection fee on that sheet was $90.06.

Residential building permit fees sit outside that schedule. For those, the sheet points to Section R108 of the Houston Amendments to the 2021 IRC.

Enforcement has its own section. Under section 10-4, where construction or other work is being done contrary to the provisions of this Code, the Construction Code or the Fire Code, or is being done in an unsafe or dangerous manner, the building official may order the work stopped by notice in writing served on the person engaged in doing or causing the work to be done, and the person shall forthwith stop the work until authorized to recommence it by the building official.

Recorded restrictions carry a penalty with a trigger of their own. Under chapter 10, article XV, an owner or owner's representative with control over property that is subject to a recorded restriction who, after notice of the provisions of that article, fails to comply with any recorded restriction is deemed to civilly violate the article and is subject to civil penalties of not more than $1,000.00 per day, with each day of noncompliance a separate violation.

What changes when the second structure is a garage apartment?

Two rules use two different sizes, and they answer two different questions. Chapter 42, the development ordinance, defines a dwelling unit as a structure, or a portion of a structure, that has independent living facilities including provisions for nontransient sleeping, cooking and sanitation, so a room over a garage with a kitchen and a bathroom is measured against these rules whatever anyone calls it.

Chapter 42 then keeps such a lot in the single-family category up to a stated size. A lot with a free-standing building containing one dwelling unit and a detached second dwelling unit of not more than 1500 square feet is single-family residential under that ordinance.

The Houston Heights Historic Districts Design Guidelines answer the building code question instead. A property may contain two dwelling structures and still retain its classification as Single Family Residential property, as long as the secondary structure, such as a garage apartment, is not larger than 900 square feet and contains only one living space. A main house plus a garage apartment building with two apartment units, or a main house plus a garage apartment with one unit over 900 square feet, would be classified as Multi-Family and subject to the applicable building code.

Both figures are real, and they govern different regimes: the 1500 square foot line belongs to the development ordinance, the 900 square foot line to the building code classification the guidelines describe. Which one decides a particular building at a particular address is a City determination, and the guidelines direct owners to the City's preservation staff for the current criteria. The guidelines carry a caution of their own beside that: what they print was taken directly from the City's historic preservation ordinance and was accurate at the time of publication.

Parking is where a second unit most often runs into trouble. Chapter 26 requires 2.0 parking spaces for each single-family dwelling unit, except 1.0 parking space per dwelling unit that is 1,500 square feet or less, with no space required where the criteria of section 42-186(a)(2) is met. For a second dwelling unit, the condition comes first: if the first unit meets off-street parking requirements, the second unit needs no additional space where the unit is 1,000 square feet or less, and one additional space where the unit is between 1,001 and 1,500 square feet.

The parking article names the work it applies to, and three of those entries are the construction of a new building, the alteration of an existing building or tract where the alteration results in an increase in the parking factor, and a change of use classification. Adding living space above or inside a garage can reach more than one of them.

That is why a converted garage is a parking question before it is anything else. The Residential One-Stop Guide's garage conversion entry asks for a Texas registered survey or a complete site plan showing existing property lines, easements, building setback lines, the existing building, and any other structures located on the site, to determine off-street parking.

What is different inside a Heights historic district?

Inside a designated historic district, no person shall alter, rehabilitate, restore or construct any exterior feature of any building, structure or object without a certificate of appropriateness. The ordinance's definition of alteration is wide, and by its own words it includes but is not limited to: replacing historic material; changing to a different kind, type or size of roofing or siding materials or foundation; changing, eliminating or adding exterior doors, door frames, windows, window frames, shutters, railings, columns, beams, walls, porches, steps, porte-cocheres, balconies or ornamentation; and expanding an existing structure or constructing an addition to one. The same definition excludes ordinary maintenance and repair, and the addition or replacement of fences that are not otherwise regulated by the article.

Section 33-237 lists exemptions, and it carries a condition worth knowing before relying on one: the design guidelines for an individual historic district may require that an alteration exempted by that section require a certificate of appropriateness.

Three consequences follow for a seller whose property already carries unreviewed exterior work. First, the building official shall not issue a building permit for any activity that requires a certificate of appropriateness unless the applicant presents a certificate or a 90-day waiver certificate.

Second, a person who violates any provision of the article is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable upon conviction by a fine of not less than $50.00 nor more than $500.00 for each violation, and each day a violation continues is a separate offense.

Third, the article sets out the route published for work already done. Where activity that requires a certificate was performed outside the scope of one, which includes work done with no certificate at all, the building official shall not issue a permit, and no other person shall issue any other city permit, except as required to perform work required under a certificate of remediation, for the site where the activity occurred, until either the commission issues a certificate of appropriateness for the work that was performed, or the commission finds the work does not satisfy the criteria of the article and issues a certificate of remediation. As a condition of granting a certificate of remediation, the commission may also require the applicant to repair, reconstruct or restore all or part of the work before any permits issue other than those required for the reconstruction or restoration, using as many historically appropriate or salvage materials as are reasonably available.

The parking consequence is exact. A building designated as a protected landmark or a contributing structure within a historic district has the total number of parking spaces that article requires reduced by 40 percent, and no reduction is permitted for a building where an exterior alteration or rehabilitation was performed without a certificate of appropriateness required by chapter 33.

The certificate process itself, its two review paths and their clocks, the exemption and administrative lists, the three mandatory-approval addition shapes, the 2026 application fees and the appeal route are set out in the guide to buying a Heights bungalow to live in. The East district's boundaries, block counts and designation date are on the Heights Historic District East page.

What can this page not tell you?

Whether a particular address has a permit for a particular structure: the City's record answers it, and the online search reaches back three years, so a complete history comes from the Open Records section.

Whether an existing permit covers the structure as built, and whether its inspections were ever approved: the search page does not say what a result shows, and nothing read for this page describes a final approval, so a search result is a starting point for a records request rather than the answer.

What the current year's investigation fee and permit fees are: the current fee schedule holds them, and the figures above come from the 2024 sheet, with most fees raised at the start of 2026.

What it would cost to permit existing work now: residential permit fees come from Section R108 of the Houston Amendments to the 2021 IRC, which was not read for this page.

Whether the City would require work removed, restored or permitted: the ordinance gives that choice to the commission and to the building official, each on the file in front of it, and nothing read for this page states an outcome.

What the recorded deed restrictions on a lot say: they are private recorded instruments that vary lot by lot, held in the county clerk's records, and a complaint about one goes to the Office of the City Attorney's Deed Restriction Enforcement Team. The Legal Department explains its enforcement program to the public, and its attorneys are prohibited by law from giving legal advice or offering a legal opinion to any individual member of the public.

Whether a house contributes to its district: preservation staff hold that address-level answer.

Whether unpermitted space counts in a square footage figure, an appraisal, a tax record or a lender's file: nothing read for this page says, so this page says nothing about it.

Bring the address, what the permit search returned and the draft disclosure to Paige Martin before the house is listed.