In the Village of Larchmont, replacing a roof requires a building permit. So do new windows, a new fence, an HVAC condenser, a standby generator and a new patio. Each of those permits has to end in a signed certificate. If one stays open, it sits in the property file, and the buyer's side reads that file before anyone signs a contract. A seller who finds the open permit first has weeks to fix it. A seller who learns about it from the buyer's attorney has much less time and much less room to negotiate.
Lanahan Law, a Westchester firm, explains the standard practice in its overview of a residential sale in Westchester County. Buyers or their agents review the municipal file before contract to check that the permits on record match the house as it actually stands. The firm recommends that sellers look at their own records before listing so open permits or violations come out early. After contract, the buyer's attorney orders a title company search of public records. By then, most of the useful time has already passed.
The Permit List Is Longer Than Most Owners Assume
The Village's Building Department FAQ spells out what needs a permit. Most of it is the kind of work owners treat as maintenance or a seasonal upgrade:
- Exterior work: altering or replacing a roof, whether that means new shingles or a new structural roof; installing new windows or doors; masonry chimneys, metal smokestacks and wood stoves
- Site work: driveways, patios, sidewalks and retaining walls, plus fences, tennis courts, satellite antennas and swimming pools, in-ground or above-ground
- Mechanical work: HVAC condensers and generators
- Interior work: installing, moving or removing interior partitions or walls, and converting the use of any part of a building
- Structures: garages, carports, breezeways, sheds and porches, whether built, enlarged, removed or converted, along with demolition of any building, including a garage, and repair of fire damage
Think about a house that has had a new roof, a replacement condenser and a new backyard fence over twenty years of ownership. That house may have three permit histories on file, and each one needs a proper ending.
A Permit Isn't Finished Until Someone Closes It
Pulling a permit is only the first step. The Village says a completed project needs a Certificate of Completion or a Certificate of Occupancy to legalize the work. Neither certificate is issued until the Building Department has done its inspections, received a Builder's Affidavit and collected the certificate fee.
This is where many files go wrong. A contractor finishes, the final inspection never gets scheduled, and the permit stays open for years.
The Village's FY 2026–27 Building Department fee schedule, adopted May 28, 2026 and effective June 1, 2026, sets the close-out fees:
| Item on the FY 2026–27 schedule | Village fee |
|---|---|
| Certificate of Completion | $75 per certificate |
| Certificate of Occupancy | $200 per certificate |
| Temporary Certificate of Occupancy, up to six months | $1,000 per issuance |
| Renewal of an expired open permit | $250 for a one-year extension |
| Inspection of an existing building or structure with no record | $150 |
| Copy of a permit | $15 per copy |
None of these fees is large next to the price of a Larchmont home. What makes an open permit costly is time, along with the leverage the problem gives the buyer while it stays unresolved.
One Open Item Blocks the Letter an Older House Relies On
Older houses do not always have a certificate of occupancy on file. In general terms, according to the New York Real Estate Lawyers Blog, a pre-date letter can confirm that a municipality did not require a certificate of occupancy when a house was built. The same source says the buyer's attorney should still check that the structures on the property were properly permitted.
Larchmont's current Pre-Date Letter application, dated March 2025, has four conditions worth reading closely:
- The fee is $250.
- The applicant must submit an original, signed and sealed survey no more than three years old that shows the structures and setbacks.
- The department will not add special wording to the letter and may ask for more information.
- The department will not process the letter if the property has an open permit or violation.
The fourth condition ties everything above together. A forgotten fence permit from years ago is a small problem by itself. In Larchmont, though, it can hold up the document that covers the age of the entire house. The survey requirement can add a second delay, because a seller whose most recent survey is older than three years needs a new one before the application can go in.
What Legalizing Old Work Costs
Some work was never permitted in the first place. An unpermitted condenser, a finished basement or a deck that came with the house all fall into this category. The Village has a separate Legalization Permit for these cases. The application asks for a description of the work and its construction cost, and it treats work currently underway without a permit differently from an existing structure that needs to be legalized.
The Village has published two different fee formulas for legalization. Here is what each document says:
- The FY 2026–27 fee schedule lists residential legalization at a $200 application fee plus a permit fee printed as "3x Cost of Construction." The standard residential permit fee on the same schedule is $19 per thousand dollars of construction cost.
- The Building FAQ says work underway without a permit costs triple the usual permit fee. It puts legalization of an existing unpermitted structure at $500 plus $45 per thousand dollars of construction cost. It also notes that violations of the village building code can bring fines of up to $250 per day and/or up to 15 days' imprisonment.
The adopted schedule is the newer document. Even so, a seller pricing a legalization should ask the Building Department for the figure in writing for that specific project rather than working from either published formula. Because the fee depends on construction cost, the dollar value assigned to the old work has a direct effect on the bill.
The Department Reading Your File Has Been Rebuilding
The timing gets harder because of how the department itself has been operating. Larchmont Loop reported on May 26, 2026 that the Village had gone without an official Building Inspector since the position was vacated in 2023. The duties had been folded into the Village Engineer role, and the Village Engineer resigned in late 2025. According to the Loop, the Village asked Westchester County for a new civil service list and assigned Assistant Village Administrator Brittanie O'Neill to speed up a backlog of permit applications. Mayor Sarah Bauer told the Loop, "We now have 2 full time support staff and a full time Assistant Building Inspector and as of May 18th we're looking at potential candidates for Building Inspector."
In a clarification added to the same Larchmont Loop article on June 22, O'Neill said the department had kept running with existing staff and several part-time inspectors. She said procedural changes were already "a positive impact on the department's efficiency and service levels." Under the Village Code, the Building Inspector is appointed by the Village Board, so any permanent hire will show up as a Board action.
Two practical limits apply however the staffing settles:
- Hours: Since May 26, 2026, the Village has been open with phones active from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It is closed from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. and from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.
- File access: Viewing any Village property file requires an appointment booked through the Village's File Viewing Appointments Portal. Walk-ins are not served.
The Village FAQ says permit applications typically take about three to four weeks to review. Smaller applications can move faster, and all are handled in the order received. That estimate covers only the review of an application. Inspections, certificates and any Pre-Date Letter come after it.
A Sequence That Fits Before the Listing Goes Live
Taken together, these rules set an order of operations, and each step depends on the one before it.
- Confirm the jurisdiction. The Village Building Department handles only properties inside the Village. A 10538 mailing address may actually be in the unincorporated Town of Mamaroneck or in New Rochelle, each with its own building department.
- Book a file viewing. Use the appointment portal, then compare every permit on record with the house as it stands today.
- Close what is open. Schedule final inspections, file the Builder's Affidavits and pay the $75 or $200 certificate fees. Expired permits can be renewed for $250.
- Price any legalization in writing. Ask the department to confirm the fee for the specific project.
- Order the survey, then the Pre-Date Letter. The letter cannot be processed until steps three and four are finished, and the survey has to be no more than three years old.
This post is general information, not legal advice. Fees and procedures can change, so confirm your property's situation with the Building Department at 834-4349 and with your real estate attorney.
If you plan to list this winter, Martha Rubio can help you schedule the file review, coordinate the close-out inspections and plan your listing date around the Building Department's timeline. Schedule a complimentary consultation.
