Sell Your Philadelphia House With Code Violations As-Is

In Kensington and Fishtown, we see it often on older row homes and small rentals — an L&I notice for a failing roof, an unpermitted addition someone did years ago, or a vacant property tagged as unsafe. West Philadelphia owners run into the same thing when a house sits empty and the violations start stacking. Philadelphia's Department of Licenses and Inspections doesn't let these sit quietly; one open case brings another inspection, and the fines accrue daily until it's addressed. For an owner who never had the money to bring the house up to code in the first place, that's a bill that only grows, on a property that's already hard to sell the normal way.

Here's why cash matters with violations: most lenders won't fund a home that can't pass inspection or earn a certificate of occupancy, so a financed buyer walks the moment the report comes back. We're not bound by any of that. The bad roof, the unpermitted addition, the missing certificate — we buy the house exactly as it stands and take the code issues to the city ourselves after closing. If fines have already hardened into a municipal lien, the title company pays them from the proceeds at the table. No permits to pull, no contractors to schedule, no inspection dates to keep stacking up. With no lender and no appraisal in the way, we can close in as few as 7 days and stop the penalties that build daily.

If the repairs are minor and you've got the cash and time, fixing them and selling on the open market might net you more, and that's a fair path to weigh. But when the list is long or the fines are already moving toward court, handing the whole thing off usually beats fighting it. Still holding a rental you've worked to keep compliant? We can buy it with the tenants in place, so you're not managing a turnover on top of everything else. We'll explain how we reached our number, there's no obligation, and you pick the closing date. Take your time and decide what actually makes sense for you.