For those of you who are looking for Pictures of the construction of our version of the Maple Forest Cottage, they should be staring soon, I look forward to sharing progress with you.

Today I learned a new term, “Paid Under Protest”  A google search of this phrase seems to indicate that its most common use is in relationship to property taxes.  However my truly knowledgeable Real Estate Attorney suggested that I use it to protest the permit charges that I expect to be bludgeoned with as the time to receive my building permit approaches.  Our county bills permit charges “by the hour”, which seems fair, the more complicated a project, the more your eventual permit will cost.  However, from what I have heard I can expect to be billed for any number of hours without any explanation of how those hours were used.  I feel this leaves a lot of room for inaccuracy.

Under most circumstances I would never recommend that a disputable bill be paid before the disputed charge is resolved.   In this case we are quickly approaching an 8 month building freeze which is imposed every year from October 1 to June 1, with the last day to actually begin construction of Sep 15th.  If I try to dispute charges now I will most likely miss the opportunity to start construction this year.

My Real Estate Attorney advised me to do a couple of things to make sure that I end up paying only reasonable charges.  One of these things is to create a letter of charges “paid under protest” to deliver at the time of payment, I am very curious to see how this all turns out.

While I’m on the subject I just want to say how valuable it is to me having such a well-informed Real Estate Attorney.  I used to think that such a specialist was only for large corporations and millionaires.  Really the cost of lawyer services turns out to be quite reasonable and a great service to someone who does not deal with the bureaucracy and brain-deadness of the people who process building applications.  I was referred to this attorney when I first started this project 3 years ago.  I have called upon him to advise me on building codes, a boundary line adjustment, water rights, preparation and execution of an appeal , general protection of my property rights, and letters of dispute.  Yes the hourly rate of around 300.00 p/h is a lot, but the charges are billed to me in portions of an hour, say he spends 15 minutes with me on the phone or responding to an email, he only bills for 15 minutes or 75.00.  If his assistant delivers documents for me or types a letter, I am billed at a lessor rate for her services.  I don’t think that my project could have been fully successful with out his advice and support.