Thread: Stop Work Order

I was doing an inspection in Oak Grove Ky yesterday, almost done & about to go in the crawl when an unmarked patrol car pulls up, a woman gets out & asks for my Oak Grove business lic, I say I don't have one & she tells me I have to stop working until I get one.
Town hall is not far so I go to get one, & they fine me 200.00 for not having one & charge 100.00 to get one.
Are we supposed to go pull business licenses in every city, province, or municipality we might end up in?

Similar Threads:

• Pool barricade bill is in order - NorthJersey.com
• Moisture stop, brick ledge
• Average cost of new duct work?
• Commercial: Stucco interface with flat work
• Quality of work

Originally Posted by John Goad

I was doing an inspection in Oak Grove Ky yesterday, almost done & about to go in the crawl when an unmarked patrol car pulls up, a woman gets out & asks for my Oak Grove business lic, I say I don't have one & she tells me I have to stop working until I get one.
Town hall is not far so I go to get one, & they fine me 200.00 for not having one & charge 100.00 to get one.
Are we supposed to go pull business licenses in every city, province, or municipality we might end up in?

Sorry that happened. You might want to contact the State AG's office to ask them what you are suppose to do. You have a state HI license that allows you to inspect homes in the state, getting a business license in every single little town is not reasonable. I know that this has been an issue and addressed in some states. Maybe somebody can chime in about it.

My guess is that a local home inspector saw you or your vehicle and turned you in! They had to know that you were doing a home inspection and how to find you.

I did a quick Google of Oak Grove and found this link Welcome to Localism

Even if you are selling your own home FSBO, you have to have a business permit! Sounds like a little money grubbing Podunk town. It is a shame that towns have to get this way, they sure are not very business friendly.

Some towns do require you to pull a license in their town. Some inspectors in my area were very good about paying the fee to all the towns they worked in while most had never heard of the requirement.

The fella paying all the fees found that several other professions including Realtors paid a single fee to the state government. He was able to convince the state HI association to hire a lobbyist and changed the state law so that home inspectors paid the state fee and therefore were exempt from town fees. The state was happy because it was found income. 1500 inspectors X $50 a year. Some home inspectors griped but now everyone is covered.

The state legislative is all a buzz that the home inspector association was able to get a law passed in under 3 months. It was kind of a perfect storm situation of timing, money and sweet talk.

So, yes I pay a privilege license fee as a home inspector. And just so we are clear, this is a seperate fee from the one I pay the home inspector licensure board to maintain my HI license.

That's terrible. I hope other towns don't start pulling that crap. You shouldn't have to pull a separate license in every town that you work in.

In my County we can pull a county wide license for about $300.00, or a license for one town for about $ 30.00. iF i WORK IN ANOTHER TOWN i'M required to go to that local municipality and pull a local permit. I take my chances with just the one muncipality license and to date have never been asked to show local license, but times they are a changing.

I've been burned on this one doing work for the town before. They call and schedule a home inspection for some house they're looking at buying. Then, when you try to get paid, they ask for your business license. When you tell them you don't have it they make you pay for one before they'll pay. It's almost as much for the license as your fee.... I really try to stay away from working for government agencies.... Every step of the way is a total hassle. From scheduling to doing the job to getting paid.

Some food for thought.....

What if you are just collecting data on a home? You are just looking at it, you are not producing anything on site and you will not issue or request any money from anyone while you are in that town?

Head back to your home turf and produce the report, issue an invoice and send it to your client. Kind of like a mail order business.

North carolina has a certain number of professionals who can buy a state license for $50.00. HIs are now included in that category. You might check at the State level to see if you qualify. Dept. of Commerce generally.

JLMathis

The town's rule probably violates some restraint of.....law.

They have problably avoided prosecution as most govt. workers are insulated from legal actions.

The govt. inspectors reponsible for the deaths of 100 people in a nightclub fire avoided jail and are still on the payroll.

I would not pay the fine and let it get pushed up to the State Supreme Court.

I had a minor jurisdictional problem that involved parking for commercial vehicles in another municipality. I contested the fine and did not pay.

Here in Illinois as a licensed plumber, we are required to get a State plumbing contractor license which involves filling out a booklet getting bonds and insurance information to the state along with a check for $100.00 The purpose of this is to eliminate the need to get a plumbing contractor licenses in each city in the State. There are a handful that still say you have to get a city license to work there, the State is taking them cities to court to get them to accept the State Plumbing Contractors License. Right now I have a job in the City of Chicago that requires a permit, and they are now requiring all State plumbers to get a Certificate of Plumbing Contractor before they issue a permit. I filled out this application and now been told it will take up to 6 weeks before it gets issued. I have called the State and they are working on this right now.