When do new codes apply to old property? Only if being rented? Only during sale? and who is obligated to bring a property up to code when a home is being sold?
When the local jurisdiction says they do. Transfer of ownership would not impose a burden, on either the buyer or the seller, to bring the property up to current codes. The buyer may include a related requirement in the conditions of sale, something along the lines of, ?I?ll buy it for this price if you fix the following items?.? But the NEC itself would not impose that requirement. Based upon my experiences in renting a house, I infer that my state?s laws required the owner to perform ?repairs? necessary to bring the house up to current codes. My example is that the owner paid an electrician to install new GFCI receptacles in the bathrooms, but did not pay to have a ground wire brought into the den outlets.