no one knows who did it
Really? Who told you that? You're being fed quite a line there. If the roofer was licensed, they had to pull a permit from the local county courthouse. So even if it was done 50 years ago, they have the permit application still, in the building codes department. If you make a concerted effort to find a permit and can prove that to the best of your knowledge and ability no permit was applied for, then the work was done by an unlicensed roofer and you can go after the seller you purchased it from under the disclosure laws.
But in reality, while I've been dealing in real estate for what is approaching 30 years now, I am no lawyer by any stretch of the imagination. So you need to seek legal counsel on this. Meanwhile on the tax front....
A new roof is a property improvement any way you look at it. It adds to your cost basis of the property, as I'm sure you know. You claim that as a repair on a rental property and you might as well hang out a sign that reads, "HEY! IRS! AUDIT ME NOW! I WANT TO PAY LOTS OF FINES, BACK TAXES, PENALTIES AND WHILE YOU"RE AT IT, CHARGE ME WITH FRAUD!"
Now I'm not saying who would win such a scenario; you or the IRS. Even though we know it would more than likely not be you, do you really need that headache right after shelling out $10,000 - $15,000 for a new roof?
By the way, I'm just curios on this. What prompted this? What happened that resulted in you getting inspected and cited by the county for this building code violation?
