Permit status lookup
Find the official permit record search for your jurisdiction, plus how to search it effectively.
What this tool does and does not do. It reasons over general US building-code practice and routes you to your own jurisdiction's official page. It does not know your local exemption thresholds, fee amounts or review times, and it does not invent them. The office with jurisdiction is the only authority on those.
Search by parcel number, not address
Street addresses are renumbered, re-suffixed and reassigned as areas develop; a house standing for sixty years may have had three. Parcel numbers usually survive all of it. Where address search is your only option, enter the house number and street name without the suffix — most systems match the string literally and fail on "Rd" against "Road".
What the statuses mean
- Issued — work is authorised, inspections outstanding.
- Finaled or closed — passed final inspection. This is what you want to see on a property you are buying.
- Open — issued but never signed off. It transfers with the property.
- Expired — the validity window lapsed without inspection activity.
- Void or withdrawn — the application never became a permit.
When nothing comes back
It usually does not mean the work was unpermitted. Records predating the jurisdiction's current software are frequently not loaded, with digitisation cut-offs in the 1990s and 2000s being normal. The work may sit with a different agency. Or the property may be inside a city, in which case the municipality holds the record and the county shows nothing at all. Ask the office to check the paper file before drawing a conclusion.
Permit records are public
In every state. You do not need to own the property, which is exactly how buyers and their inspectors check one before closing. Where no online search exists, a records request to the building department will produce them, and response times are set by state law.
Be wary of third-party sites charging for permit records. The underlying records are public and free from the jurisdiction; a paid aggregator is selling convenience, and its data is often stale.