For Baltimore City U&O evidence, locate the BUSE file and issued certificate, then compare related construction finals. A final permit alone does not close that check; the dated BUSE instruction copy separates those records.
Use the record number or street address to find BUSE
Follow the documented Baltimore ePermits route. DHCD’s General Search guide describes using a record number or, when it is unknown, a street address. Select the matching result’s blue record-number link and check that the record type is Use and Occupancy (BUSE).
Retain the BUSE number separately from building and trade permit numbers. The City does not publish an earliest online year for BUSE records, so an empty public search cannot settle whether an older record exists.
If the address leads to several BUSE files, compare the premises and proposed use before choosing one. A later date alone does not identify the record for an earlier tenancy or alteration. Keep each candidate’s number beside the floor, unit, use and period it actually describes. If two records cannot be connected, ask which file covers the space and date you are researching rather than merging their inspection histories.
Follow the BUSE sequence for the use actually proposed
The November 25, 2025 instructions place BUSE inspections after associated building and trade permits are finaled when U&O follows permitted building work. Agencies depend on the use: the restaurant example involves Health, Fire and Building, with Building last.
Health inspections sit outside Accela. The instructions describe U&O certificate generation, email and account posting after all inspections pass. They do not prescribe the restaurant sequence for every use.
Read the file in that order without replacing missing evidence with a later-looking date. A construction record and an occupancy record can refer to the same premises yet leave different questions unanswered. Keep their identifiers beside their own dates.
Match the premises before combining the papers
Build a small comparison sheet from the documents you already have. Leave a blank when a detail is absent rather than completing it from another record.
- Premises: street address, building, floor or unit exactly as each document describes it.
- Proposed use: the activity or space covered by the BUSE file, compared with the construction work description.
- Related work: each known building or trade permit number and its own final result or date.
- Agency evidence: the inspection type, result and date actually supplied, with any unresolved inspection identified.
- Terminal document: the U&O certificate itself, including its issue date, premises and stated use.
A final permit can leave one precise gap
Imagine a fictional folder containing final construction permits for a ground-floor alteration and a BUSE reference for a restaurant. The certificate is missing. Do not write that occupancy was approved because the construction papers are final. Equally, do not declare the premises unauthorized simply because this folder lacks a copy.
The useful finding is narrower: the construction finals are in hand, but the U&O certificate and any unresolved BUSE inspection evidence still need to be located. If the eventual certificate names another floor or a different use, preserve the mismatch instead of treating it as the missing document. This example describes no actual property.
Why the BUSE file was opened tells you what it can answer
Baltimore City’s Use and Occupancy permit category covers more than construction. The City lists these triggers, and each points to a different comparison:
- New building construction: compare the BUSE with the building and trade finals for the same structure.
- Ownership change or tenant change: the work permits may be years older than the BUSE, or absent. Compare the premises, unit and stated use instead of looking for a matching construction final.
- Change in building use: compare the use on the certificate with the use you are investigating; a later certificate for a different use does not describe the earlier one.
- Removing a vacant building notice: the BUSE belongs to that enforcement history, so ask about the notice as well.
- Public swimming pool: a separate trigger that will not explain the main building.
DHCD’s Office of Permits and Building Inspections processes permit applications online, except temporary events, and runs a One-Stop-Shop at 417 E. Fayette St., Room 100 (443-984-1809). Confirm the property is inside Baltimore City first. Baltimore County is a separate government with its own permits office in Towson, so a Baltimore mailing address outside the city line is not a BUSE question.
Ask for the missing BUSE item by its own reference
When a visible entry lacks the attachment, identify the BUSE number, premises, proposed use and approximate period when asking DHCD which retained document answers the gap. Distinguish a page that failed to load from a search that loaded without a match. Neither observation establishes whether a certificate was ever issued.
If the question is rental licensing, use the separate Baltimore rental-certificate and license guide. For earlier construction events, the permit master-card guide follows the historic index. Those documents serve different purposes from this BUSE check.
A final construction permit does not prove U&O issuance, present lawful use, current condition or safety. State which document you obtained and which occupancy evidence remains unresolved.
Baltimore City BUSE instructions and DHCD permit pages checked October 20, 2026.