If a Washington, DC address shows one lot in a tax record and another on a plat or permit, keep both identifiers. A tax lot is used for assessment and tax billing. A record lot is recorded on a subdivision plat in the Office of the Surveyor. Use the square and lot to connect the records, but do not treat the mismatch itself as proof that a property is buildable, unbuildable, legal or unpermitted.
Begin with the address, then preserve every identifier
For this search, use District agencies rather than looking for a county permit or assessor site. The District’s Real Property Finder accepts either a property address or a square, suffix and lot number. The Department of Buildings (DOB) Surveyors FAQs also points readers to a deed or the Office of Tax and Revenue when they need to obtain the square and lot from an address.
Copy the street quadrant, square, suffix if one appears, lot number and displayed lot type exactly as shown. Do not silently replace a tax-lot number with a record-lot number because the two results seem to describe the same site. An address is the starting point; the identifier attached to each record tells you which record chain you are reading.
DOB changed eRecords in August 2026. Its current eRecords upgrade FAQ says the new interface can search by street address or even a house number when information is incomplete. It says square-and-lot search is planned for a later release. If an SSL search does not exist in the current interface, use the square and lot in the land-record tools and use the address or known permit number in the permit tools. The site’s address-search recovery guide has additional ways to preserve an unsuccessful search without turning it into a no-permit conclusion.
A tax lot and a record lot answer different questions
A tax lot does not change an underlying record lot. DC GIS’s Tax Lots layer description adds a useful limit: an Assessment and Taxation plat is filed with the Surveyor, but it is not reviewed and recorded as a subdivision plat.
Tax-property result
- Key to preserve: Address plus displayed square, suffix and tax lot
- Helps find: Assessment and billing identity
- Does not decide: Subdivision approval or buildability
Surveyor plat
- Key to preserve: Square and record lot, plus book/page when shown
- Helps find: Recorded land-plat history
- Does not decide: Current zoning or permit completion
Zoning map or case
- Key to preserve: Address, square/lot, parcel or case number
- Helps find: Displayed zone and ZC, BZA or PUD context
- Does not decide: Whether a permit was issued or work was completed
Permit or application
- Key to preserve: Address and permit/application number
- Helps find: Filed scope, documents and recorded status
- Does not decide: Final inspection, present condition or a Certificate of Occupancy
These comparisons are a routing aid. A map layer or old plat can show how identifiers relate, but the responsible District office decides how those records apply to a current filing.
SurDocs is for plats, not a complete building file
The Office of the Surveyor’s SurDocs guidance describes SurDocs as the research tool for digital field-survey records and Surveyor plats. The Surveyors FAQs say to search it with the square and lot. Label the document you find by its actual type:
- Building Plat: lot outline and recorded dimensions.
- Plat for Permit: the Building Plat with design features added for the application.
- Approved Plat for Permit: reviewed with the permit, carrying agency certifications and its permit number.
- Subdivision Plat: recorded creation or reconfiguration of record lots.
The Surveyor excludes private title surveys and interior or house-construction plans from its holdings; DOB directs house-plan questions to Records Management. A plat is therefore not a complete permit, inspection or occupancy file.
Keep zoning, case and permit results in separate columns
The DC Office of Zoning FAQ says its interactive map can be searched by address, square and lot, parcel, Zoning Commission case, Board of Zoning Adjustment case or Planned Unit Development, where applicable. Its case search provides ZC and BZA case information and certain supporting documents. These are zoning records, even when a permit file refers to them.
For the permit side, Scout exposes address and permit-number search fields and describes plan-review progress and Certificate of Occupancy information. DOB’s Records Management page routes building permits, applications, invoices, plans and Certificate of Occupancy records to eRecords. Use them for different jobs:
- Use Scout to match the address to a permit number and read the displayed application or permit status.
- Use eRecords to look for the permit, application, plan or Certificate of Occupancy document you actually need.
- For an onsite inspection report or a supplemental trade-permit copy, follow the current eRecords FAQ to DOB’s Open Government and FOIA page instead of treating it as an ordinary missing eRecords file.
- If a zoning case is referenced, read that case and any order separately; do not substitute it for the permit record.
A permit entry shows that a permit record exists. It does not by itself show that all inspections passed, that the work matches the approved scope, or that a separate Certificate of Occupancy was issued. The Certificate of Occupancy versus building permit guide explains why those records should remain separate.
A fictional mismatch, worked through
Suppose an address search displays a tax lot, while an older Surveyor plat within the same square carries a different record-lot label. Save each identifier with its source, date and any book/page reference. A shared address is a reason to investigate the connection; it is not enough to overwrite one lot number with the other.
Next, match the address or known permit number in Scout and examine which lot the permit documents actually reference. If the relationship remains unclear, send both records to DOB or the Office of the Surveyor and ask which identifier applies to the specific record request. The mismatch alone does not establish that a lot conversion is required or that a permit can issue.
When the online trail ends
Not every DOB record is online or held in the same place. DOB’s current archive pages give different year ranges for offsite records: the Records Management summary describes a 1963–2011 range, while the detailed Records Management Information page describes DOB requests for 1958–1995 and National Archives routing for 1949–1962. Treat those ranges as routing clues rather than a settled custody table. Identify the document type and approximate year, then ask Records Management to confirm the custodian. The detailed page also says DOB may not have building plans from 1995–1998 and explains that drawing availability differs from permit-microfilm availability.
Use the record-request link on DOB’s Records Management page when an eligible permit, plan or Certificate of Occupancy document is not in eRecords. Use the FOIA route above for onsite inspection reports and supplemental trade-permit copies. Include the address, every square-and-lot identity you found, the permit number if known, the approximate permit year and the exact document type. A missing online file is a request problem to resolve, not evidence that no permit ever existed.
Sources checked September 15, 2026. We read the official instructions and public search surfaces, but did not submit an address, square-and-lot or permit search and did not verify an individual property result or document download.