For a property served by the City of Columbus Department of Building and Zoning Services, start with the record you need from the City’s records service. Use the Building portal for a permit or digitally approved plan, the Code Enforcement portal for a violation record, and the City’s records form for a Certificate of Occupancy, Maximum Capacity Card, inspection report, site plan or another named record. Start with the certified property address and parcel number; add building and trade permit numbers when known.
Confirm the City record owner and property identifiers
These routes cover records held by City of Columbus Building and Zoning Services or City Code Enforcement. They are not a search of every property in Franklin County or a neighboring municipality. A Columbus mailing address alone does not establish the records custodian.
The City’s GIS FAQs describe a Certified Address as the official address assigned to a building or entrance within the City. The expanded GIS FAQ directs readers to a current county property-tax duplicate or the relevant county auditor site to find a parcel number.
If the City says an address does not exist, the FAQ notes that its record may use a different address, contain a recording error or show a building number that was never certified. Ask BZS GIS staff to investigate with the Certified Address Request Form rather than assuming that the property has no City records. This is an address-reconciliation step, not a requirement to obtain a new address before every search.
Choose the record that answers the question
The City’s Records Research page and current Request for Records or Research form separate records that are easy to confuse:
- Certificate of Occupancy: request the issued occupancy document when that is the evidence you need.
- Maximum Capacity Card: use this for the approved occupant load of an assembly room or space. It is not a general building-wide CO or permit closeout.
- Open Violations: the form limits this option to Code Enforcement, Building and Zoning violations.
- Address History, Inspection Report, Site Plan or Variance: select the specific object instead of requesting an undefined “complete file.”
- Recertification of Plans: available only for an open and active permit. The current fee is $250 and the package includes the building permit and inspection report.
- Copy of expired or closed plans: a separate request choice. The form says plans before 2011 are unavailable because of the retention schedule.
The pre-2011 statement applies to the expired-or-closed plan-copy category. It does not establish that every plan from 2011 onward survives, and it does not say that other Columbus record types disappear before 2011.
Search recent building records with one strong input
Open the Public Permit Portal Building search. The official instructions say the public search does not require an account. Enter one of these inputs rather than filling every field:
- Permit number.
- Parcel number with no dashes.
- Street number and street name only.
Too many details can prevent a result. The General Search form begins with a start date covering roughly the preceding three years; remove or change that date when looking for older work. Leave Record Type broad unless you already know the correct type. The City’s form also says digitally approved plans may be found by searching the permit number in the portal.
The three-year filter is not a retention limit. The City describes portal records as recent without giving a single starting year for all record types. For older or missing documents, use the named-record request route below; do not assume that a blank online result exhausts the City’s files.
If you have a permit number, our permit number lookup guide explains how to keep that identifier attached to the correct project.
Search violations in the Code Enforcement module
A building permit search and a violation search are different routes. Use the Code Enforcement record search for a City enforcement record. Its current public form accepts a street number and name, parcel number without dashes, or record number. It also has start and end date fields, with the start date initially covering about three years.
Adjust the date window to cover the period you are investigating. An empty permit search does not clear a possible violation, and an empty violation search does not prove that no permit exists.
Do not substitute an inspection approval for the CO
The City’s Structural inspections page says final structural inspection approval follows approval of all required inspections, including mechanical, electrical and plumbing, and allows issuance of the Certificate of Occupancy. “Allows issuance” is a step in the process; it is not the issued CO itself.
Likewise, the City’s building terms define a Maximum Capacity Card for an assembly occupancy as the approved occupant load for a room or space. Do not use it as a substitute for the CO. Our Certificate of Occupancy versus building permit guide explains why the permit, final inspection and occupancy document should remain separate.
Work through an expired-permit plan request
Suppose a reader has the number for a fictional 2014 addition permit that is now expired. First search that permit number in the Building portal and remove the prefilled start date if it excludes 2014. Check whether a digitally approved plan is attached, but do not assume one will be present.
Because the permit is expired, it is not eligible for the City’s plan-recertification service. The reader can instead select “Copy of expired or closed plans” on the records form and provide the certified address, parcel number and known permit number. A 2014 plan is outside the form’s stated pre-2011 exclusion, but that does not guarantee the City retained it or can supply a copy.
If the reader needs occupancy evidence, “Certificate of Occupancy” should be a separate selection. A permit entry, an inspection report and a capacity card do not answer that request.
Send a record-specific request when the portal is not enough
The 2026 request form asks for the certified property address, parcel number, and building or trade permit numbers when known. Select the exact record type and describe the request narrowly. Email the completed form to bzsrecords@columbus.gov or mail it to BZS Records, 111 N Front St, Columbus, OH 43215.
Ask Records staff about current processing time and any fee that applies to the records you select. Keep a copy of the form, the identifiers supplied, the portal module and date range searched, and the response. The broader public building-records guide explains why access, copying and record availability can differ even when a record class is public.
A blank search or unavailable plan does not establish that work was unpermitted, that a violation never existed, that inspections were approved, or that occupancy was authorized. It identifies the next record or custodian to check.
Sources checked September 20, 2026. We reviewed the official City pages, request form, definitions and public Building and Code Enforcement search forms. We did not submit an address, parcel, permit, violation or records request and did not verify an individual result or download.