For a Camden property sale or conveyance, the City uses a Certificate of Continued Occupancy, or CCO. A new tenant is a different event: Camden's CCO FAQ directs change-of-occupancy questions to the Housing Department. For a sale, keep the CCO application, the status of any known open building permits, the CCO inspection evidence, and the issued certificate as separate records.
The City says existing open building permits must be closed before the CCO inspection and that it will not issue the CCO until those permits are closed. An application or scheduled inspection therefore does not show permit closeout or CCO issuance. Ask for the record produced at each stage.
Choose the sale record before contacting the City
Camden's FAQ says the seller is responsible for the CCO application. The buyer may submit it as the seller's agent with written permission, but the certificate goes to the buyer. That makes the transfer CCO different from a rental or tenant-change inquiry.
Use the event to choose the route:
- Sale or other conveyance: ask the Construction & Building Bureau about the transfer CCO and its inspection.
- New tenant without a sale: follow the Housing Department route identified in the City's FAQ.
- Known construction permit: keep its number and request its own status or closeout evidence; do not assume the CCO application changed it.
- Certificate already expected: ask whether a CCO was issued and request that certificate, rather than asking only whether an application exists.
This distinction prevents a tenant-change question from becoming a transfer-certificate search. It also prevents a submitted application from being reported as an issued occupancy record.
Keep permit closeout and CCO issuance in one evidence chain
The City's sequence makes two findings necessary when open permits are known. First, obtain evidence for the permit itself showing how the Building Bureau records its closeout. Second, obtain the issued CCO. The CCO requirement may depend on permit closure, but the two records do not become interchangeable.
Suppose a fictional seller has a CCO application reference and knows of an older renovation permit. An appointment notice shows that the CCO process is moving. It does not show that the renovation permit has been closed, that the inspection occurred, or that the City issued the certificate.
The useful follow-up names both gaps: “Please provide the status or closeout evidence for permit [number], and confirm whether the sale CCO tied to application [reference] was issued.” If the City supplies the issued CCO but no permit document, record that as two different outcomes rather than treating the certificate as a copy of the permit history.
Our open permits before buying guide explains why a known permit deserves its own status check. The certificate of occupancy versus building permit guide covers the broader difference between construction authorization and occupancy evidence.
Request the missing document from the Building Bureau
The current Construction & Building Bureau page identifies the Bureau as the office for construction permits, inspections, and CCO inspections. It lists the Bureau in City Hall, Room 403, links the CCO application, and tells visitors to make an appointment before coming to the office. Check that page before a visit because access instructions can change.
For a missing record, provide:
- the Camden property address;
- the sale or expected transfer timeframe;
- any CCO application or certificate reference;
- every known building-permit number; and
- the exact item needed: permit status, permit closeout evidence, CCO inspection record, or issued CCO.
Ask the Bureau to identify the correct record if your reference is incomplete. The reviewed pages do not publish a historical online CCO index, an availability period, or a guarantee that every requested item exists. The linked one-page application opened, but its fields were not readable in this review, so this guide does not claim what the form asks.
Read the issued CCO within its stated scope
Camden describes the CCO as evidence of a general inspection of visible parts of the building and ties it to the specific code-violation checks named on the FAQ. That is narrower than a complete building history or a full evaluation of concealed conditions.
An issued CCO does not prove that every past alteration had a permit, that every historical permit document survives, or that the building has no present safety or maintenance issue. It also does not replace a separate permit record, final inspection, or later tenant-change requirement. Preserve the certificate's issue context, buyer, property address, and related permit references without expanding its meaning.
Official Camden guidance checked October 5, 2026. The FAQ and Building Bureau instructions were reviewed. No property or permit search, agency contact, appointment, application, or records request was completed.