Start with the permitted project scope. For qualifying additions or alterations to an existing Berkeley building without a new building or a change in use or occupancy classification, the City’s current Form 142 says the closeout evidence is both an approved final inspection and the inspector’s signature on the job card. For a new building or a change in use or occupancy classification, preserve the separate Certificate of Occupancy issued by the Building Official.
Choose the document from the project’s actual scope and date. A portal final-status label is not automatically the signed job card, and the current policy should not be applied backward without checking the historical file.
Record the closeout chain
Form 142 was revised January 23, 2026. Treat it as current guidance. For an older project, confirm the document that governed and closed that file instead of applying the current policy backward.
An approved final, a signed job card, and a separately issued CO are distinct records. Capture:
- Permit number and project address.
- Work description and project year.
- Whether the scope involved a new building or a use or occupancy-classification change.
- Final inspection date and result.
- Job-card signature and date, if that is the applicable closeout path.
- CO number and issue date, if a separate CO is the applicable path.
Use the final inspection status guide when a portal shows an inspection label but the underlying signed document is missing. The CO-versus-building-permit guide provides broader context for keeping permit issuance and occupancy documentation separate.
Select the record route by era
The City’s Research Permit Records page documents Building Eye for building and planning permits issued from 1993 forward. Its listed filters include address, neighborhood, ZIP code, permit number, date received, and permit type. The official link now opens an AgencyCounter landing with a Search Address combobox and Get Started button. Only the initial address-search screen was checked. The other filters remain City documentation, and no permit record was retrieved.
For 1992 and earlier records, the City identifies microfiche. Its blank Form 121 requests a permit number or address and describes email or in-person delivery of a request. That year boundary is a records route, not proof that every old file survives.
The Permits Online page describes record search and approved permit or plan attachments after account access. It also documents an Inspections area for scheduling. That menu description does not establish a passed final, a signed card, or an uploaded CO. The linked Accela destination returned one access failure during review and was not retried.
Request the exact missing document
For a targeted Building and Safety file request, the City’s Form 120 includes address and permit-number fields and options for building-permit records, notices, and plan viewing. Use the form’s records route to describe the exact item rather than asking staff to decide the whole project history.
Prepare this editorial request packet:
- Address and permit number, if known.
- Project year and concise work scope.
- Final inspection date or approximate period.
- Exact missing item: final result, signed job card, or separate CO.
- Any conflicting status label or document date.
- APN only if already known from a reliable property source; no APN portal field was verified here.
Plans and their copying permissions are a separate issue. Do not treat access to a plan for viewing as permission to publish it.
Reconcile two fictional incomplete files
Imagine a fictional 2026 shop alteration that creates neither a new building nor a change in use or occupancy classification. The file has an approved final summary, but its job card has no inspector signature. Preserve the final summary and request the missing signed card by permit number, address, and date.
Now imagine a second fictional current 2026 project that changed a warehouse space to a different occupancy classification. Its inspection list has a final entry, but the packet has no separately issued CO. Request that CO by permit, address, scope, and date; a signed card from another permit does not answer the gap.
Recover an older or missing file without overreading the portal
If the permit route does not produce the document, use the era split first: 1993-forward permit research versus the pre-1993 microfiche route. For a named Building and Safety record, use the targeted retrieval form. The City also maintains a broader public-information request page, but its examples do not promise that signed job cards or COs appear in a general online collection.
A missing online entry does not prove that no permit or closeout record exists. It leaves the record unresolved. Confirm the issuer, project era, work scope, and exact document type, then ask the custodian for that existing record.
Official City of Berkeley Form 142, permit-record research, Permits Online, Forms 120 and 121, and public-information guidance checked October 5, 2026 (UTC). No property-specific permit or closeout record was queried.