Building Permit History Editorial Team In Seattle, a complaint about construction without a permit led to a Notice of Violation at the same address in 38% of the cases opened in 2024, usually within about three weeks. We counted 422 complaints filed with the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) that year whose description says the work had no … Read more
In Chicago, 61% of the residential renovation permits issued in 2022 now read “Expired.” In Los Angeles only 3% do, but another 17% still read “Issued” almost four years later, with no final inspection recorded. By project type, window and door jobs lead both cities: 30% of Los Angeles window and door permits have no … Read more
About half of Austin’s “Work Without Permit” complaints end with no violation found, usually within three days. Of the 1,017 such cases the city opened in 2024, 503 (49%) closed that way. Another 235 (23%) closed after the owner came into voluntary compliance, which took a median 91 days, and 30 (3%) went to legal … Read more
Most Miami-Dade County re-roof permits for houses are issued within days, and the roof inspections take about a month. In our count of 29,883 residential re-roof permits the county issued in 2022–2024, half were issued the day after the application or sooner, and 90% within 16 days. The median permit logged its last approved inspection … Read more
Search HPD violations on HPDONLINE by the building’s address. Each violation carries a class: A is non-hazardous with 90 days to correct, B is hazardous with 30 days, and C is immediately hazardous with 24 hours, or no time at all for heat and hot water. The record moves much more slowly than the deadline: … Read more
Small repair and exterior jobs end with an expired building permit far more often than new homes. Of Austin’s 2022 residential repair permits, 28% now read “Expired,” against 7% of new-home permits. In Seattle, 23% of the single-family addition and alteration permits issued in 2022 have expired, led by window and door work (36%) and … Read more
To look up code violations on a property, search the city’s own enforcement records by street address: Chicago’s Building Permit and Inspection Records, New York City’s HPDONLINE, Austin’s Citizen Connect, or the Seattle Services Portal. The same search means different things in each city. In our count of 2024 records, 64% of Chicago building violations … Read more
In six places we measured, a typical home remodel permit was issued in 10 to 75 days, but the slowest 10% took two months to nearly a year. New homes took longer: from about 45 days in Montgomery County, Maryland, to nine months in Los Angeles and New York City. The numbers below come from … Read more
A property lien search has two parts. First, search the recorded documents for the property at the county recorder, or in New York City at the Department of Finance’s ACRIS system, for mortgages, judgments, and recorded liens. Second, check the city’s own charge and code enforcement records, because unpaid violation fees and emergency repair bills … Read more
To check a contractor’s license, take the license or registration number from the contract or the building permit and search it in the state or city agency’s own lookup tool. Confirm three things: the status is active today, the name matches the business on your permit, and the license type covers the work. Where the … Read more