For a Beverly Hills permit search, start with the City’s CitySmart property-information portal and an address, APN or permit number. Match the property before reading the permit status. If an older permit or plan is missing online, the City’s Permit Records page directs you to a Clerk records request; its holdings and the portal’s displayed coverage are different.
A Beverly Hills property can have a building permit without a matching online plan, CO, or soils report. The City’s Permit Records page lists the record classes it maintains with different starting periods: building permits from 1918, certificates of occupancy from the late 1950s, mechanical/electrical/plumbing records from 1987, and geologic or soils reports from the 1950s. Those dates describe the City’s holdings; a given project may have produced only some of these documents.
Name the Beverly Hills record class before picking a date range
- Permit history: ask for the building permit when you need the authorized work, number, issuance or later status. For a 1930s project, that means the building-permit series from 1918, since the City’s MEP records start in 1987.
- Occupancy: seek a certificate of occupancy if the question is whether that type of certificate was issued. The City’s CO holdings start in the late 1950s, so an earlier building needs a different record to answer the use question.
- Plans or soils material: specify the plan set, geologic report or soils report you need. A permit number may help locate them; whether those files survive is a separate question for staff.
Start at the City’s CitySmart portal. Its public search catalog accepts an address, APN, or permit number; the address tab leads to property information, and the map also offers an address, intersection, latitude/longitude, APN, or permit-number search. If an address match looks wrong, compare the APN or permit number before deciding it is the same property. If the property matches but a record class is missing, check that class’s date range or make a targeted request instead of changing the address repeatedly. The portal’s Available Records table lists Building Construction Permits from 1989 to present, even though the City says it maintains building permits from 1918, so a permit before 1989 may need a request. For an older or missing record, the City directs official-copy requests through the City Clerk’s public records portal; state the exact class and period you need.
Consider a 1940s addition. It falls after the City’s stated building-permit start but before CitySmart’s displayed construction-permit range. A blank portal result should lead to a Clerk request naming the older building permit, the property address and the estimated work period. By contrast, a 1990s remodel can be checked in CitySmart first. If the reader needs a plumbing or electrical file, request that trade record by name, since the construction-permit listing may leave it out. Keep the portal result’s number and status with the request so staff can match the project and keep building and trade permits apart. A blank CitySmart result leaves the permit question open, because the portal’s displayed range is shorter than the City’s holdings.
Beverly Hills plan requests: research, viewing and copy approval
The City describes a sequence for building plans: first submit its plan research form to the listed permit-records contact, then arrange viewing if staff locate a plan, then obtain any required copy authorization. Viewing a plan and copying it are separate permissions. In a request, distinguish the original permit, a plan version, and an inspection or CO record, since they can have different custodians and evidence value. Our building-permit-by-address guide explains how to preserve a permit match, while the old-permit guide offers an older-record request checklist.
For a buyer asking whether an older space was approved for occupancy, the CO answers that question rather than a plan. Ask for the relevant CO and provide the address, approximate use and any permit number. If the building predates the City’s late-1950s CO holdings, ask what other official record can answer the use question; a missing historical certificate is a records gap rather than a violation. The City’s ranges help you choose a request; whether a particular building was lawfully occupied is the City’s determination.
If the City returns only a permit, it establishes a permit event with whatever status the file actually shows. Final inspection, legal occupancy and a particular soils report each need their own record, so ask for the one that matters; our final-inspection status guide explains the next distinction.
City of Beverly Hills Permit Records, CitySmart and City Clerk pages checked September 28, 2026.