Saint Paul’s Certificate of Occupancy Map is a view of inspected residential Fire Certificate of Occupancy structures. Search by grade or select an address when using the map, then identify the exact document you still need. The map is not a general register of every building, permit, or occupancy record in the city.
A grade belongs to the Fire CO inspection program. It helps describe the interval before the next program inspection; it does not by itself show a building permit, an issued certificate document, or the outcome of every inspection.
Read the grade as a scheduling clue
The City’s Fire CO program guidance says a property receives a letter grade after each inspection and that the grade sets the number of years before the next one. Fire COs are required for one- and two-family buildings that aren’t owner-occupied and for all apartment, multifamily and commercial buildings. The City’s Fire Certificate of Occupancy program details sheet gives the residential point schedule behind the grades:
- Class A: an average of fewer than 5 violation points per dwelling unit; inspected every 6 years.
- Class B: 5 to under 11 points per unit; inspected every 4 years.
- Class C: 11 to under 40 points per unit; inspected every 2 years.
- Class D: inspected every year.
Commercial occupancies run on a fixed schedule by use instead: the same sheet lists assembly and institutional buildings every 2 years and business, educational, factory, mercantile and storage buildings every 3 years. So a D grade on an apartment building means a yearly cycle driven by a high violation count at the last inspection, while a commercial building’s cycle tells you nothing about its condition.
Record the grade together with the address, the date shown, and the page or feature where you found it. A grade without its date can be mistaken for a current conclusion when it may belong to an earlier inspection cycle.
Use the grade to date the last inspection
A grade plus its interval lets you estimate where the building sits in its cycle. A Class A building inspected in 2022 shouldn’t be due again until about 2028, so a 2026 map entry may still reflect the 2022 inspection. A Class C or D building is inspected more often, and its grade is more likely to reflect recent conditions. Treat this as a scheduling estimate; the inspection report for the stated date is what shows the actual violations and whether they were corrected. The sheet also lists a re-inspection fee and a no-entry fee when an inspection appointment isn’t kept, which can explain extra entries in a property’s inspection history.
Name the record that answers your question
Keep these items separate when building a file:
- Map entry: confirms that an inspected residential structure appears in this program view.
- Inspection record: documents a specific inspection, observations, and any follow-up recorded by the program.
- Issued Fire CO: the certificate document and its issue details, when available.
- Building permit: identifies authorized construction work and its own status.
- Other occupancy evidence: answers a separate building-use or occupancy question outside the map entry itself.
The Saint Paul PAULIE permit-record guide covers the City’s broader permit and migrated-record route. The building permit and certificate-of-occupancy guide explains why a permit and an occupancy document aren’t substitutes. If the building is a registered vacant building rather than an inspected rental, see our Saint Paul code compliance report guide.
Reconcile a grade with the underlying documents
Consider a fictional apartment building that appears on the map with a grade and also has a later remodeling permit. The map entry does not establish that the remodeling permit was finalized, and the permit does not establish the current Fire CO grade. Save both identifiers, then ask for the inspection or certificate record needed for the unresolved date.
Use a short worksheet:
- Copy the address exactly as displayed.
- Save the grade and the date or cycle information shown with it.
- Note any Fire CO, inspection, permit, or case number separately.
- Write the question each item can answer.
- Mark the missing object by name instead of writing “all records.”
This approach exposes a date mismatch without turning it into a claim about present occupancy or permit completion.
If the expected property is not on the map
The map page describes inspected residential Fire CO structures, while the broader City program guidance also discusses specified non-owner-occupied residential and commercial occupancies. A missing residential map feature therefore cannot settle whether DSI holds a certificate or inspection record elsewhere in the program.
Contact the Saint Paul Department of Safety and Inspections at 651-266-8989. Provide the address, occupancy type, known Fire CO or inspection reference, and the latest known inspection date or grade. Ask for one named item, such as the issued Fire CO, the inspection report for a stated date, or the record that explains a grade change. These are practical request details, not claimed map input fields.
A missing map result does not prove that no Fire CO, inspection, building permit, or occupancy record exists. It also does not establish that a certificate was issued or that an inspection is current. Keep the map clue, the underlying program documents, and the construction record in separate rows until their dates and identifiers align.
City of Saint Paul Certificate of Occupancy Map, Fire CO program guidance and program details sheet checked October 20, 2026.