Open or expired permits on the property
A permit stays open until its final inspection passes. When inspections stop, many Florida building departments let the permit expire, and open or expired permits often surface when a house is sold or refinanced. Closing one usually means a licensed contractor taking the permit over or re-applying, then getting the work through final inspection.
General information, not legal advice. Your notice and your city's code office have the final word.
Free estimate · 360 Home Improvements, Certified Building Contractor CBC1267336
Before anything else, please don't
- Don't assume an old permit closed itself. Many building departments show it as open or expired until someone finishes it.
- Don't start new work in an area with an open permit before the old one is dealt with. The building department may hold up the new permit.
- Don't throw away old permit papers. Approved plans and inspection records make a permit easier to pick up again.
Why this gets cited
- The work was finished, but the final inspection was never called in, so the permit stayed open.
- The contractor on the permit stopped work on the job, and nobody took the permit over.
- An inspection failed, and the corrections were never made and re-inspected.
- Too much time passed between inspections, and the permit expired.
- A previous owner pulled the permit and sold the house before it was closed.
How we resolve it
- We run a permit search on the address and list every open or expired permit, what it covered and the last inspection it passed.
- We inspect the work against the permit and the approved plans, and tell you what is left to do.
- We file to take over the building permit, or renew or re-apply where it has expired, as the building department allows. Open electrical, plumbing or AC permits go to our Florida-licensed subcontractor in that trade.
- We finish the remaining work and corrections and pass the outstanding inspections through to final.
- You get the final approval record for the code office, the title company or the lender.
Who does the work
360 Home Improvements takes over building permits under its Certified Building Contractor license (CBC1267336). Open electrical, plumbing and AC permits go to our Florida-licensed subcontractors, who take over that trade's permit.
Certified Building Contractor CBC1267336. Look it up on the Florida DBPR license search.
The Florida angle
In most Florida jurisdictions, a permit expires if the work does not pass an inspection within a set period, and each building department sets its own rules for renewing a permit or changing the contractor on it. Title companies and lenders often ask about open permits before a closing, which is when many owners first hear about them. In Broward and Miami-Dade, windows, doors and roofing on an old permit also need High-Velocity Hurricane Zone product approvals.
Free tools for this
- Open & expired permit finderAre there open or expired permits on my property?Pick your county and city to get the official place to look up every permit on your address, what open, expired, finaled and void usually mean, and what closing one out usually involves.Open →
- Selling with open violations or permitsWhat should I sort out before I list the house?A pre-listing checklist for Florida sellers: search for open code cases, recorded liens and open or expired permits with your county's official links, get items corrected and permits finaled where you can, collect proof for buyers, and know who to ask about disclosure and closing. Tracks your progress and prints.Open →
- Florida Building Code lookupWhich part of the Florida Building Code covers my job?Pick the job — re-roof, roof repair, windows, shutters, fence, shed, pool, AC, water heater, electrical, remodel, garage conversion, addition and more — and see which book of the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), governs it, the chapters and sections to look at in plain English, free links to the official text, the extra Broward and Miami-Dade sections, and whether it usually needs a permit.Open →
- Notice decoderWhat does my notice mean?Tick the words you can see on your letter — notice of violation, compliance date, hearing, order imposing fine, lien — and get each one in plain English, where you likely are on the usual Florida timeline, and a next-steps checklist.Open →
- Deadline checkerHow many days do I have?Enter the date on your notice and the days to correct, or the compliance date, and get the days left, a dated plan to get it corrected in time, a printable copy and a calendar file.Open →
- Proof-of-compliance photo guideWhat photos prove it's fixed?Pick the violation on your notice and get a shot list for before, during and after the work — the wide shot with the house number, the inspector's angles, close-ups, the permit card and the final inspection — plus a printable photo card to hold in the first frame.Open →
- Contractor license guideWhich licensed contractor fixes this?Tick the work your notice calls for — roof, structure, electrical, plumbing, AC, pool, fence or lot clean-up — and see the Florida license that usually does it, the DBPR codes to look for, who pulls each permit, and how to check a license.Open →
Questions people ask
- How do I find out if there are open permits?
- Most Florida building departments have an online permit search by address that lists each permit, its status and the inspections it passed. If yours does not, the building department can look it up. We can run the search as part of the estimate.
- The contractor who pulled the permit is gone. Can someone else close it?
- Usually, yes. Building departments have a process for a new licensed contractor to take a permit over. We check the work, finish what is left and call in the remaining inspections.
- Is an open permit a code violation?
- It can become one. Some cities cite open or expired permits directly, and others only come up in a sale. Either way, the path to closing it is the same.
- Will an open permit hold up a sale?
- It often comes up in the title search, and buyers and lenders may ask for it to be closed. Your title company or a Florida attorney can tell you what it means for your closing.
General information, not legal advice. Your notice and your city's code office have the final word.
Get a free estimate
Tell us what the notice says and where the property is. We look at the violation, explain the work, the permits and the inspections, and give you the price before anything starts.
Keep the notice handy: the case number, the violation cited and the compliance date tell us what the city needs to see.
Find your city
Florida: Jacksonville
Find your county's code office — the office named on your notice is the one to ask about deadlines, hearings, fines and liens.
A different kind of violation?
- A lien was recorded on my property
- Daily fines are adding up
- Work done without a permit
- Overgrown lot, yard or debris
- Roof citation
- Fence, wall or pool barrier citation
- Unsafe structure or building in disrepair
Code Violation Solver is run by 360 Home Improvements. We fix the violation and get it permitted and inspected; closing the case, and anything to do with fines or liens, is up to the city.