Open or expired permits in Orlando, FL
An open permit means work was permitted but never finalized. The inspections were never completed, or the final inspection was never called, so the permit sits on the property record. An expired permit is one that ran out of time before it got there. You may have found out from a code enforcement notice, or from a title search during a sale or a refinance. Start with the paper in your hand. Read the notice through. Write down the compliance date and any hearing date. Then contact the code office named on the notice and ask what that office needs from you. Questions about your own case — the deadline, the hearing, any fine or lien — belong to that office, not to us. Legal questions belong to a Florida attorney.
Call us or send your notice details · free estimate
Orlando is an incorporated municipality, so code enforcement here is normally run by the municipality itself, though some places contract it out. The office is named on your notice. Across Florida, code enforcement is handled locally under Chapter 162, Florida Statutes, which lets a city or county use a code enforcement board or a special magistrate. The process generally starts with a notice of violation that identifies the problem and gives a reasonable time to correct it. If it is not corrected, the case is set for a hearing, and the board or magistrate issues an order with a compliance date. A fine may be imposed for each day a violation continues past that date, and a certified copy of an order imposing a fine can be recorded in the public records, where it becomes a lien on the property. The exact steps and amounts vary by city and county and are stated on your notice. Confirm them with the local code enforcement office.
While your case is open, don't
- Do not let the dates pass unnoticed. The compliance date and any hearing date on the notice apply as written, so note them and talk to the code office named on it.
- Do not start the work before the permit is sorted out. The building department decides what each open permit needs, and work done ahead of that can end up being opened again for inspection.
- Do not tear out finished work first. An inspector may only need to see part of it, so wait until the building department says what has to be exposed.
- Do not assume a permit closed itself. An open or expired permit stays on the property record until it is properly closed out, so check the status with the local building department.
What we do
- We pull the permit historyWe get the permit record for the property from the building department. Each open or expired permit is listed with the inspections it is still missing.
- We check the work against the approved plansWe look at what is actually built and compare it to what was approved. That tells us whether anything has to change before an inspection is called.
- We schedule the missing inspectionsWe call in the inspections each permit still needs and meet the inspector at the property.
- We make the corrections an inspector requiresIf an inspector writes a correction, we do the repair or rebuild work it calls for. Electrical, plumbing and air-conditioning work is done by our Florida-licensed subcontractors, who pull that trade's permit.
- We renew or re-permit under our licenceAn expired permit can be renewed, or a new permit applied for under our Florida Certified Building Contractor licence where the original contractor is gone. After-the-fact permits included.
- We work each permit through to closedWe stay with it until the building department finalizes the permit, and we give you the paperwork to show the code office named on your notice.
Work by 360 Home Improvements, Florida Certified Building Contractor CBC1267336. Electrical, plumbing and AC work goes to our Florida-licensed subcontractors, who pull that trade's permit.
How it works in Orlando
Orlando sits inland in Central Florida, and storms here do not stay on the coast. Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30 and brings damaging wind, wind-driven rain and spin-up tornadoes well inland. Storm repairs, roof and window replacements and a previous owner's renovation can all leave permits open on a Florida home. Roofs still under tarps and other damage left unrepaired are a common source of code enforcement notices after a storm. If a repair was permitted in a hurry and the final inspection was never called, that permit is still sitting on the record.
The housing stock in Orlando runs from 1920s–1950s bungalows near downtown through large waves of 1970s–2000s subdivisions and ongoing new construction on the south and east sides, with concrete block and stucco walls, asphalt shingle or tile roofs, and slab-on-grade foundations. Older neighborhoods close to downtown, like College Park, Lake Eola Heights and Colonialtown, have decades of layered work behind them. Newer tracts around Lake Nona and the south and east suburbs carry their own permit histories from builders and later additions. Whatever the house, the Florida Building Code (section 105.1) requires a permit for most construction, alteration and repair work, and permits are issued by the city or county building department with jurisdiction over the property. Work already done without a permit generally has to be permitted after the fact, which can involve drawings, inspections and opening up finished surfaces so the work can be inspected.
Questions people ask
- The permit was pulled by a contractor I can no longer reach. What now?
- That happens often, especially with work done by a previous owner. We can apply for a permit under our Florida Certified Building Contractor licence CBC1267336 and take the work through inspection. The building department decides what each permit needs before it can be closed.
- Who do I ask about the deadline or hearing date on my notice?
- The code office named on the notice. Deadlines, hearing dates, fines and liens are decided by the code enforcement board, special magistrate or local government named there. We are a contractor, not a law firm, so we do not represent owners at hearings and we do not negotiate fines or liens.
- Why did an open permit show up on my Orlando property at closing?
- An open permit stays on the property record until it is finalized, and it often surfaces at a sale or a refinance. It may date back to a previous owner's renovation or a storm repair. Check the current status with the local building department.
- Does an old storm repair need to be looked at again?
- If the permit for it was never finalized, the inspections it is missing still have to be completed. In Orlando, roof work, window replacement and other hurricane-season repairs are common sources of permits left open. We check the work against the approved plans before anything is scheduled.
- What does this cost?
- It depends on how many permits are open, what inspections are missing, whether an expired permit is renewed or a new one applied for, and what corrections an inspector requires. The estimate is free, and we agree the price in writing before work starts.
- Do you work outside Orlando?
- Yes. Our state certification is valid in every Florida county, so we work across Florida, including Winter Park, Maitland, Apopka and Kissimmee. You can verify the licence on the Florida DBPR website.
This page is general information about Florida code enforcement, not legal advice. For questions about your own case (deadlines, hearing dates, fines or liens), contact the code enforcement office named on your notice, or a Florida attorney.
Send us the notice
The estimate is free: we read the notice with you, look at the property, tell you what the work involves and agree the price in writing before anything starts. Call (954) 906-7864 or send a request through the form on this website — and send questions about the case itself to the code office named on your notice.
Request a free estimate
Tell us what the notice says and where the property is. We'll look at what the violation needs and agree the price with you before any work starts.
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Code Violation Solver is run by 360 Home Improvements, a licensed Florida contractor. We fix the condition behind the violation; the code office named on your notice decides the case.