Selling with open violations or permits?

• Any letter from code enforcement or the building department, with its case number.
• Permit cards, approved plans and inspection results.
• Contracts and invoices from anyone who worked on the house, with their license numbers.
• The papers from when you bought the house, including the title policy and any survey.

☐ Done☐ Doesn't apply

• Search your city's code case portal by address, or call its code compliance office. Areas outside any city are handled by the county.
• Note every open case: its number, what it's for, and the compliance date.

Pick your county above to see the official search links here.

☐ Done☐ Doesn't apply

• Search by owner name. Look for an order imposing a fine, a certified copy of an order, or a lien naming a city or the county.
• Under Chapter 162 of the Florida Statutes, a certified copy of an order imposing a fine can be recorded in the public records, and once it is recorded it is a lien on the property.

Pick your county above to see the official search links here.

☐ Done☐ Doesn't apply

• Use the building department's permit search, or ask it for the permit history of the address.
• Note every permit that shows as open, expired or not finaled, and anything built or replaced that has no permit at all.

Pick your county above to see the official search links here.

☐ Done☐ Doesn't apply

• It's often ordered through a title company. Depending on who runs it, it can report open code cases, recorded code liens, open or expired permits, and amounts owed to the city such as utility balances.
• Ordering it before you list leaves room to deal with what it finds.

☐ Done☐ Doesn't apply

• For each open case, ask the inspector exactly what will satisfy compliance, whether a permit is needed, and how the re-inspection is requested.
• Write down who you spoke to, when, and what they said.

☐ Done☐ Doesn't apply

• In Florida, most building, alteration and repair work needs a permit before it starts. The building department says what is exempt.
• Use a licensed contractor, and check the license on the state's DBPR search before work starts.

☐ Done☐ Doesn't apply

• A permit stays open until it passes its final inspection. Florida law lets a property owner close a permit someone else applied for, by keeping the original contractor or hiring another Florida-licensed contractor to finish the work and get the inspections. Florida also has an owner-builder route, but it comes with conditions of its own, including about selling the property afterwards, so ask the building department before you rely on it.
• If a permit has expired but the work was substantially completed, Florida law lets the building department close it without a new permit, if it agrees the work was substantially completed.
• For a permit issued more than 6 years ago, Florida law lets the building department close it without a final inspection if it finds no apparent safety hazards. Whether it does is its decision, so ask.
• Check any contractor's license on the state's DBPR search before they take over a permit.

☐ Done☐ Doesn't apply

• It's usually resolved with an after-the-fact permit: drawings where needed, inspections, and corrections until the work passes.
• Where the work can't be permitted, it comes out, and removal can need a permit of its own. The building department decides which applies.
• Check the contractor's license on the state's DBPR search before work starts.

☐ Done☐ Doesn't apply

• After the re-inspection, ask the code office for written confirmation that the case is closed, such as a compliance letter or an affidavit of compliance. What it's called, and how you get it, differs between cities.
• For permits, keep the final inspection record from the building department.

☐ Done☐ Doesn't apply

• Ask the code office for the case number, whether the property is now in compliance, and how a lien release, or a reduction request, works there.
• That process and its outcome are the city's or county's decision. For legal questions about the lien, talk to a Florida attorney.

☐ Done☐ Doesn't apply

• Permits with their final approvals, inspection results, compliance letters, contractor invoices with license numbers, and dated before-and-after photos.
• Keep it in one folder or file you can share with your agent and the title company.

☐ Done☐ Doesn't apply

• Ask them how open cases, permits or liens should be disclosed, and how anything still open will be handled at closing.
• Chapter 162 of the Florida Statutes has its own rules for a property that changes hands while a code enforcement case is pending, so raise any open case with them before you list.
• Those are legal and contract questions, and this checklist doesn't answer them.

☐ Done☐ Doesn't apply

• A search shows the records on the day it was run. Ask the title company when it will update the lien search before closing.
• Send it the proof for anything closed since the first search.

☐ Done☐ Doesn't apply