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How to be sure the seller really had a permit for that addition or renovation

I recently came upon a great website you may find useful if you want to check to see if there has been a building permit issued for some recent renovation in a home your buyer may be considering. It is a national site but you can search at the county level and I found it very useful in a recent Arlington, Virginia transaction.

The address is http://www.velocityhall.com/accela/ and it is very easy to use.

Posted by Dana Hollish Hill, GRI, Associate Broker on 04/05/2007 04:15 PM

Comments (8)

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8 Comments on How to be sure the seller really had a permit for that addition or renovation

APR

2007

This site looks good. To bad I can not use it in IL. I think it should help people out. I would get the word out about this site. Thank you for sharing

Dana,

This is a great site, however when I looked up my info, the previous owners were listed and I moved in 5 years ago.

Thanks for the info, I will use it for my clients.

www.amylaws.com

Hopefully it will add all the counties in Maryland. Looks real useful.

Gary

Thanks for the link. I hope they add Illinois soon.

Thanks for the link. I hope they add Indiana to this link.

Thanks for your comments. I see that not all states and/or counties are listed. I wonder if there are similar sites that cover the other areas, or if they have their own statewide systems.

Amy - Did you pull permits for anything since you've lived in your home? I think it is only updated when a permit is issued.

Dana

I did look up my sisters condo. She had a ton of work completed due to arson. The permits are listed, but the previous owners are still listed rather than her. She purchased 6 years ago. It is good to know that the permit info was listed though.

AUG

2007

We have a similar local site here in Portland and it is amazing that sellers don't think we will find out that they didn't have a permit. More and more I am seeing homes remodeled without permits and not even close to code.

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