Selling a House With Open Permits in Broward County

An open permit is a building permit that was pulled for work on the house but never closed out with a final inspection. In Broward County that is very common on older homes: a roof from the 1990s, a water heater, a fence, a window job or a kitchen remodel where the contractor never called for the final. Most owners don't find out until a buyer's title company runs a permit search.

Each city in Broward runs its own building department, so permit records live with the city where the house sits (Plantation, Davie, Sunrise, Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines and so on), or with the county for unincorporated areas. When you go under contract, the buyer or title company usually orders a municipal lien and permit search. That search lists:

• Open or expired permits that never got a final inspection.
• Code enforcement cases and any recorded fines.
• Unpaid city utility bills or special assessments in some cities.

A buyer using a mortgage may be asked by the lender or title insurer to clear open permits before closing. That can mean finding the old contractor, scheduling inspections, or in some cases opening walls or ceilings so the inspector can see the work.

Florida's building permit statute, section 553.79, has a few provisions that help owners:

• A property owner can close a permit even if they aren't the one who pulled it, by hiring the original contractor or a different one, or in some cases acting as owner-builder.
• If an expired permit's work was substantially completed, the building department may let it be closed under the code in effect when the permit was applied for, without a brand-new permit.
• A building department may close a permit six years after it was issued, even without a final inspection, if it finds no apparent safety hazard.
• A later arms-length buyer generally can't be fined or denied a permit solely because a previous owner left a permit open.

How each city applies these rules varies, so the building department for your address is the place to confirm what's needed.

• Close the permits yourself. Good if the work was finished and only needs inspections. Expect to pay for a contractor's time, and possibly for repairs if the inspector flags something.
• Sell to a financed buyer and negotiate. Some buyers will accept a credit or an escrow holdback, but their lender gets a say.
• Sell as-is to a cash buyer. We buy Broward houses with open and expired permits and handle them after closing. There's no lender on our side requiring them to be closed first.

We bought a 60-year family home in Plantation Gardens that came with open permits and code violations. The heirs lived out of state and never had to come down. You can read how that inherited Plantation sale worked.

Before talking to anyone, pull your parcel on the Broward County Property Appraiser site to confirm the folio and the city, then search that city's online permit portal by address. If you don't find a portal, call the building department and ask for an open-permit report.

We buy houses across Broward, including Plantation, Davie, Sunrise, Fort Lauderdale and Pembroke Pines. Call or text 305-812-9445, or tell us about the property.