An open permit outlives everyone who touched it.

A permit has two endings. It gets finaled, meaning the work passed its final inspection, or it gets voided, meaning it was administratively closed. Anything else and it stays open on the property record, waiting.

It does not expire quietly with the contractor's business. It does not transfer to the owner who commissioned the work. It sits with the property, and it surfaces when somebody goes looking, which is usually the worst possible week.

Whose problem it becomes

This is the part sellers argue about, and the county's answer is not ambiguous. Miami-Dade states it plainly in its own guidance on unpermitted work:

The current owner of the property is ultimately responsible for bringing the property into compliance.

Miami-Dade County, Code Relief¹

Not the contractor who disappeared. Not the owner who ordered the work in 2009. Whoever owns it now. Which means that on a resale, it is about to be whoever owns it next, and that is precisely why a buyer's lender or insurer tends to care about it.

Checking before you list, in about the time this takes to read

In Miami-Dade this is genuinely self-serve, which makes it one of the cheapest pieces of diligence available to a listing agent.

The county's permit menu includes searches built for exactly this question, including open permits by folio number and open master permits by address, plus permit and inspection history.² If you do not have the folio number, it is available from the Property Appraiser by street address or owner name.² Building permit records, certificates of occupancy, code compliance and zoning records are all searchable online for free.³

Worth knowing what you are reading when the results come back. A permit is resolved when its status is finaled or voided. Statuses indicating it is still live, still open, or still in progress all mean the same thing for your purposes: not finished, and still attached to the property.⁴

What the county says about fixing one

Two situations, and they are treated differently.

Work done with no permit at all. Miami-Dade runs a program called Code Relief for structures built without permits, or permitted work that never got its required inspections, to come into Building Code compliance. It requires a new application with as-built plans, the necessary trade approvals, and an as-built certificate from a Florida licensed engineer or architect confirming the structure is sound and code compliant.¹

There is an eligibility limit on that program that is easy to miss and important: the project must have commenced before March 1, 2002 to qualify.¹ Code Relief is not a general amnesty for unpermitted work, and anything more recent is a different conversation with the building department.

A permit that was issued but never inspected. Here the county's guidance is to contact the original contractors and request that the permit be reissued under Ordinance 02-44. If those contractors are unavailable, the owner may apply as an Owner-Builder.¹ Most work otherwise requires a licensed contractor to apply for the permit and do the work, with the owner-builder route as the exception.⁵

Note what that does and does not say. It points at the original contractor first, with owner-builder as the route when they cannot be found. Most writing on this subject online claims any licensed contractor can simply take over and close somebody else's permit. The county's own guidance does not say that, and what is actually available depends on the specific permit. Ask the building department rather than assuming, because the answer changes the plan.

Outside Miami-Dade, procedures, programs and cutoff dates are set municipality by municipality. Nothing above should be assumed to apply elsewhere in Florida.

Why title insurance is not the answer here

A title policy addresses the state of the title as the public records show it, and it does not deal with zoning, permitting or code compliance.⁶ An open permit is a regulatory condition of the property rather than a defect in the chain of ownership.

Permit and code matters generally surface through a municipal lien search rather than a title search, which is a distinction worth understanding on its own terms. It is covered in our guide on the debts a title search cannot find.

The two questions worth asking at listing

• Has any work been done on the property, by anyone, at any point? Roof, windows, a pool, a fence, a garage conversion, an enclosed terrace, impact doors. Sellers routinely do not think of work they did not personally commission.
• Was it permitted, and was it inspected? These are two separate questions. A permit that was pulled correctly and never finaled leaves exactly the same open record as no permit at all.

Then check the county record anyway, because the honest answer is often that the seller does not know.

The short version

An open permit stays attached to the property until it is finaled or voided, and Miami-Dade puts responsibility for compliance on the current owner. It is searchable for free, by address or folio, before a listing ever goes live. Found early it is an application and an inspection. Found in closing week it is a municipal office's timeline, and nobody in the transaction controls that.

If a permit search on one of your listings turns up something you are not sure how to read, call us and we will look at it with you.

Common questions

Does an open permit stop a Florida closing?

An open or expired permit does not automatically void a sale, but it routinely holds one up. Open permits remain attached to the property record until they are finaled or voided, and lenders, insurers and buyers commonly require them resolved first. Because resolving one depends on a municipal office rather than on anyone in the transaction, the timing is largely outside the parties' control.

Who is responsible for unpermitted work done by a previous owner in Florida?

In Miami-Dade, the county's own guidance on its Code Relief program states that the current owner of the property is ultimately responsible for bringing the property into compliance. Responsibility follows ownership rather than staying with whoever did the work or hired them.

How do you check for open permits on a Miami-Dade property?

Miami-Dade publishes a Building Permit Selection Menu with searches for open permits by folio number and open master permits by address, along with permit and inspection history. If you do not have the folio number, it can be found through the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser by street address or owner name. The county also provides free online access to permit, certificate of occupancy, code compliance and zoning records.

What is Miami-Dade Code Relief and does it cover all unpermitted work?

Code Relief is a Miami-Dade County program that allows structures built without permits, or permitted work that never received required inspections, to come into compliance with the Building Code. It is not a general path for all unpermitted work, because the county states that projects must have commenced before March 1, 2002 to qualify. Work done after that date falls outside the program.

What happens if the contractor who pulled the permit is gone?

For permits issued but lacking required inspections, Miami-Dade's guidance is to contact the original contractors to request permit reissuance under Ordinance 02-44, or, if those contractors are unavailable, to apply as an Owner-Builder. Because the available routes and their requirements depend on the specific permit and municipality, this is worth confirming with the building department directly rather than assuming.

Will title insurance cover unpermitted work or an open permit?

Generally no. A title policy addresses the state of the title as the public records show it and does not deal with zoning, permitting or code compliance. Permit and code matters are typically surfaced through a municipal lien search rather than a title search.

Sources

Every factual claim above is drawn from the sources below. Statutory figures and deadlines were read from the official source rather than from secondary coverage. Sources last checked September 30, 2026.

1. Code Relief — program for structures built without permits or lacking required inspections Miami-Dade County, Regulatory and Economic Resources Retrieved September 30, 2026
2. Building Permit Selection Menu, including Open Permits by Folio and Open Master Permit by Address Miami-Dade County, Regulatory and Economic Resources Retrieved September 30, 2026
3. Public Records — Building Plans and Permits, Certificates of Occupancy, Code Compliance and Zoning Miami-Dade County Retrieved September 30, 2026
4. Building Online Services Miami-Dade County Retrieved September 30, 2026
5. Homeowners General Permit Information Miami-Dade County, Regulatory and Economic Resources Retrieved September 30, 2026
6. Title Insurance Overview, consumer guide Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Consumer Services Retrieved September 30, 2026