Building Permit Lookup

Unpermitted work is one of the most common surprises in a home purchase. A quick permit search before closing tells you whether that finished basement or added bathroom was ever approved.

How to look up a building permit in North or South Carolina

Building permits are issued by the county or city, not by the state, so you look them up through the local permitting office. Find your county below, in either North Carolina or South Carolina, and open its permit portal, then search by property address or parcel number. Most portals show the permit type, the date it was issued, the contractor, and whether the final inspection was ever passed.

An open permit with no final inspection is the one to watch for. It means work was started under a permit and never signed off, and it can hold up a closing. Not every county publishes permits online. Where a county has no public portal, the link below goes to the county site so you can reach the permitting office directly.