How to Look Up Building Permits in Detroit
Every building permit filed in Detroit, MI is public record, maintained by the Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED). Here's how to pull the full history for any address — and the shortcut when you'd rather not do it by hand.
Why you'd want the permit history
- Buying a home: confirm that additions, remodels, and major repairs were permitted and finaled.
- Selling or refinancing: unpermitted work surfaces in inspections and appraisals — know before the buyer does.
- Insurance and disputes: a dated permit record is the evidence that work was done to code.
Step by step, using the city's own tools
- Open the Detroit eLAPS / Accela Citizen Portal (aca-prod.accela.com/DETROIT) and search records by address.
- Each permit shows the record id, the work description, the permit type, the estimated contractor cost, and the issue date.
- Detroit publishes building permits, trade permits, and demolition permits as open data through the city's open data portal, refreshed regularly.
- Demolition permits are a separate record set from building permits, and name the demolition contractor.
Things that trip people up
Detroit's online record is most complete after about 2010. Older work often exists only on paper at BSEED, and many structures carry demolition records from the city's own blight program rather than the owner.
The shortcut
PingPermit pulls the same city records live and puts them on one page: a free preview (permit count, years active, declared work value, most recent filings), and the full report — every permit with description, value, status and dates. Detroit publishes no contractor or owner on its permit records, so the report names no one — for $29, one time, delivered instantly.