How to Look Up Building Permits in Northern Kentucky
Every building permit filed in Northern Kentucky, KY is public record, maintained by Planning and Development Services of Kenton County (PDS), Boone County Building Inspections, and Campbell County Planning & Zoning. 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.
- Finding the contractor: Northern Kentucky names the licensed contractor on some permits but not all — where it did, the name is on the record.
Step by step, using the city's own tools
- Kenton County (Covington, Erlanger, Fort Mitchell, Independence, Edgewood): open the PDS permit portal at pdskc.govbuilt.com and search permits by address, or use the LINK-GIS map viewer at linkgis.org to see permits on the parcel.
- Boone County (Florence, Burlington, Union, Hebron): the county Building Inspections office issues permits. Search by address through Boone County GIS (boonecountygis.com) or request the record from the office.
- Campbell County (Newport, Fort Thomas, Alexandria, Cold Spring): county Planning & Zoning covers unincorporated areas, while Newport and Fort Thomas issue their own city permits — check the city first for addresses inside their limits.
- Each permit lists the type, work description, valuation, issue date, status, and the contractor of record. Commercial and state-regulated projects may also carry a Kentucky HBC permit in the state e-permitting system.
Things that trip people up
Northern Kentucky is three counties and a dozen cities, and a permit is issued by whichever jurisdiction the parcel sits in — a Florence address is a Boone County record, a Covington address a PDS record. Search the address without unit or suffix and check the jurisdiction shown on the result.
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, and the licensed contractor where Northern Kentucky recorded one — for $29, one time, delivered instantly.