open permits

Most Residential Sale Contracts place the burden of clearing open permits upon the Seller. To ensure a smooth closing and avoid open permit issues, Sellers should look into the existence and status of open permits on their property well in advance of the closing.

Sellers can hire an independent professional "permit expeditor" to do the leg work if they do not have the time to look into this themselves, but this is not something your real estate agent should handle (although they may have the name(s) of people who do this line or work and can make a recommendation).

EWM.com has made available this Comprehensive List of Web Site Links to assist Sellers in determining if there are open, cancelled, or expired permits on a given property. This is a clickable list of all the various towns in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in one place. Each town is different. Some towns handle their own permits through their own Building and Zoning Departments, and some town web sites link you back to the County.

These web sites are designed differently—if that particular town offers this service online, you may be able to click once and find what you need immediately, or you may need to search a little once you are on a particular town's site. Whenever possible, we have provided the most direct route to the information you need.

In some cases, the information you need may not be offered or available on their web site, and you may find just a name and phone number of a department to call.