Open Permits in Davie Florida: What Buyers and Sellers Must Know 2026

What Is an Open Permit on a Davie, Florida Home?

An open permit is a building permit that was pulled for work on the home but never closed out with a passed final inspection, and it stays attached to the property until someone finals it or the municipality voids it. In Davie you have to search two places, the Town of Davie Building Division and Broward County, because Davie runs its own building department and a county search alone will not show the full permit history. Find it before you write the offer, not days before closing.

If you are reading about open permits or unpermitted work in Davie, you are almost certainly mid transaction and something just surfaced. Either your inspector or your title company flagged an open permit on the home you are buying, or you are the seller and the title search turned up a permit you did not know was still open. Both are common, both are fixable, and both cost you the most when you discover them late. This is one of the quiet issues that can delay a closing or cost thousands, and it is worth understanding before you are the one holding the bag.

Open Permit Versus Unpermitted Work: They Are Not the Same

These two get used interchangeably, and they are different problems with different fixes.

• An open permit means someone did file for a permit, the work happened, but the final inspection was never completed. The paper trail exists. The job just never got signed off.
• Unpermitted work means the work was done with no permit at all. A converted garage, a screened patio turned into a living room, an addition, a new water heater or electrical panel, none of it on record with the Town or the County.

The reason the distinction matters is the path to clearing it. An open permit often closes with a single re inspection, sometimes for little or no cost if the original contractor is still active and the work actually meets code. Unpermitted work has to be brought into the system from scratch through an after the fact permit, which means fees, possible corrections, and sometimes opening up finished walls so an inspector can see what is behind them.

There is a hard local detail that catches people. The Town of Davie is an incorporated municipality with its own Building Division, so its permits live in the Town system, not the county system. Broward County keeps its own records for unincorporated pockets and county level work. If you only search one, you can miss the exact permit that stops your closing. Search both.

The 180 Day Rule and Why Permits Expire

Florida permits are not open ended. Under the Florida Building Code framework, a permit lapses if more than 180 days pass without an approved inspection. Once it expires it cannot be finaled under the original application. Someone has to revive it or pull a new one, and that is where the cost and the delay live.

That single rule explains most of the open permits sitting on Davie homes today. A homeowner pulled a permit for a water heater or a fence, the work got done, life moved on, and nobody ever called for the final inspection. Years later the permit is still technically open, the 180 day window closed long ago, and now a title search on the sale drags it back into the light.

Here is the cost reality so you can plan for it instead of getting surprised:

• A simple open permit that only needs a re inspection can be close to free if the original licensed contractor closes it out.
• An after the fact permit for work that was never permitted typically runs at double the standard permit fee, plus any fines. For a full addition or a garage conversion, the permitting process alone commonly lands between $1,000 and $5,000 before any required corrections.
• A permit expediter, if you hire one to run it for you, starts around $750 depending on complexity.
• The title company lien and permit search that finds all of this is part of a standard title search and generally runs $125 to $400 depending on the municipality.

None of these are catastrophic numbers on their own. They become expensive when they show up as a surprise three days before closing and everyone is negotiating under a deadline.

How to Check for Open Permits Before You Buy

You never want to learn about an open permit at the closing table. You want it on the table before you write the offer, while you still have room to decide. Here is the process I walk buyers through in Davie.

1. Search the Town of Davie permit records. Use the Town of Davie eSuite public permit portal to pull every permit tied to the address. Because Davie runs its own building department, this is the record that a county only search misses.

2. Search Broward County permit records. Run the same address through the Broward County building records system for county level and unincorporated work. Between the two searches you see the full history.

3. Order the title and lien search early. Your title company runs a permit and lien search as part of standard due diligence. Ask for it early in the inspection period, not at the end, so an open permit does not become a last minute emergency.

4. Compare the record to the house. Walk the home against the permit history. A garage that is now a bedroom, a patio that is now an air conditioned room, or a newer panel with no matching permit are the signs of unpermitted work that a records search alone will not always spell out.

5. Ask your inspector and your agent to flag anything off. A good inspector notes work that looks like it should have been permitted. A local agent who knows Davie construction can tell you quickly whether a feature is likely to be a problem.

Getting this done inside your inspection period when you buy in Davie is the whole game. That window is when you have the negotiating power, the right to cancel, and the room to push back. Once it closes, your options narrow fast.

Can You Sell a Davie Home With an Open Permit?

Yes. No Florida statute bars a sale with an open permit on the property. But that is not the same as the sale being easy. The title company will flag it, the buyer’s lender may refuse to fund until it is resolved, and the buyer’s inspector will circle it. In practice an open permit becomes something you deal with before or at closing, not something you carry past it quietly.

If you are the seller, two things protect you. The first is disclosure. Florida law, under the Johnson versus Davis standard and the standard sale contract, requires you to disclose known defects and known unpermitted work that materially affect value. Undisclosed unpermitted work can expose you to a claim after closing for the permit costs, the corrections, and the buyer’s legal fees. Disclosing is not just the honest move, it is the one that ends your liability.

The second is knowing who is responsible for closing the permit. The contractor who originally pulled it is usually the party responsible for finaling it, and if that contractor is still active it is often a quick fix at little cost. If the contractor is out of business or will not respond, a new licensed contractor has to assume the permit and take it through inspection. Start that conversation early, because it is the step that takes the longest.

What a Buyer Should Do When Work Is Unpermitted

If the search turns up an open permit or clearly unpermitted work, you have three clean options and you should choose while you are still inside the inspection period.

1. Cancel and recover your deposit. If the issue is bigger than you want to inherit, a properly written inspection contingency lets you walk within the inspection period and get your escrow back.

2. Negotiate a price reduction or a credit. Get a real estimate for the retroactive permitting and any corrections, then ask the seller to cover it through a price cut or a closing credit. This keeps the deal alive and puts the cost where it belongs.

3. Require the seller to close the permits before closing. Put it in writing that all permits must be finaled, or the unpermitted work fully permitted, before you close or take occupancy. The seller and their contractor carry the work and the risk, not you.

The wrong move is to shrug it off and close anyway on a handshake that someone will handle it later. Once you own the home, the open permit and every dollar to clear it are yours. This is exactly the kind of carrying cost I put in front of clients before we write an offer, the same way we account for closing costs in Davie and the true monthly number in the Davie real estate market, so nothing lands as a surprise after the fact.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I check for an open permit on a Davie, Florida home?

Search two places. First, the Town of Davie Building Division permit records through the Town eSuite portal, because Davie runs its own building department. Second, the Broward County building records for county and unincorporated work. Then have your title company run a permit and lien search early in the inspection period so nothing surfaces at the last minute.

What is the difference between an open permit and unpermitted work?

An open permit means a permit was pulled and the work was done, but the final inspection was never completed, so it stays on record. Unpermitted work means the work was done with no permit at all. Open permits often close with a single re inspection. Unpermitted work must be brought into the system through an after the fact permit, which costs more and can require corrections.

How much does it cost to close an open permit in Davie?

A simple re inspection can be near free if the original licensed contractor finals it. An after the fact permit for unpermitted work typically costs double the standard permit fee plus any fines, and a full addition or garage conversion commonly runs $1,000 to $5,000 in permitting alone before corrections. A permit expediter starts around $750, and the title lien search that finds it runs $125 to $400.

Can you sell a house in Florida with an open permit?

Yes, no Florida statute bars it, but the title company, the lender, and the buyer will all push to resolve it before closing. Florida law also requires the seller to disclose known unpermitted work, and failing to do so can lead to a claim after closing for the permit costs and legal fees. Most sellers close or permit the work as part of the deal.

Who is responsible for closing an open permit?

The contractor who originally pulled the permit is usually responsible for finaling it, and if that contractor is still active it is often a quick, low cost fix. If the contractor is out of business or unresponsive, a new licensed contractor must assume the permit and carry it through inspection. In a sale, buyers commonly require the seller to handle this before closing.

Talk to a Davie Real Estate Expert

An open permit or a stretch of unpermitted work does not have to kill a deal, but it does have to be found early and handled the right way. A quick conversation is the fastest way to know how to search a specific Davie address, what a fix is likely to cost, and how to structure the offer so the risk sits with the right party. Anthony is a Davie native and a Broker Associate with Coldwell Banker, and he built livingindavieflorida.com to answer exactly these questions. Schedule a strategy call here.

Anthony Spitaleri

Living in Davie Florida

954-235-5783

Davie, Florida

livingindavieflorida.com

Written by Anthony Spitaleri, Broker Associate with Coldwell Banker and a Davie native. More about Anthony