Why Should You Check the Permit History Before Buying a Home in Bonita Springs?

Because work done on a house stays with the house, and so does the paperwork that should have come with it. A permit that was opened and never closed, or a renovation that was never permitted at all, does not leave with the seller at closing. It becomes something the new owner may have to resolve, often at the moment they least expect it: when they apply for insurance, when they try to pull a permit of their own, or when they go to sell. I am Kris Asquith, Broker Associate at Premiere Plus Realty, and I help buyers across Bonita Springs and eight other Southwest Florida markets check this before they are committed, not after.

A permit history is the building department's record of the work that was applied for on a property, when each permit was issued, and whether the required inspections were passed and the permit was closed out. Reading it tells you more than whether the paperwork is tidy. It shows when the roof was replaced, whether the air conditioning system was swapped out, whether an enclosure, pool cage or addition was approved, and whether storm repairs were done under a permit. Put next to the seller's disclosure and the listing description, it is one of the most direct ways to confirm that what you are being told about the house matches what the record says.

Usually not, and that surprises a lot of buyers. A standard title search looks at recorded documents: deeds, mortgages, recorded liens and judgments. An open permit is generally not a recorded document, so a title search can come back clean while the building department still shows unfinished work on the property. That is why a separate municipal lien search, which looks at open permits, code enforcement cases and unpaid municipal charges, is commonly ordered on Florida purchases. Ask your title company early whether one is included in your closing or needs to be ordered, because it is easy to assume it is covered when it is not. The owner's title insurance guide for Bonita Springs explains what the title side does protect.

For most addresses inside city limits, that is the City of Bonita Springs, which runs its own building permitting. Properties in unincorporated areas fall under Lee County instead. A mailing address does not settle the question, since a Bonita Springs address and the city's actual boundary do not always line up, so confirm the jurisdiction for the specific parcel before you search. Both offer online permit lookups by address or parcel number, and the record you want is the one held by whichever department actually issued the permits for that property.

Four come up again and again. An open permit, where the work was permitted but the final inspection never happened, sometimes because a contractor moved on before the job was signed off. An expired permit, which is the same problem after the deadline has passed. Unpermitted work, such as a lanai enclosed into living space, a garage converted to a room, or a kitchen or bathroom gutted and rebuilt with nothing on file. And work that was permitted but does not match what was built. After the hurricanes of recent years, a good share of homes across the area have had storm repairs, and the permit record is where you find out whether that work was done and signed off properly.

Because in a flood zone, the scale of past work can matter as much as whether it was permitted. Communities that take part in the federal flood insurance program apply what is called the substantial improvement and substantial damage rule: when repairs or improvements reach roughly half the value of the structure, the building may have to be brought up to current flood elevation standards. A home that was heavily rebuilt without permits may have skipped that review entirely, which can create real trouble later with insurance or with any future permit. Your inspector and an insurance agent who writes flood coverage in this area are the right people to walk through what the record means for a specific property, and the Bonita Springs bay-front insurance guide covers the insurance side in more depth.

During your inspection period in the buying process, alongside the home inspection itself, because that is the window in which you still have room to ask questions, request that a seller close out an open permit, negotiate, or walk away under the terms of your contract. Hand the permit history to your inspector too: knowing that a roof was permitted in a given year, or that an addition was never permitted at all, tells them exactly where to look. If something turns up, the usual paths are asking the seller to close it out before closing, agreeing on a credit, or deciding the property is not the right one. Which of those makes sense depends on the specific problem and what it would take to resolve.

Yes, with an extra layer. Inside a condominium, interior renovations may have needed approval from the association as well as a permit, so it is worth checking both. In a gated community with an architectural review board, exterior changes such as pool cages, additions or new hurricane protection often required the board's sign-off. The association's records and the building department's records are separate, and a change can appear in one and not the other. The Bonita Springs buying guide covers the document review that happens alongside this.

Before you are under contract, pull the permit history on any home you are serious about and compare it to the listing: the roof, the systems, any enclosure or addition, and any repairs mentioned in the disclosure. Once you are under contract, make sure the municipal lien search is ordered and that its results reach you before your inspection period runs out. I build this into the way I work with every buyer, so nothing on that record is a surprise at the closing table. If you are looking at a home in Bonita Springs, reach out to me here or call (239) 300-1427 and we can go through the record for that property together.

This article explains how permit records generally work in Southwest Florida and is not legal, insurance or construction advice. Confirm the specifics for any property with the building department, your inspector and your closing attorney or title company.