Making permit searches simple on the City of Austin’s Permit Search page
On this page (click on the link in the title above) you can search to find out whether or not a property under construction or demolition has the appropriate permits, if a tree being removed or trimmed is protected by the tree ordinance so requires a permit, if a property being used as a short-term rental has been registered with the city, or so on.
Most of the time, unless we are an “Interested Party”, we do not have case numbers or other information about a property beyond an address. For that reason, searching by address is usually the most successful approach.
Scroll to the bottom of the page to the section titled “SEARCH BY PROPERTY/PROJECT NAME/TYPES/DATE RANGE” and enter the address of the property in which you are interested. If you are not certain about the actual street number, you can simply add a partial address. For instance, if you know the property is in the 2400 block, you can enter “24” and all permits for that street (or, in some cases, similar streets) with 24 in the address will come up in the search.
Note at the bottom of the page just above the red text are the options “Start Date” and “End Date”. The default setting is today’s date for the end date and a year ago for the start date. If you are not certain when the permit(s) was, it is generally a good idea to change the start date. The city’s permit database goes back at least 30 years, so, if you are really curious about all things permitted that have taken place on a property, you can find it here!
Good luck with your searches! If you need additional help, go to our “Contact Us” page and send us your question.