Short answer
A remodeled kitchen, finished basement, or added bathroom is not automatically a clean selling point. If the work was done without required permits, the buyer may inherit compliance, financing, insurance, or resale risk after closing. In Greater Seattle's active remodel market, unpermitted additions are common enough that checking permit history before going under contract has become a standard step in a thorough buyer due diligence process. The permit records for many Greater Seattle properties are publicly accessible online, and reviewing them takes less time than most buyers assume.
Why permit history matters before you close
A permit signals that work was reviewed by a jurisdiction's building department, inspected at key stages, and finaled (or at minimum, that the work was submitted for review). An absence of permits for a remodel does not prove the work was done incorrectly — but it means no independent review happened at the time.
For a buyer, unpermitted work creates several specific risks:
Appraisal and financing. An appraiser or lender may treat unpermitted square footage differently from permitted living area. A finished basement or added room that is not on record as permitted may not receive full value in underwriting. Verify the permit status of any added square footage with your lender and confirm how the appraiser is expected to treat it.
Insurance. If unpermitted work is connected to a future loss — for example, unpermitted electrical or plumbing work — an insurer may ask hard questions about coverage. Buyers should ask their insurance agent how the specific property's improvements affect coverage rather than assuming all improvements are treated the same.
Code compliance after closing. If a city or county discovers unpermitted work — through a neighbor complaint, a future permit pull, or a resale inspection — the current owner (you, after closing) may be required to bring the work into compliance, which can mean opening walls, bringing systems up to current code, or in some cases removing and rebuilding the addition. The seller's failure to permit the work does not protect the buyer from these requirements once the property has transferred.
Future resale. A buyer of your home when you sell will face the same question. If the unpermitted status is disclosed, it affects negotiation. If it is later discovered, it can complicate or unwind a transaction.
How to look up permit history in Greater Seattle
Permit records for most properties in Greater Seattle are publicly accessible online. The process varies by jurisdiction.
City of Seattle. Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) maintains permit records in the Seattle Services Portal (Accela), searchable by address or project number. Permits from 2005 to present are available online. For older records — construction plans or permits before 2005 — SDCI's Permit and Property Records document library and microfilm archive are available by request. SDCI can be reached at (206) 684-8600.
- Seattle Services Portal / DPD Permits: services.seattle.gov
- SDCI permit and property records: seattle.gov/sdci/resources/research-a-project
King County (unincorporated areas). For properties in unincorporated King County, the King County Permitting Portal (Accela) provides permit search by address.
- King County Permitting Portal: aca-prod.accela.com/kingco
Snohomish County (unincorporated areas). For unincorporated Snohomish County, permit records are available through the PDS Online Records system.
- Snohomish County permit records: snohomishcountywa.gov
Cities within King and Snohomish Counties. For properties within incorporated city limits — Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Renton, Bothell, and others — permits are maintained by the city, not the county. Contact or check the building department portal for the specific city where the property is located. The county portals cover unincorporated areas only.
MyBuildingPermit. Several Greater Seattle jurisdictions participate in the MyBuildingPermit.com regional portal, which aggregates permit applications and status across participating cities and counties.
What to look for in permit records
Pull up the address and look at the full permit history. You are looking for:
Permits that match visible improvements. A listing that advertises "remodeled kitchen 2019" should have a kitchen remodel permit (or separate plumbing and electrical permits) pulled around that period. Finished basements should have basement finishing permits. Deck additions, room additions, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) each require permits. A gap between what you see and what the permit record shows is worth asking about.
Finaled vs. open permits. A permit that was pulled but never finaled — meaning the work was started but inspections were not completed — is a potential problem. Open permits may indicate work that was inspected partway and stopped, or work that was never completed to the city's satisfaction. Ask your agent and the seller's agent what the status is and whether it can be resolved before closing.
Absence of permits for electrical or plumbing work. Electrical and plumbing work generally requires permits even for smaller-scale modifications. If a home has had significant electrical or plumbing work performed — visible in the listing photos or disclosed in Form 17 — and no corresponding permits appear in the record, that is a flag to raise with the inspector and discuss with your agent.
What to do when you find unpermitted work
Finding unpermitted work before closing is better than finding it after. Your options during the due diligence period generally include:
- Asking the seller to pull a retroactive permit. In some cases, unpermitted work can be legalized. The seller pulls a permit for existing work, an inspector reviews it, and if it meets current code (or can be brought into compliance with minor corrections), it can be finaled. This takes time and may not complete before closing, so the feasibility and timeline matter.
- Negotiating a price adjustment or repair credit. If the seller will not or cannot permit the work, the buyer can request a price reduction that accounts for the risk, the likely cost to legalize or correct the work, or both. This requires the buyer to have a realistic estimate of what that resolution would cost.
- Walking away within the contingency period. If the unpermitted condition is significant enough — a major addition, a load-bearing modification, unpermitted electrical panel work — and neither seller resolution nor price negotiation is satisfactory, walking away during the inspection contingency is an option.
What is not a good option: closing on a property with known significant unpermitted work without understanding the scope of what you are assuming.
What Form 17 says about permits
Washington State's seller disclosure form (Form 17) includes a question about whether improvements were made without permits or by unlicensed contractors. A seller who checks "yes" to this question or leaves it "unknown" when significant work is visible in the listing has effectively signaled that this is an area requiring investigation. Treat a "yes" or "unknown" response on the permit questions in Form 17 as a prompt to pull the permit record and discuss with your inspector.