Building Permit Search: How to Look Up Permits in 10 Countries on One Map

Why searching building permits is so hard

Building permits are public almost everywhere, but they are scattered. In the United States every city and county runs its own portal with its own fields and search form. In Europe each country has its own register: Estonia has the ehitisregister, France publishes Sitadel data on permis de construire, Poland has the RWDZ register of pozwolenie na budowę, the Netherlands has omgevingsvergunning notices and the United Kingdom has hundreds of local planning portals. If you work in more than one city, let alone more than one country, a simple permit search becomes a full-time job.

Mapenzo solves this by pulling official open data into one map. Today it holds about 1.7 million permits from Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, plus permit-level data from areas in 14 US states. Each permit is a point on the map with its date, type, status and, where published, value and contractor.

What you can search for

• By place. Type a city, county, street or address. Every country has its own page, for example Estonia or the United States, and every city with enough permits has its own page too.
• By stage. Filter permit applications separately from issued permits. Applications show what is coming; issued permits show what is starting now.
• By trade. In the US you can filter pools, roofing, solar, HVAC, mechanical, fences, decks, demolition, additions, remodels and new construction.
• By date. Show only permits from the last week, month or year.
• Beyond buildings. Two extra layers show over 33,000 energy projects and 4,323 existing data centres, plus 281 confirmed planned data centre projects.

US coverage in numbers

Verified counts for 2026 in the largest covered areas: New York (113,927 permits, mostly New York City), California (72,369, led by Los Angeles and San Francisco), Pennsylvania (36,521, Philadelphia), Texas (30,129, Austin and Collin County), Illinois (25,278, Chicago), Florida (23,332, Orlando) and North Carolina (19,633, Raleigh, Charlotte, Durham and Greensboro). Smaller datasets cover Louisiana, Washington, Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Arizona and Massachusetts.

US coverage is city- and county-based, not statewide. If your city is not listed yet, the state page tells you which areas are included.

Who uses a permit search

Contractors and subcontractors use permits to find jobs before they go to bid. A roofer watches reroof permits, a pool fencing company watches pool permits, an electrician watches solar and remodel permits.

Suppliers and manufacturers use permits to plan sales visits. Concrete, windows, insulation and kitchen companies want to reach a project while the specification is still open.

Real estate professionals and investors use permits to see which neighbourhoods are changing, and to check what neighbours are building.

Homeowners use permits to check the history of a property they are buying, or to see what is planned next door.

How to run a good permit search

1. Start with the area. Open the country or city page, or zoom the map.
2. Choose the stage: applications for early leads, issued permits for active sites.
3. Add a trade filter so you only see work you can sell to.
4. Limit the date range. For sales, the last 30 days is usually right.
5. Open the permit cards and read the original description; it often names the work exactly.
6. Save the view and come back weekly. New permits arrive daily.

Searching in your own language

The site and map work in nine languages, and each country page uses local terms: ehitusluba in Estonian, rakennuslupa in Finnish, būvatļauja in Latvian, statybų leidimas in Lithuanian, pozwolenie na budowę in Polish, permis de construire in French, omgevingsvergunning in Dutch and planning permission in the UK. You search once and get the same filters everywhere.

Limits to know

Mapenzo shows what the authorities publish. Some sources do not include contractor or value, and a few records lack coordinates and therefore are not on the map. Every permit card links to the source so you can verify it.

Try it

Mapenzo has a simple way to test this: a 12-hour pass for 5 € opens every country, every permit and every layer, including energy projects and data centres. If you then subscribe, your first month is 50% off. Personal plans are 20, 50 or 80 € per month, and Team plans for sales teams are 40, 100 or 150 € per month.

FAQ

Can I search building permits by address?

Yes. Type an address or place name into the map search, or zoom in; every permit is a point you can open.

What is the difference between an application and an issued permit?

An application has been filed but not approved; an issued permit means work is allowed to start. Mapenzo shows both and lets you filter them.

Which countries are covered?

Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and permit-level data for areas in 14 US states.

How often is the data updated?

Sources are refreshed daily where the authority publishes daily.

How much does a search cost?

Browsing is free; a 12-hour all-access pass costs 5 €.

Frequently asked questions

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