City
Chicago, IL
Search Chicago code violations and building permits by street or address. See the violation or permit, its status, the work, and the dates, straight from Chicago Data Portal. This is the property history paid lookup sites charge for, free and in your browser.
City building-code violation cases and their administrative-hearing outcomes, current to 2026.
Covers properties inside the City of Chicago. Suburban Cook County municipalities keep their own permit and code-enforcement records.
Source: Chicago Data Portal. Public domain (City of Chicago). Both datasets are refreshed daily by the City of Chicago. Open the city portal.
Buyers and renters check a property for open code cases and unpermitted work before they commit. Homeowners confirm a contractor actually pulled the permit they paid for, and that it closed. Neighbors look up a problem property near them. Investors, agents, and inspectors fold the violation and permit history into due diligence. Paid services charge per report for these public records; the city's data is open, so this tool is free.
Two public records for a Chicago property: the code-enforcement violations reported against it and the building permits pulled for work on it. Together they show open code cases, what was built or repaired and when, and, where the city records it, who did the work.
It is pulled live from Chicago Data Portal each time you search; nothing is cached on our end. The coverage line under each tab states the exact span that dataset covers, so you always know how fresh the records are.
Only properties with a record on file appear. Many properties have no open violation and no recent permit, which is normal, not an error. Try the street name on its own, or a nearby address, and check both tabs.
Not always. A violation is a case the city opened; its status tells you whether it is open, closed, or resolved. Read the status on each record rather than assuming a listed violation is still active.
It is what Chicago Data Portal publishes openly, which is the city's own record. For the certified file, or for very recent activity that has not synced yet, use the official city portal linked under the results.
Parcel lookup answers who owns a property and its assessed value, from the county. A property report answers what has happened to the building, from the city: violations and permits. They complement each other.
Related: Cook County parcel lookup (owner, APN) · County parcel lookup · City zoning cases · All covered cities · Dallas property report · Nashville property report · Austin property report · Seattle property report