Division of Records Administration

The Cleveland Division of Records Administration is responsible for handling, storing, and maintaining all building and commercial permits for the Department of Building and Housing.

In addition, Records Administration oversees and administers the:

• Non-Owner-Occupied Property (Rental) Registration
• Vacant Building Registration
• Lead Safe Certification
• Certificates of Disclosure
• Certificates of Occupancy
• Code Violation Letters

The Division serves as the public information portal for the Department of Building and Housing and is also responsible for the Retention and Disposal of residential and commercial plans according to the State of Ohio Retention Schedule.

Although this Division is responsible for several of documents, every property/structure may not have every document type or record. Permit history/ certificate of occupancy is dependent on the owner notifying the City and retrieving proper work permits and/or legally establishing or changing the use of the property with the Department. If the owner doesn’t pull a permit to perform work, the City may not have an accurate history for work performed at the property.

Code Violation Letters

An official letter can be provided identifying outstanding building and housing violations, condemnations, or zoning violations on a property. We will identify and provide information on all active/open violations.

Upon request, City personnel will research records and provide information based on the violation history of a property. This is not a point-of-sale inspection, but rather, information according to City records at the time of the research.

If there are no violations found, this does not mean that the property is “free and clear” of violations. It means there were no violations at the time of inspection, or the property has not yet been inspected by the City inspector. If you only need a verbal "yes" or "no" regarding property violations, there is no fee for this service. There is a $20 fee if an official document with violation results is required.

Code violations may be obtained by sending a Records Request Form to: 
City of Cleveland 
Department of Building & Housing 
601 Lakeside Avenue 
Room 517 
Cleveland, OH 44114

There is a $20 fee for a Code Violation Letter. Please note that Accela Citizens Access can be used by the public to look up violations by property address or parcel number.

Citizen Access Portal