Sarasota County permit search

You are looking up a house in Sarasota County before you tour it. The listing can say the roof is newer, or that a room was added. The county has its own record of work on that house. That record is a permit. This page is how to read it.

What you are looking up

A permit is permission. Before someone changes the house, they are supposed to tell Sarasota County and get a yes. The county keeps that yes. It writes down what was asked for, and the date.

You are not looking up a grade. You are looking up whether the county has a record of the work. The record does not say the work was done well. It is not the inspection you pay for before you close. A missing record does not mean the work never happened. It means it was not in the file you opened. An empty result is not an all-clear.

What the county counts as work

Sarasota printed this in its own guide, updated August 2026. A permit is required before the work starts. You apply to the Building Official.

The work that needs a yes is the work that changes the house. A new or repaired roof, when they are replacing beams, joists, trusses, or the roof sheathing. New or replaced windows, exterior doors, a garage door, or a skylight. New electrical, including a service change or a major change to the wiring. New plumbing, including a water line or a sewer line. Air conditioning, when the system is added, changed, or removed. Gas work sits under the same rule.

Walls count. Exterior walls. Interior walls, whether they hold the house up or not. Stairs and guardrails, including a stair lift. Three sheets of drywall or more. A raised deck. Enclosing a carport, porch, or screen room. Soffits or exterior wall covering when you are replacing 25 percent or more.

Waterfront work counts. A dock, a boat lift, a seawall, or a bulkhead, installed or repaired.

So does a motorized gate, hurricane shutters, a storage shed, repairs after a fire, a mobile or manufactured home, stucco over wood framing, and a tiki hut. A plastic shed under 7 feet tall and under 65 square feet, on a house, and inside the setback, is the exception the county printed.

What usually does not need a permit

The same guide lists ordinary jobs. Paint. Tile. Carpet. Wallpaper. A home alarm. Kitchen cabinets, if the layout stays the same and the wiring and plumbing do not change. A fence, if it already meets the county's height and placement rules. A small roof leak, one square and $500 or less. Fascia or soffit repair on a house or duplex, under 25 percent. A deck or patio set directly on the ground, with no footings.

Read the limit under that list. Some of those jobs still need a licensed contractor. If the house is in a flood zone, or the small job is part of a bigger project, a permit is required anyway. A house in a flood zone does not get the casual reading of that list.

Where the record actually is

Sarasota split the file. Older finished permits are on one site. Newer permits are on another. Search only one and the house can look empty.

Permit Search: https://building.scgov.net/

Accela Citizen Access, Sarasota County: https://aca-prod.accela.com/sarasotaco/default.aspx

Use that Accela link. Another county's Accela page is the wrong office.

The older search runs through August 15, 2023. The Accela records in the file start September 18, 2023. The days between are not in that file. That is the file, not the day the portal stops.

The City of Sarasota, Venice, North Port, and Longboat Key have their own building offices. A mailing city of Sarasota is not the City of Sarasota. The two links above are unincorporated Sarasota County. Longboat Key also crosses into Manatee County. An empty search there can mean you asked the wrong office.

Questions about applying go to the Permit Center, [email protected], weekdays 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., closing at 3:30 p.m. on Thursdays. Work done with no permit is a different office: 941-861-5000 or [email protected].

What the permit still does not tell you

You can find the permit and still not know when the house was built. You can find it and still not know if the house floods. Those are other records on the same address. The year built is not another permit. Flood and the evacuation zone are not in the permit file. Evacuation means when you would have to leave. This page does not say an insurance company will cover the house.

Hurricane Seven

Hurricane Seven puts the permit record next to the year the house was built and the flood zone on an address you type. Roof, AC, windows, plumbing, and electrical come from the permit file. Flood and evacuation are on the address, not in that file. An empty file is not an all-clear. Hurricane Seven does not cover Longboat Key.

The county search above is still the official file.

Check an address in Hurricane Seven