Instructions on how to research building and land use permits which have been finalized, closed or are still active in unincorporated King County can be found below. Code Enforcement case files may also be made available after they have been reviewed by staff for attorney/client privilege or confidentiality.
For records on property located within city limits, you must contact the city directly. Permitting Records Center does maintain some records for properties that are annexed or incorporated into a city after finalization of a King County permit.
CONTACT KING COUNTY PERMITSTo request a record online, please create an account and submit your request here. You will be provided with tracking details regarding your request and is the fastest way to get available records related to permits with King County.
By email:
Complete the Permitting Research Request form to request records for property in unincorporated King County.
By phone:
Customers can review any file free of charge. For copying services, the standard County rate is charged.
For information on other types of records related to property within unincorporated King County, please see below.
By email: send your public records request to the King County Public Records Program.
By US Mail: send your written request to
Public Records Program
201 S Jackson Street, Suite 320
Seattle, WA 98104
A written response to your request will be issued within five business days of receipt.
For newer (1972 to present) property records in King County, search the Washington State Archives available resources. For older King County property records (1937 - 1972 and Tax Assessment Rolls prior to 1937), contact the Puget Sound Regional Branch of the State Archives in Bellevue, 425-564-3940. Annexations, Deeds, Easements, Land Titles, Liens, can also be found with the Washington State Archives.
For older King County property and land use records, see the King County Archives for historical county government records.
For property surveys recorded since 1973 (often used to determine property boundary lines), contact the King County Recorder's Office at 206-477-6620. Recorded Plats, Short Plats, Condominiums, and Planned Unit Developments for all of King County are available for viewing and printing at the Recorder's Office.
See the King County Assessor's site for their property search systems for finding assessment information.
See the King County Road Services Division Map and Records Center for mapping and historical survey data on roadway establishments, drainage plans, plats, and road construction plan and profiles. Various other maps are also available, such as topographic maps from the USGS and engineers' maps.
Vital statistics (birth and death records)
Environmental Health (food safety, public pools, plumbing, wells and septic)
The Permitting Records Center can access residential building permits back to approximately 1970. Some of the associated plans/architectural drawings for permitted residential structures also may be available back to 1987.
Homeowners looking to reproduce building plans/architectural drawings that are not available at Permitting will need to hire a private architect to develop new drawings.
In addition to single family homes, other types of residential permits available back to 1970 and some associated architectural drawings/building plans available back to 1987 include:
For all of these permit types, plans are forwarded to the Records Center as soon as the permit is issued. The associated permit is then forwarded to the Records Center once the project has completed the inspection phase.
For commercial structures, the Permitting Records Center can access the building permit, as well as some associated architectural drawings/plans, and also review notes from various review disciplines (e.g., drainage, critical areas) back to approximately 1970.
Access land use permits, including subdivisions (plats and short plats), grading permits, conditional use permits, lot line/boundary line adjustments, binding site plans, and other records.
Short Plats. Usually retrieved for customer review within one business day.
Plats. The Permitting Records Center requests these files from its inactive records facility; retrieval may take up to a week.
All grading permits are forwarded to the Record Center as soon as the inspection phase is complete.
Stored in the Records Center as far back as the mid 1960s.
Stored in the Records Center back to the late 1980s.
Stored in the Records Center back to the 1970s.
Records for unincorporated King County also available from the Records Center:
Urban Planned Development/Fully Contained Communities/ (UPD/FCC). To review files pertaining to the Redmond Ridge UPD/FCC, contact Permitting at 206-296-6600.