FactChex goes to the city/county and requests public records for the property and checks for open permits. Sellers are liable for open permits and there is a section in the sales contract for the seller to disclose any open permits. This does not always happen.
FactChex discovers open permits to deal with during the sale. Once the sale is complete, open permits become the buyer’s responsibility. Work done to a property without a city permit could lead to demolishing add-on rooms, replacing a roof, rewiring a house, filling or destroying a pool, etc. Title companies usually only research liens against a property, and do not deal with city or county records. Title companies can not be held liable when a permit is missed during the sale. Available historical city/county permits are retrieved, collected and delivered to the buyer.