Permit expiration

Permits do not stay valid indefinitely. Nearly every jurisdiction sets two clocks:

• Time to start. Work must begin within a defined period after issuance, commonly six months.
• Time between inspections. Once started, the permit stays alive only if inspections keep happening. A gap of six months with no approved inspection is a typical expiration trigger.

The second clock catches people out far more often than the first, because it keeps running through the quiet stretches of a slow project.

What happens when a permit expires

Depending on the jurisdiction, you may be able to renew it for a fee, or you may have to apply again from the beginning. Re-application is the expensive path: the project is then reviewed against whatever code edition is current, which may be a newer one than the design was approved under.

Applications expire too

An application that is submitted but never issued also has a shelf life. If comments go unanswered for long enough, many departments will void the application and keep the fees. Departments commonly send a warning notice first, to whatever contact address is on the application, which is a reason to keep that address current.