Building permits in Alberta
In Alberta, building permits are issued by municipalities (or accredited agencies acting for them) under the Safety Codes Act, enforcing the National Building Code — 2023 Alberta Edition, in force for permits applied for since May 1, 2024. Alberta's two big cities are also two of the easiest places in Canada to research a property: Calgary and Edmonton both publish building permit records through public online services, with Edmonton's open data reaching back to 2009.
- NBC 2023 Alberta Edition in force for new permit applications
- May 1, 2024
- How far back Edmonton's public permit data reaches
- 2009
- Alberta's framework for permits and inspections
- Safety Codes Act
NBC 2023 Alberta Edition in force for new permit applications
How far back Edmonton's public permit data reaches
Alberta's framework for permits and inspections
Looking up permits in Calgary and Edmonton
Calgary offers building permit status information and property research reports covering historical, current, and pending permits against an address; Edmonton publishes its full permit dataset through the city's open-data portal, with permits back to January 2009 including type, construction value, and status. That makes a pre-offer permit check in either city a same-day exercise — and makes gaps easy to spot, because the absence of a permit for an obviously renovated basement is itself the finding.
Outside the big two, Alberta's system runs through the Safety Codes Act: municipalities either run their own accredited inspection services or contract accredited agencies, and record access varies accordingly — smaller municipalities usually handle permit-history requests by phone or email rather than a portal.
Find a pro in Alberta
Homeprint keeps your home's whole permit story
Everything above lives in scattered municipal files — if it was kept at all. Homeprint pulls your home's full permit history free from municipal records in most major Canadian cities, then keeps the record going: every new permit, drawing, and renovation document filed against your address in one place, with reminders drawn from what the history actually implies.
- Your complete permit history, pulled free from municipal records — no FOI forms, no counter visits
- Every new permit and renovation document kept on your home's permanent record for the day you sell
- Reminders built from the history itself — roof age, warranty windows, service dates
Building permits in Alberta — FAQ
Building permits in other provinces
Let Homeprint do the remembering
Add your documents once — Homeprint tracks the dates, the renewals, and the deadlines, and tells you when it's time to act.