Baltimore City Department of Housing & Community Development

[Eric]

 

[Fenix]

I bet some of those delays can be chalked up to COVID, so it's taking far longer than usual to get permits approved. My father-in-law had to go through them to get a permit, and they were short-staffed because so many were out sick.

 

[Eric]

I bet some of those delays can be chalked up to COVID, so it's taking far longer than usual to get permits approved. My father-in-law had to go through them to get a permit, and they were short-staffed because so many were out sick.

Wow, I just looked at the Google reviews for this office and it's amazing how incredibly negative they all are. You're take on the situation based on your father-in-law's experience - COVID delays and staff out sick - seems relatively diplomatic by comparison. Most reviewers appear to cite unresponsiveness and general lack of professionalism as the primary issues with this office.

Here are just a few highlights:

Worse than atrocious. They don’t answer calls, don’t respond to emails and are far worse than incompetent on a good day.

As a contractor you deal with a lot of permitting offices and while none are fun, none are bad on the level of Baltimore City's Building Permits and Inspections Systems.

Literally the number 1 reason I won't invest in Baltimore City is because of this office.

A culture of unaccountability has clearly taken hold at Baltimore's building department. On one level this is terrible simply because of the poor quality of public service that taxpayers are receiving. On another level, it appears these organizational problems are actually affecting the city's reputation and making it a less attractive place to do business - multiple reviewers say as much in their comments. The people who actually run the government need to take their jobs seriously, otherwise the whole thing doesn't really work.

 

[chasnr]

Baltimore City unveiled a horrendous new permit portal at the beginning of February, 2025. It seems as though no one has a clue nor looked at surrounding area permit systems. They should have gone to the permit expediters for input.
With that being said, when you re-sign in with the new system, nothing transfers over that was in the works nor anything from the past. They are sending out PINS to use to transfer over each project one at a time. And, if you're lucky to even get that email. I, unfortunately am one of the unlucky ones. They also make a contractor to go thru the same process to have their license be affiliated with the city. So, in essence, nothing has moved along and no one responds. Just permits sitting in limbo with no foreseeable resolution. Now, this goes for all Trades as well. Same thing, same results. Would love to hear a success story with the new system. A trade contact sent someone to the city on 2/21/25 to see if they can find any answers. Will report back once we hear.