Prince George's County, MD Building Safety: Building Inspections (2026)

Section 4-118, in Subtitle 4's chapter on Certificates of Use and Occupancy, sets the inspection gate for a brand-new home sale: before settlement on a new one-family dwelling or a condo unit offered for sale for the first time, the Director or a designee must inspect the unit and premises and either issue a Certificate of Occupancy or hand the builder a list of violations or deficiencies that must be corrected first. If no Certificate of Occupancy issues before settlement, Section 4-118(a) requires a separate written contract spelling out who fixes any remaining deficiency and by what date, and it states that transferring title never erases the original builder's or seller's responsibility for code violations they caused.

The same chapter attaches consequences to inspections on the permit side: under Section 4-112(a)(1), a permit under which no work has commenced and no inspection has been performed within 180 days of issuance expires and becomes null and void, though the Director may grant one 180-day extension for sufficient justification. Beyond the pre-sale inspection, Section 4-118(c) blocks a Certificate of Occupancy for any building that is erected, altered, repaired, converted to a new use group, or transferred to a new owner or occupant unless it is inspected and found compliant, and Section 4-118(d) requires a fresh Certificate of Occupancy whenever a building's use group, owner, or tenant changes, with narrow exceptions for straight tenant or owner turnover in certain R-2 and R-3 residential buildings. The Department of Permitting, Inspections and Enforcement administers this inspection chain from plan review through the final walk-through.