Lookup One: City or Unincorporated
The City of Orlando permits inside its own limits. Large unincorporated areas of Orange County are permitted by the county, and the surrounding counties and cities run their own departments with their own fee schedules and review times.
Postal addresses do not settle it. A great many properties carry an Orlando mailing address while sitting outside the city, and an application filed with the wrong office is not forwarded. The property appraiser's parcel record names the jurisdiction.
Lookup Two: The Year Built
Same record, and it decides the structural question. Older Central Florida housing uses dimensional framing that can sometimes be repaired in sections. Newer construction uses engineered roof trusses and floor systems that come out whole once heat-exposed.
That difference frequently matters more than the visible extent of the fire, and on a slab-on-grade house it interacts with the slab question, since a rebuild puts weight back on a slab nobody has assessed.
What Actually Differs
| Area | Permits | Dominant stock |
|---|---|---|
| College Park | City of Orlando | Older houses near the lakes |
| Parramore and downtown | City of Orlando | Older mixed stock |
| Pine Hills | Orange County | Mid-century houses |
| East Orlando | City and county | Newer subdivisions |
| South Orlando | Mixed | Mixed eras |
| Unincorporated Orange | Orange County | Varies enormously |
Areas We Cover
- OrlandoThe homestead cap, the porting window, the slab
- College ParkOlder houses near the lakes with long ownership histories
- Parramore and DowntownOlder mixed stock where lot value often leads
- Pine HillsMid-century houses on regular lots, county permitting
- East OrlandoNewer subdivisions with engineered framing
- South OrlandoMixed eras and mixed jurisdictions, parcel by parcel
- Unincorporated Orange CountyCounty permitting, no city hall to call
If Your Area Is Not Listed
We buy across the Orlando metro, including in areas without a page here. Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties and the cities within them each run their own departments, so the jurisdiction matters more than the distance does.
Send the address and we will confirm the jurisdiction and the year built. The tax provisions that may decide whether you should sell at all are set out on our page covering homestead, rebuild limits and portability.