From the DC Department of Buildings (DOB), May 22, 2024:
The DC Department of Buildings (DOB) is excited to announce our newly-updated Illegal Construction Inspection Request Form.

Any construction in the District without required building permits is illegal. Illegal construction is a public danger; it can hurt people and property, and one of DOB’s responsibilities is to partner with the community to ensure illegal construction does not take place.

New enhancements to the complaint form include:

• User-friendly interface to report Illegal Construction activity
• Guided and simplified customer flow to validate illegal construction activity
• Neighborhood search tool to confirm location, even if you don’t know the exact address
• Automatic assignment of inspectors at the point of the form being submitted, allowing for shorter wait times for inspections to take place
• Ability to upload multiple photos and videos directly to the inspector assigned
• Alerts for locations that have preexisting Stop Work Orders

We trust this new form will be helpful to the community in helping us to stem illegal construction in the District, and thank you for your partnership.

Report Illegal Construction

The reporting platform opens with this information regarding identifying illegal construction:

If you witnessed a possible illegal construction, please use this form to file a complaint. A DOB inspector will investigate your complaint and may contact you for more information. Please provide any video(s) or photo(s) evidence, if available.

Please Note:

• • • More information on reporting illegal construction and what work requires a permit can be found here.
    • To easily check the status of building permits, customers are encouraged to use the Scout database. Scout is a DOB online resource that allows users to research real property, licensing, permit, regulatory, and enforcement information on specific properties and businesses across the District of Columbia.