Terms of Service

PermitMap aggregates publicly available New York City Department of Buildings permit data and presents it through web pages, an interactive map, search, email alerts, CSV exports, and a read-only API. The Service is an information product; it does not provide legal, financial, real-estate, or investment advice.

Different features are available on different subscription tiers. We may add, change, or remove features over time as described in Section 22.

You must be at least 13 years of age to create an account. If you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you may use the Service only with the involvement of a parent or guardian who agrees to these Terms on your behalf.

You may not use the Service if you are barred from doing so under the laws of the United States or any other applicable jurisdiction. By using the Service, you represent that you meet these eligibility requirements.

Some features of the Service require a registered account. When you sign up, you agree to provide accurate information, to keep your password confidential, and to notify us promptly of any unauthorized access to your account.

You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account. We may suspend or terminate accounts that we reasonably believe are being shared, resold, or used in violation of these Terms.

The Service is offered on a Free tier and on paid tiers (currently Pro, with additional Contractor and Enterprise API tiers offered or planned). Each tier carries different feature sets, usage limits, and prices, which are displayed on the pricing page at the time of purchase.

The features available on each tier may change as the Service evolves. We will not reduce features on a tier you have already paid for during your current paid period, except where required by law or to address a security or compliance issue.

Paid subscriptions are billed in U.S. dollars through Stripe, our payment processor. Prices are exclusive of any applicable taxes, which may be added at checkout based on your billing location. PermitMap does not store or process raw card data.

If a charge fails, your subscription enters a short grace period during which we will attempt to recover payment. If we cannot, paid features will be suspended until your billing method is updated.

From time to time we may offer a free trial of a paid tier. The terms of any trial — its duration, what happens at the end, and whether a payment method is required up front — will be disclosed when you start the trial.

Unless we say otherwise at the time you start a trial, your subscription will convert to a paid plan automatically when the trial ends, and you will be charged the then-current price for the tier you selected.

Paid subscriptions renew automatically on a monthly cycle until you cancel them. Each renewal charges the payment method on file at the price displayed for your tier on your renewal date.

You can disable auto-renewal at any time by canceling your subscription, as described in Section 9.

You can cancel a paid subscription at any time from your account dashboard or directly in the Stripe Customer Portal linked from your account. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current paid period; until then, your paid features remain active.

You will not be charged again after cancellation, and we will not pro-rate or refund the remaining time on your current period unless required by law.

Subscription fees are generally non-refundable, except where required by applicable consumer-protection law. We do not refund partial billing periods.

If you believe you were charged in error or experienced a serious service issue that warrants a refund, contact us at legal@permitmap.io and we'll review your request in good faith.

We may change subscription prices for new billing cycles. If we change the price for a tier you are subscribed to, we will give you reasonable advance notice — typically by email to the address on file — before the new price applies to your subscription.

If you do not agree to the new price, you can cancel before it takes effect and your subscription will end at the close of your current paid period at the existing price.

You agree not to scrape, mirror, crawl at scale, or otherwise extract data from the Service outside of the access methods we provide; not to attempt to bypass authentication, rate limits, or feature gates; not to use the Service to harass, defame, or unlawfully target individuals named on permits; and not to use the Service to violate any law.

We may suspend or terminate access for any user we reasonably believe is violating this section or otherwise putting the Service or other users at risk.

If we issue you API credentials, you must keep them confidential and use them only on your own behalf or, where applicable, on behalf of the organization that purchased the credentials. You are responsible for all activity made with your credentials.

The API is rate-limited. We may change rate limits, throttle, or temporarily suspend keys to protect the Service or address abuse. Bulk or commercial redistribution of permit data via the API requires a separate written agreement.

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use permit data through the Service for your own personal or internal business purposes.

You may not resell, sublicense, or redistribute permit data obtained through the Service as a standalone product or feed; you may not use the data to build a competing service; and you may not remove or obscure attributions, watermarks, or notices in materials we provide. Underlying permit records remain public records of the City of New York.

Some parts of the Service let you submit content — for example, alert configurations, saved searches, or messages sent through the contact form. You retain ownership of anything you submit. By submitting it, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, and process it as needed to operate and improve the Service.

You are responsible for the content you submit and for ensuring you have the right to share it. We may remove user content that we reasonably believe is unlawful or that violates these Terms.

The Service, including its software, design, copy, branding, and the way we organize, normalize, and present permit data, is owned by PermitMap and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual-property laws. Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of the Service to you.

The underlying NYC building-permit records are public records of the City of New York and are not owned by PermitMap.

"PermitMap," the PermitMap word mark, and our logos are trademarks of PermitMap. You may not use them without our prior written permission, except for fair-use purposes such as accurately referring to the Service in news coverage or commentary.

Other marks referenced on the Service belong to their respective owners and are used for identification only.

The Service relies on third-party providers — including Stripe for payments, Resend for email delivery, mapping and geocoding providers, and the City of New York's open-data program for source records. Your use of features that depend on those services is also subject to those providers' own terms.

We are not responsible for outages, errors, or changes in third-party services that are outside our control, but we will work in good faith to route around them where reasonable.

Our handling of personal data is described in our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. By using the Service, you acknowledge that you have reviewed the Privacy Policy.

If anything in the Privacy Policy conflicts with these Terms, the Privacy Policy controls on questions of personal-data handling.

Permit data displayed on the Service is sourced from the New York City Department of Buildings via NYC Open Data. The City may amend, correct, or withdraw records after they are first published, and source data may contain errors, omissions, or delays before reaching the Service.

The Service is provided as-is and as-available. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of any record. Do not rely solely on the Service for decisions where verified primary records are required; consult the City's official systems or a qualified professional.

We aim to keep the Service available, but we do not commit to a specific uptime level unless agreed in a separate written contract (for example, an Enterprise API order form). The Service may be temporarily unavailable for maintenance, upgrades, or reasons outside our control.

Scheduled or extended outages will be communicated where reasonably practical.

We may add, change, or discontinue features at any time. We will not materially reduce features on a paid tier you are currently subscribed to during your current paid period, except where required by law or to address a security or compliance issue.

If a change materially reduces the value of a tier you have prepaid for an annual or longer period, we will offer a pro-rated refund for the unused portion.

You may stop using the Service at any time and may close your account on request. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service if you violate these Terms, if your use creates legal or security risk, or if your account has been inactive for an extended period.

Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including ownership, data restrictions, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, and dispute provisions — will survive.

To the fullest extent allowed by law, PermitMap and its officers, employees, and contractors will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or business interruption, arising out of or relating to your use of the Service.

Our total aggregate liability for any claim arising out of or relating to the Service will not exceed the amount you paid PermitMap in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or one hundred U.S. dollars (US$100), whichever is greater.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless PermitMap and its officers, employees, and contractors from any claim, loss, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of your use of the Service, your content, or your violation of these Terms or applicable law.

We will notify you of any claim subject to indemnification and will allow you to control the defense and settlement, provided that we may participate in the defense at our own expense.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. The exclusive venue for any dispute arising out of these Terms or the Service that is not subject to mandatory arbitration is the state and federal courts located in New York County, New York, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

Before filing a formal claim, you agree to first contact us at legal@permitmap.io and to attempt to resolve the dispute informally for a period of at least thirty (30) days.

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, where the change is material, give you reasonable notice — typically by email or by a prominent in-product notice — before the change takes effect.

Continuing to use the Service after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms. If you do not agree, you may stop using the Service and cancel any paid subscription before the effective date.