{"id":11366,"date":"2024-07-26T04:47:47","date_gmt":"2024-07-26T11:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=11366"},"modified":"2026-04-08T00:33:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:33:21","slug":"certificate-of-occupancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/certificate-of-occupancy\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Certificate of Occupancy in Real Estate and When Do You Need One?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-a-house\/\">selling your home<\/a>, you may be wondering if and when you need a certificate of occupancy (CO) that shows your home is safe to occupy. Or maybe the requirement came up during your home sale, and you\u2019re wondering what it is and why you need one.<\/p>\n<p>In this article, we explain what a certificate of occupancy is and when you might need one during your home sale. To provide you with the most complete information, we talked to the experts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/eugene-lackey-398074106\">Eugene Lackey<\/a>, Assistant Supervisor for the City of Cincinnati<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/shannon-mcewen-a87611a\/\">Shannon McEwen<\/a>, the Department Manager of Building Permits for Clark County, Nevada<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sandro-perez-280a16114\/\">Sandro Perez<\/a>, Manager of Building Inspections and Enforcement at Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let\u2019s get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"geo-cta widget-cta widget-cta--content     widget-cta--dark widget-cta--dark-blue-gradient\">\n    <div class=\"widget-element--content\">\n        <div class=\"widget-element--content-header\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"homelight logo\" class=\"widget-element--logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/logo-small-cta.png\" width=\"106\" height=\"25\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <h3 class=\"cta-headline widget--bold\">How Much Is Your Home Worth Now?<\/h3>\n                        <p>Get a near-instant home value estimate from HomeLight for free. Our tool analyzes the records of recently sold homes near you, your home\u2019s last sale price, and other market trends to provide a preliminary range of value in under two minutes.<\/p>\n        \n                <div class=\"widget-element--buttons\">\n            <a data-type=\"In Content CTA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/simple-home-value\/quiz?#\/qaas=0\/\" class=\"cta-click-track widget-element--button\">Get Estimate<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div id=\"section--1\" data-toc-header=\"What is a certificate of occupancy?\" data-toc-type=\"head\"><\/div>\n<h2>What is a certificate of occupancy?<\/h2>\n<p>A certificate of occupancy (CO) is a document that confirms that your home is in<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buildingsguide.com\/blog\/resources-building-codes-state\/\"> compliance with local laws<\/a> and safe to live in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A certificate of occupancy is required for some home sales, showing your home complies with local building codes and other laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":279,"featured_media":11367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[243,322],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contracts","category-logistics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is a Certificate of Occupancy and When Do You Need One?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A certificate of occupancy is required for some home sales, showing your home complies with local building codes and other laws.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/certificate-of-occupancy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is a Certificate of Occupancy in Real Estate and When Do You Need One?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A certificate of occupancy is required for some home sales, showing your home complies with local building codes and other laws.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/certificate-of-occupancy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-26T11:47:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-08T07:33:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta 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