Terms and Conditions

These Terms and Conditions (these “Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and Permit Plotter, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Permit Plotter”, “we”, “us”, “our”). They govern your use of permitplotter.com and everything offered through it, including the map, lists, tables, exports, email alerts, the API, and connections for AI assistants (together, the “Service”), and the permit records and related information presented through it (the “Data”).

By using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you use the Service on behalf of a company or firm, you agree on that organization’s behalf, you confirm you have the authority to do so, and “you” includes that organization. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service.

The Service is a map, list, and table of building permits for the East End of Long Island, New York. It is a research and prospecting tool for contractors, real estate professionals, and similar businesses: it helps you identify and research properties, projects, and the businesses working on them. It is not a marketing, calling, or contact service, and we do not contact anyone for you. It is licensed for commercial use within your own organization under Section 7. It is a starting point for research, not a substitute for the verification Section 5 requires.

The Service requires an account. The map on our welcome page is decorative: its dots correspond to no permit, property, or person. Section 10 describes free accounts, invitation access, and paid plans.

We compile the Data from public sources: town and village websites and records portals, responses to public records requests under New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), records that town and village offices send us, and county records, which supply property owner names for some permits. Contact details for contractors may come from the business’s own website. A third-party mapping service converts addresses into map locations, so pins may be approximate. Map data is provided by Mapbox and OpenStreetMap contributors and is subject to their terms.

Each record identifies the town or village it comes from. The Data can lag the issuing office’s own records, and offices amend and correct their records over time.

The Service is not the official record of any permit. The official record is held by the issuing town or village. Permit Plotter is an independent business and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting for any town, village, or county.

The Data is collected, transcribed, placed on the map, rewritten for readability, and labeled largely by automated tools, and people review some of those steps, not all of them. Any step can make mistakes: a record may carry the wrong work labels, date, or location, or be missing entirely. This is a general description, not a promise about how any particular record was produced, and Section 5 applies to every record.

We work to keep the Data useful, but we do not guarantee it, and you must not treat it as authoritative.

THE SERVICE IS A RESEARCH TOOL. IT IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE, NOT PERMITTING ADVICE, NOT A TITLE SEARCH, AND NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR CHECKING WITH THE ISSUING BUILDING DEPARTMENT. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR VERIFYING A RECORD WITH THE TOWN OR VILLAGE THAT ISSUED THE PERMIT BEFORE RELYING ON IT FOR ANY FINANCIAL, LEGAL, CONTRACTUAL, OR SAFETY DECISION. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DECISIONS MADE WITHOUT THAT VERIFICATION.

If you believe a record is wrong, email support@permitplotter.com. We may check it against the issuing office’s records and correct it at our discretion. You give us permission to use your report to improve the Service. Section 13 covers reports from people who believe a record names them incorrectly.

While you are authorized to use the Service and comply with these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Service and the Data for your internal business and research purposes, including researching properties and finding prospects. You may not sublicense it or pass any part of it to anyone else.

“Your organization” means the single legal entity, or the individual, that agreed to these Terms. It does not include affiliates, franchisees, clients, or customers unless we agree in writing.

Exports carry the same license. Referencing a specific permit in your own work, such as a proposal or an estimate, is internal business use. Supplying the Data itself to anyone outside your organization, in bulk or record by record, is not, and Section 8 prohibits it.

We provide the Data for research and informational purposes. Permit Plotter does not direct, endorse, or take part in any solicitation or fundraising by you or anyone else, and does not contact anyone on your behalf. Whether and how you contact anyone named in the records is your decision and your sole responsibility. Permit Plotter is not a party to any dealing between you and a person you contact, and is not your agent or partner in it.

You are responsible for what you, anyone using your access, and anyone who obtains the Data through you do with the Service and the Data, as if their acts were your own. Permit Plotter is not responsible for that use or misuse. Sections 18 and 19 state Permit Plotter’s responsibility for the Service and the Data themselves.

You may not, and you may not help or permit anyone else to:

1. scrape, crawl, or bulk-collect the Service or the Data by automated means, other than ordinary queries through the API or the AI assistant connector (Section 11);
2. copy or accumulate all or any substantial portion of the Data by any means, including through the API, exports, or an AI assistant (rate and download limits are operational controls, not permission to assemble your own copy);
3. resell, redistribute, republish, or sublicense the Data in any form or volume, including in a newsletter, report, list, feed, or product or service you provide to others;
4. use the Data to build, or contribute the Data to, a competing database or data product;
5. use the Data to train or improve an artificial intelligence or machine learning model, or to build machine-learning datasets, embeddings, or vector stores from it, without our prior written permission. Having your own assistant read the Data through our connector for your own use is permitted, as long as you do not instruct or configure it or its provider to train on the Data;
6. share a login (Section 9), or share API keys or tokens with anyone outside your organization;
7. use the Data in violation of any law, including, when contacting a person named in the records, telemarketing, do-not-call, text-messaging, anti-spam, and door-to-door and telephone solicitation rules. Before you call or text anyone named in the records, you will check the number against the National and New York Do Not Call registries and obtain any consent the law requires for automated calls or texts;
8. circumvent or attempt to circumvent access controls or rate limits; or
9. probe, disrupt, or interfere with the Service or anyone else’s use of it.

A violation of this section may cause Permit Plotter harm that money cannot adequately remedy, and Permit Plotter may seek injunctive relief (a court order stopping the violation) in addition to its other remedies.

Each login is issued to one named person and may not be shared. You may reassign a login to a different person, but you may not rotate one login among several people. You are responsible for all activity under your credentials and must keep them secure. If you believe a credential has been compromised, tell us promptly at support@permitplotter.com.

1. Plans. Our current plans, prices, and included login counts are presented when you subscribe.
2. Billing. Plans are billed monthly or annually, as shown at checkout, through a third-party payment processor. Prices exclude applicable taxes, which are added at checkout.
3. Automatic renewal. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period until cancelled. For annual plans, we send a reminder before renewal.
4. Cancellation. You may cancel at any time, online in the app or by emailing support@permitplotter.com. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period, and you keep access until then.
5. Refunds. Fees for the current billing period are non-refundable, including unused months of an annual plan, except where required by law or where we expressly state otherwise.
6. Price changes. We may change prices with advance notice to you. A price change takes effect at your next renewal, so you can cancel first if you do not accept it.
7. Failed payments. If a payment fails, we may suspend access until it is resolved.
8. Free accounts and invitations. A free account shows a limited set of older records, without phone numbers or email addresses, and cannot download. Access we grant by invitation code is full access for the period stated in the invitation and ends automatically when that period does.

Access keys and tokens can expire and can be revoked at any time, at your request or by us, including for violations of these Terms. Download links expire. We set limits on request rates, downloads, and rows, shown in the app, and we may change them.

The Service includes a connector that lets your AI assistant (such as Claude, ChatGPT, or a similar tool) read the Data on your behalf. The assistant must be used by and for your own organization; you may not connect one that retrieves Data for, or serves outputs to, anyone outside it. Everything the assistant retrieves, and everything it produces from the Data, is subject to the same license and restrictions as you, and you are responsible for its use of your access. Revoking a key also ends any assistant’s access through it.

When you save an email alert, you consent to receive those emails. Every alert email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can stop alerts at any time.

Owner, applicant, and contractor names in the Data come from government public records, either on the permit itself, in the role the filing states, or matched to the property through county records. That matching is automated and can be wrong or out of date, for example after a sale. Records can include names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. Free accounts do not show phone numbers or email addresses.

If a record names you incorrectly, email support@permitplotter.com. We check it against the issuing office’s records and fix any mistake we can confirm.

Permit Plotter is not a consumer reporting agency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and the Data is not a consumer report. You may not use the Data to determine any person’s eligibility for credit, insurance, employment, housing, or any other purpose regulated by the FCRA.

The Service, its design, and the selection, arrangement, and enhancement of the Data as a compilation belong to Permit Plotter. We claim no ownership of the public facts in government records; what we protect is our work collecting, organizing, checking, and presenting them. Apart from the license in Section 7, these Terms give you no rights in the Service.

The map, payments, analytics, and error tracking are provided by third-party services with their own terms and privacy practices, which apply to your use of those parts of the Service. We are not responsible for their services. Our Privacy Policy describes what we collect, including recordings of how pages are used, and who handles it.

The Service will change over time. We may add, modify, or retire features, and we may modify or discontinue the Service in whole or in part.

We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these Terms or do not pay, to address a security incident or legal risk, or for any reason on thirty days’ notice. If we suspend a paid plan for any reason other than your breach or non-payment, we will pause billing or credit you for the suspended period, and if we end a paid plan that way without cause, we will refund the prorated fees for the unused part of your billing period. You may stop using the Service at any time, and Section 10 governs cancelling a paid plan.

When your access ends, your license under Section 7 ends with it. Data you exported in the ordinary course of using the Service may continue to be used inside your own organization, and every restriction in Section 8 continues to apply to it. If we terminate your access for a violation of these Terms, that continued-use right does not apply: you must delete all exported Data and, on request, confirm in writing that you have. Sections 5, 7 (its last two paragraphs), 8, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 24 survive, along with this section and anything else that by its nature should survive.

THE SERVICE AND THE DATA ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, PERMIT PLOTTER DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, TIMELINESS, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE OPERATION. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT ANY RECORD REFLECTS THE CURRENT STATE OF THE ISSUING OFFICE’S RECORDS. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE DISCLAIMER OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES, SO PARTS OF THIS SECTION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW: (A) PERMIT PLOTTER’S TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE, THE DATA, OR THESE TERMS IS CAPPED AT THE GREATER OF (1) THE TOTAL AMOUNT YOU PAID PERMIT PLOTTER IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (2) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100); AND (B) PERMIT PLOTTER WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUE, OR LOST DATA, EVEN IF WE WERE ADVISED SUCH DAMAGES WERE POSSIBLE. EXCEPT AS STATED BELOW, THESE LIMITS APPLY REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF LIABILITY.

This section limits direct damages; it does not exclude them. These limits reflect the bargain between you and Permit Plotter: a research tool that compiles public records could not be offered at its price without them. Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability for our gross negligence, willful misconduct, or fraud, for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for any other liability that applicable law does not allow to be limited or excluded. Where a law does not permit a particular limitation to apply to you, that limitation applies only to the extent permitted, and the rest of this section stays in force.

If a third party brings a claim against Permit Plotter or its owners, officers, or employees arising out of your use or misuse of the Service or the Data, including how you contact or solicit any person named in the records, your violation of these Terms or of applicable law, or the actions of anyone using your access or of an AI assistant or other tool you connected to it, you will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Permit Plotter and its owners, officers, and employees: you will cover the damages, costs, and reasonable attorneys’ fees they incur from that claim. This does not apply to the extent a claim results from an error in the Data as we provided it, from our collection or publication of the Data itself rather than your use of it, or from Permit Plotter’s own breach of these Terms, negligence, or violation of law. A claim about whether or how you contacted or solicited someone arises from your conduct, not from the Data as we provided it. We will notify you promptly of any such claim; a delay or failure to notify you reduces your obligations only to the extent it materially prejudices your defense. At our choice, you will either conduct the defense with counsel we reasonably approve or pay the reasonable cost of our own defense as it is incurred, and whichever of us is not conducting the defense may participate at its own expense. We will not settle a claim at your expense without your consent, which you will not unreasonably withhold.

Any claim you bring against Permit Plotter arising out of or relating to the Service, the Data, or these Terms must be brought within one year after the claim accrues or, if applicable law requires, within one year after you knew or reasonably should have known of the facts giving rise to it, whichever is later. A claim not brought within that period is permanently barred, unless the law forbids that time limit for your claim.

These Terms, and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or the Service, are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. The state and federal courts located in Suffolk County, New York have exclusive jurisdiction over any such dispute, and you and we each consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts and waive any objection to venue there.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, YOU AND PERMIT PLOTTER EACH WAIVE THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY IN ANY DISPUTE ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS, THE SERVICE, OR THE DATA.

We may update these Terms. The current version is always posted at permitplotter.com with its effective date, and we will give account holders reasonable advance notice of material changes, such as by email or a notice in the Service. Continued use of the Service after the effective date is acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not accept a change, stop using the Service and, if you subscribe, cancel before your next renewal.

1. Entire agreement. These Terms, together with any plan or pricing terms presented to you when you subscribe, are the entire agreement between you and Permit Plotter about the Service, and they replace all earlier versions of these Terms and all earlier understandings. In using the Service you rely only on these Terms and on your own verification under Section 5, and not on any other statement or description of the Service or the Data.
2. Severability. If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, that part will be limited or removed to the minimum extent necessary, and the rest stays in full force.
3. No waiver. If we do not enforce a provision, that is not a waiver of our right to enforce it later. A waiver is effective only in writing.
4. Assignment. We may assign these Terms, including in connection with a sale or reorganization of the business. You may not assign them without our written consent, and any attempted assignment without consent is void.
5. Notices. Legal notices to Permit Plotter must be sent to legal@permitplotter.com or by mail to Permit Plotter, LLC, P.O. Box 412, Hampton Bays, NY 11946. We may give you notices at the email address on your account or through the Service.
6. Language. These Terms are written in English. Any translation is provided for convenience, and if a translation conflicts with the English version, the English version controls.

Questions about the Service, error reports, account problems, and requests concerning personal information in the records: support@permitplotter.com. Legal notices: legal@permitplotter.com. Mail: Permit Plotter, LLC, P.O. Box 412, Hampton Bays, NY 11946.