Halifax Building Permits – Open Data API

Building Permits for Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) only, from the city's official open dataset (~19,200 source rows, merged to one row per permit), via the ArcGIS REST API — no website scraping. Rows repeated per parcel/occupancy are merged into one record per permit.

• Key fields: permitNumber, permitType, workType, status, issuedDate, community, district, estimatedValueCad, netNewUnits, storeys.
• Licence: Open Government Licence – Halifax v1.0; every record carries the required credit and licence link.
• Output: structured JSON, or CSV / Excel from the Apify dataset. Filters run at the source (type, status, issued dates and more), 100 permits by default, up to 50,000 per run with Fetch all on.
• Privacy: street addresses, parcel IDs and free-text descriptions removed; no names or coordinates are exported.
• Cost control: each permit is a billable result (about $0.003). The default is 100 permits per run. Turn on Fetch all to get up to 50,000, and set a maximum cost per run in Apify's run options as a safety limit.

Why not build it yourself? No ArcGIS/Socrata paging, field mapping, date normalising or de-duplication to write and maintain. You get one tidy row per permit with consistent field names and ISO dates.

Price: $0.003 per result (three-tenths of a cent; 1,000 results = $3.00), no start fee. You pay only for permits returned.

What it does

This Actor reads building permits from Halifax Regional Municipality's official open dataset (PPL&C Building Permits, about 19,200 source rows) through the ArcGIS REST query API. It does not scrape the catalogue website.

Each source row can repeat the same permit once per parcel or occupancy. The Actor merges those into one record per permit, with occupancy types collected into a list.

Free open data vs. this Actor

The full dataset is free on the HRM open-data hub. Use that for a one-off download. This Actor is for:

• Filters at the source: work type, status, issued dates, minimum project value, community, district, keyword
• Deduplicated permits: one row per permit, not one row per occupancy
• Privacy trimming: no street addresses, no free-text descriptions, no parcel IDs
• Scheduled runs and Apify API / Sheets / Make / Zapier exports

Who it's for

• Contractors and suppliers (windows, HVAC, roofing, landscaping) watching new work in Halifax
• Developers and real-estate analysts tracking construction and net new units
• Housing researchers counting permits and units by community or district

What data you get

Field	Type	Meaning
permitNumber	string	HRM permit number
permitType	string or null	e.g. Residential, Mixed Use & Commercial
workType	string or null	New Building, Addition, Renovation
status	string or null	e.g. Issued, Completed, In Review
submittedDate	date or null	YYYY-MM-DD
issuedDate	date or null	YYYY-MM-DD
completedDate	date or null	YYYY-MM-DD
expiryDate	date or null	YYYY-MM-DD
community	string or null	e.g. HALIFAX, DARTMOUTH, BEDFORD
district	string or null	Council district
estimatedValueCad	number or null	Estimated project value in CAD
structureType	string or null	Structure category
occupancyTypes	array	Occupancy labels merged from duplicate rows
existingUnits	integer or null	Units before the work
totalEndUnits	integer or null	Units after the work
netNewUnits	integer or null	Net new units
storeys	integer or null	Storeys
footprintArea	number or null	Footprint area
buildingHeight	number or null	Building height
source	string	Dataset credit link
licence	string	OGL—Halifax attribution

Sample output (real local run, New Building, issued since 2025-01-01, value ≥ $1M)

issuedDate	permitNumber	workType	community	estimatedValueCad	netNewUnits
2026-10-13	BPCOM-2024-06233	New Building	HALIFAX	43,800,000	439

JSON example:

{
  "permitNumber": "BPCOM-2024-06233",
  "permitType": "Mixed Use & Commercial Building Permit",
  "workType": "New Building",
  "status": "Issued",
  "issuedDate": "2026-10-13",
  "community": "HALIFAX",
  "district": "District 07",
  "estimatedValueCad": 43800000,
  "occupancyTypes": ["Retail Use", "Clinic", "Residential Use", "Parking Structure"],
  "totalEndUnits": 439,
  "netNewUnits": 439,
  "storeys": 30,
  "source": "https://data-hrm.hub.arcgis.com/ (PPL&C Building Permits)",
  "licence": "Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax (https://data-hrm.hub.arcgis.com/pages/open-data-licence)"
}

How to use it

1. Open the Actor and click Start.
2. Optionally set filters (work type, dates, min value, community, keyword).
3. Set Max permits (default 100, up to 50,000), or turn on Fetch all (all ~16,800 Halifax permits ≈ $50). Set a maximum cost per run in Apify if you want a hard spending limit.
4. Run, then open the Permits table or export JSON / CSV / Excel.

Input options

Option	Key	Description
Permit type contains	permitType	e.g. Residential, Mixed Use & Commercial
Work type	workType	any, New Building, Addition, or Renovation
Status contains	status	e.g. Issued, Completed
Date from	dateFrom	YYYY-MM-DD, issued on/after (older name issuedFrom still works)
Date to	dateTo	YYYY-MM-DD, issued on/before (older name issuedTo still works)
Minimum estimated project value (CAD)	minValue	Whole number, 0 or more
Maximum estimated project value (CAD)	maxValue	Whole number, 0 or more
Community contains	community	e.g. DARTMOUTH, BEDFORD
Council district	district	Number 1–16
Keyword	keyword	Server-side filter on description, structure type, or permit number (descriptions are not returned)
Max permits	maxItems	1–50,000, default 100
Fetch all (up to 50,000 permits)	fetchAll	true/false, default false. About $0.003 per permit

Bad dates or an inverted date range fail before any API call, with a clear error.

Example input:

{ "workType": "New Building", "dateFrom": "2025-01-01", "minValue": 1000000, "community": "HALIFAX", "maxItems": 200 }

Pricing

Pay per result: you are charged only for permits returned (one result = one merged permit). See the Pricing tab for the current rate.

Licence and privacy

• Licence: Open Government Licence—Halifax v1.0. Commercial use is allowed. Every record includes the required credit and a link to the licence.
• No endorsement: this Actor is independent. Do not use HRM names or logos as branding, and do not imply municipal endorsement.
• Privacy: Street addresses (civic number and street name), work scope and free-text work descriptions are removed, as are parcel IDs (PID) and inspection fields. The source has no owner or applicant names. Records still include permit number, permit type, work type, status, dates, community, council district, estimated value, structure/occupancy types and unit counts.

Limits

• Coverage is Halifax Regional Municipality only, not other NS municipalities.
• Data freshness and completeness match the HRM open-data feed. This Actor does not add or correct permits.
• Default 100 permits per run; hard cap 50,000 per run, even with Fetch all. Pages of 1,000 with a 1 s pause between pages.
• Value and unit fields can be null when the source left them blank.

FAQ

Is this scraping? No. It queries the ArcGIS FeatureServer REST API for the PPL&C Building Permits layer.

Does it include applicant or owner names or addresses? No. Names are not in the public source; street addresses, descriptions, PID and inspection fields are dropped.

Can I use it commercially? Yes, under the Open Government Licence—Halifax, with attribution and without implying endorsement.