Do I need a permit to replace windows in Chicago?

The five questions that decide it

Chicago publishes no decision tree. It publishes two exemption lists, a definition, a caveat for historic property, and separate eligibility rules for its streamlined permit route. Together they come to five questions, answered in this order, because the first two often settle it before the rest matter.

• One. Is the work in-kind, in the existing opening?
• Two. What building, and how many stories above grade?
• Three. Landmark, proposed landmark, or landmark district?
• Four. Fire-rated glass, a fire escape, or a lot line nearby?
• Five. Is anyone cutting a new opening or resizing an old one?

Question one: is it in-kind, in the existing opening?

This is where most jobs are decided, and the city's wording is narrow. Chicago defines it in one sentence: "In-kind replacement" means replacement of existing materials, objects, or elements using new materials, objects, or elements of the same type, size, and shape.

Three tests, and all three have to pass. Same type means a double-hung window is replaced by a double-hung window, not by a casement or a fixed picture unit. Same size means the unit fills the opening that is already there, without it being widened, shortened, squared off or bricked in at the bottom. Same shape means an arched head stays arched.

The exemption is usually lost in the sales conversation, not the installation. A homeowner replacing eight original double-hung sashes is shown a casement for the kitchen because it opens wider over the sink, and the job quietly stops being in-kind. That is not a reason to refuse the change. It is a reason to know that the change is what brings the permit.

Definition read at chicago.gov, 2026-08-11.

Question two: what building, and how tall?

Chicago publishes two lists, and the difference between them is the most useful thing on this page. The first applies to every building in the city. Quoted exactly:

A building permit is not required for the following types of work in any building:

• Repairing damage to an existing window or exterior door
• Replacing glass in an existing window sash or door frame
• Replacing (in-kind) an existing ground-level window, including the frame, provided that the work does not require cutting away or removal of any portion of an exterior wall
• Installing, maintaining, or removing a storm window
• Installing, maintaining, or removing an insect screen

Read that third line carefully. In any building, the full in-kind window exemption reaches ground level only. The second list is where a typical Chicago house sits:

A building permit is also not required for the following types of work in a residential building up to 4 stories above grade or an associated accessory building (such as a garage) on the same lot:

• Repairing or replacing (in-kind) an exterior window or skylight in the existing opening
• Repairing or replacing (in-kind) an exterior door in the existing opening
• Repairing or replacing (in-kind) exterior wood, vinyl, aluminum, fiber cement, stucco, or EIFS siding
• Removing and replacing (in-kind) up to 50 square feet of masonry (brick or concrete)

Both lists read at chicago.gov, 2026-08-11.

Chicago's residential stock lands mostly inside the second list. A bungalow, a greystone, a two-flat, a three-flat and a coach house are residential buildings up to four stories above grade, so in-kind window replacement anywhere in them, attic included, is on the city's no-permit list. A building that runs five stories above grade is not, and neither is a high-rise condominium. Those get the shorter any-building list, and everything above ground level needs a permit.

Question three: is it a landmark, or in a landmark district?

This is the question most likely to change the answer, and Chicago's own wording is a hedge rather than a rule. Directly under the exemption lists, the city prints:

Historic Buildings. These exceptions may not apply to work on a property that is a proposed or designated Chicago Landmark or part of a proposed or designated Chicago Landmark district. For more information, contact the Historic Preservation Division in the Department of Planning and Development.

"May not apply" is not "do not apply", and the city does not publish which exemptions survive landmark status. That gap is real and it is not ours to fill. On landmark property, stop treating the exemption as settled and ask before you order windows. The Historic Preservation Division is who the city itself points you to.

Checking your address is awkward. There is no instant single-address lookup on chicago.gov. What exists:

• The Chicago Landmark Address List, a PDF organized as street name, address range, landmark name. Rows read like "E. 18th St. | 205 thru 315 (odds) | Prairie Avenue District" and "E. 8th St. | 68 thru 98 (evens) | Historic Michigan Boulevard District". It covers individual landmarks and districts, and it is the closest thing to an address check the city offers.
• The Chicago Landmark Name List, useful once you know the district name.
• The Chicago Historic Resources Survey, a database of buildings constructed before 1940. Its search form takes architect, community, street name, style and year, so it searches by street, not by full address. A survey listing is not landmark designation, and confusing the two is an easy mistake.
• The Historic Preservation Division, Department of Planning and Development, 312.744.3200, [email protected]. One call settles it.

All four read at chicago.gov, 2026-08-11.

Question four: fire-rated glass, fire escapes and lot lines

These are not on the exemption lists at all. They sit in the eligibility rules for the city's streamlined permit route, so they answer a different question: not whether you need a permit, but whether the fast route is open if you do. Chicago's list of work that is not eligible for the Express Permit Program window worktype:

• Creating a new opening in an exterior wall or roof for a new window, door, or skylight
• Replacing a window or door that has or is required to have fire-rated glass
• Replacing a window or door within 10 feet of a fire escape
• In a building with more than 3 stories, replacing a window in a wall that is within 2 feet of a lot line that separates two properties
• Installing a new window, door, or skylight that does not meet minimum energy efficiency requirements of the Chicago Energy Transformation Code

Read at chicago.gov, 2026-08-11.

Chicago lots are narrow and buildings sit close together, so fire-rated glass and lot lines are not edge cases here. A window in a wall two feet from the neighboring property is ordinary. The limit of what the city publishes, stated plainly: chicago.gov does not join these two documents up. It never says what happens when a window is exempt under Section 14A-4-402 and also carries a condition the express route excludes. If your window has fire-rated glass or sits within 10 feet of a fire escape, ask the Department of Buildings rather than assuming your way through.

Question five: is anyone cutting a new opening?

Then the answer is a straightforward yes, you need a permit, and the express route is closed. The Express Permit Program terms say it in two sentences: "This permit does not authorize creation of any new openings" and "This permit does not authorize any increase or decrease in the size of existing wall or roof openings." New openings are a structural change to an exterior wall and they go through the standard permit process, with drawings. Enlarging a basement window for egress, squaring off an arched head, and converting a window to a door all land here.

Read at chicago.gov, 2026-08-11.

The answer, branch by branch

Two answers for every job: whether Chicago's no-permit list covers it, and which route you take if it does not.

Your job	On the city's no-permit list?	If a permit is needed
Same type, size and shape, existing opening, residential building up to four stories above grade	Yes. No building permit	Nothing to file. Codes still apply
Same type, size and shape, ground-level window, any building, no wall cut away	Yes. No building permit	Nothing to file. Codes still apply
Repairing a window, or replacing glass in an existing sash	Yes. Any building	Nothing to file
Storm window or insect screen, installed or removed	Yes. Any building	Nothing to file
In-kind, existing opening, above ground level, residential building over four stories or a non-residential building	No	Express Permit Program to seven stories, taller with architect or engineer drawings
Different window type, or a unit that changes the opening size	No. Not in-kind	Express route closed if the opening size changes. Standard permit
New opening cut in an exterior wall or roof	No	Standard permit with drawings. Express route closed
Fire-rated glass, or a window within 10 feet of a fire escape	City does not say. Ask	Express route closed. Ask the Department of Buildings
Building over three stories, window in a wall within two feet of a lot line	City does not say. Ask	Express route closed. Ask the Department of Buildings
Any of the above on a designated or proposed Chicago Landmark, or in a landmark district	Treat as unsettled. The city says the exceptions "may not apply"	Contact the Historic Preservation Division before ordering windows

Built from the exemption lists, the in-kind definition, the Historic Buildings caveat and the Express Permit Program eligibility rules, all read at chicago.gov, 2026-08-11. Where the city publishes no answer, the table says so instead of inventing one.

What "no permit required" does not mean

It means no paperwork. It does not mean no standard, and Chicago says so in the same breath as the exemption:

Any work performed without a building permit, as allowed by Section 14A-4-402 of the Municipal Code, must still comply with all applicable requirements of the Chicago Construction Codes. Section 14A-4-402 does not waive any applicable requirements of the Chicago Construction Codes or of the Municipal Code other than the requirement to obtain a building permit.

Read at chicago.gov, 2026-08-11.

The city's own permit terms are a useful proxy for the standard the finished window is judged against. Under the Express Permit Program a replacement window "must have an equal or greater area of transparent or translucent glazing as the window or skylight it replaces", and in a residential building it "may not have less openable area than the widows it replaces" (the typo is the city's). The same terms require opening control devices "that limit the opening to less than 4 inches within 42 inches above the floor when the windowsill is less than 36 inches above the floor". Permit or no permit, a replacement that shrinks the glass, shrinks the openable area, or drops child fall protection on a low sill is the wrong window.

Express Permit Program terms and conditions, read at chicago.gov, 2026-08-11.

If you do need a permit: the express route

Chicago launched the Express Permit Program on 6 November 2023, replacing the older Easy Permit Process, and it runs a dedicated worktype called Exterior Window or Door Replacement. The city describes it as a route that "offers a streamlined way to obtain a building permit for replacement of doors, windows, and skylights in existing exterior wall and roof openings". Eligible work is "Replacing a window in an existing wall opening in a building up to 7 stories tall", the same for an exterior door of the same type and for a skylight in an existing roof opening, and the same work in a taller building "With drawings prepared by an Illinois-licensed architect or structural engineer".

Every application needs a licensed general contractor, whose required class (A to E) is set by the project cost, plus at least one existing condition photograph and an energy and water efficiency compliance form. A condominium property also needs a condominium association approval letter, which is where a lot of condo owners discover their association has a window standard of its own. Step by step detail is on the Express Permit Program page.

Express Permit Program instructions and overview, read at chicago.gov, 2026-08-11.

No fee figure appears on this page. Chicago publishes no window-permit amount that was readable at the source on 2026-08-11, and this site does not repeat a number it cannot trace to the agency that charges it. Ask the Department of Buildings for the current fee for your worktype and project cost. If a contractor's quote carries a permit line item, ask which city fee it corresponds to, and what the rest of the line covers.

The landmark route, in more detail

Landmark status does not add a permit. It adds a reviewer. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks "reviews all permit applications for alteration, construction, reconstruction, erection, demolition, relocation, or other work" on designated or proposed Chicago Landmarks and in landmark districts, and the Department of Buildings "routes building permit applications to Commission staff for review as part of the building permit process."

Two facts calm the process down. First: "No additional City permits are required for Landmark buildings." Second: the Commission "annually reviews some 2,000 permits for Landmark properties, most of which are approved in one day." Window replacement is also absent from the city's list of project types that go to a public-meeting review (new infill construction, corner garages, visible additions and dormers, certain signage, driveways and curb cuts, larger demolitions). Reading those together, routine window work is handled at staff level unless staff refer it up. That sentence is our inference from two quoted passages, not a city statement. What is protected is also narrower than people expect: "For most landmark districts, the significant features typically are the exterior building elevations visible from the public right-of-way except regarding work involving demolition."

The submission standard is where the work is. For new windows the Commission asks for "Large-scale side-by-side drawings of the existing and proposed windows for each window type, including elevations, cross and longitudinal sections, and details", plus existing condition photographs and product information, and staff "may defer review of an application until the submittals are complete". Before filing, the Commission "encourages applicants to seek its advice and guidance". The whole process, including what the 1992 guidelines expect of a replacement window, is on the landmark and historic district page.

Commission permit application submission requirements (dated 5 December 2024), the Commission's published questions and answers, and the Historic Preservation Division permit review page. All read at chicago.gov, 2026-08-11.

The Permit Fee Waiver, named and not priced

A Permit Fee Waiver may be available for designated Chicago Landmark property, including buildings in landmark districts. The city administers it, it requires an ordinance passed by City Council for the individual property, and it reaches only permits for which Commission approval is required. The application is four documents: the Permit Fee Waiver Form, personal profile information, an Economic Disclosure Statement, and an affidavit of child support compliance.

The order is unforgiving. The city does not accept a waiver application after the permit has been issued, so a homeowner who files for the window permit first has given the waiver up, and the City Council step takes real time. No amounts, timelines or eligibility figures appear here on purpose. Those change, the city owns them, and the city's own waiver page is the current version. It is also unresolved in the published documents whether a window permit reviewed at staff level counts as one "for which Commission approval is required", so ask before counting on it.

Permit Fee Waiver form and instructions, read at chicago.gov, 2026-08-11.

You may not need any of this

Three honest outs, in the order they save you money.

• You may not need a permit. In-kind, existing openings, residential building up to four stories above grade, no landmark status: the city's own list says a building permit is not required. Nothing to file, nothing to pay, nobody to schedule.
• You may not need to pay anyone to handle it. Permit handling is a real service on a job that needs a permit. On a job that does not, it is a line item for paperwork nobody files. Ask which part of your scope triggers it.
• You may not need new windows. This is the city's position on historic buildings, quoted from the Guidelines for Alterations to Historic Buildings and New Construction, adopted 4 March 1992 and still the published version: "The first and best answer to the question of how to treat windows is not to replace them but rather to retain and repair the existing sash and frames. Where this is not possible, replacing only deteriorated parts an new sill or a sash for instance is preferable to total replacement." (Quoted exactly as the city prints it, including the missing words in the second sentence.) The same guidelines take on the energy argument directly: "properly weather-stripped, single-glazed sash can greatly reduce or eliminate air infiltration between sash and frame where most energy is lost. The cost of weather stripping is nominal compared to the price of replacement windows, yet the effect can be considerable."

That guidance is written for landmark property and is not a citywide rule. It is also the only place in Chicago's published material where the city weighs repair against replacement, and it points the opposite way from the sales conversation you are about to have. Worth reading before a whole-house replacement is priced, landmarked or not.

Guidelines for Alterations to Historic Buildings and New Construction, adopted 4 March 1992, read at chicago.gov, 2026-08-11.

What we could not confirm

Four gaps, stated rather than papered over. Each is a place where the city publishes nothing we could read, and where a page that sounded certain would be making it up.

• Whether landmark property can use the Express Permit Program for windows. The word landmark appears nowhere in the program's window instructions, terms or overview. The city neither allows nor excludes it in writing.
• Which exemptions survive landmark status. The city's only statement is "may not apply", and it enumerates nothing.
• Whether a fee waiver reaches a routine window permit. The waiver covers permits requiring Commission approval, and the Commission reviews all landmark permit applications. The two documents do not join up.
• The Municipal Code text itself. Section 14A-4-402 and the landmark ordinance sections are cited by number on chicago.gov but hosted off site. Not read in full, so not quoted.

What to ask before you sign

Five questions, in the order that gets useful answers. A contractor who answers them cleanly is telling you something real about the job.

• Is every unit the same type, size and shape as what it replaces? If not, which ones change and why?
• Does any part of this scope cut, enlarge or reduce an opening?
• Which specific part of my job requires a permit, and which city fee is the permit line on this quote?
• Is my property a landmark or in a landmark district, and who is checking?
• Do the replacement units keep at least the same glazing area and openable area, and do they carry opening control devices where the sill is low?

Where to go next

• The Express Permit Program, step by step, for the jobs that do need a permit: eligibility, uploads, contractor class and the terms you are agreeing to.
• Landmark and historic district window work, for the review process, the drawings the Commission asks for, and the 1992 guidelines in full.
• The condo and high-rise page, if you own a condominium. It is where this site answers who actually owns the window, what the association approval letter involves, and how height changes the permit route.
• How we source everything on this site, including what we refuse to publish and why.

Sources

Every rule above was read at chicago.gov on 2026-08-11: the Guide to Building Permits exterior worktype pages (exemption lists, in-kind definition, Historic Buildings caveat, Section 14A-4-402 statement); the Express Permit Program instructions, terms and overview; the Commission on Chicago Landmarks submission requirements dated 5 December 2024 and its published questions and answers; the 1992 Guidelines for Alterations to Historic Buildings and New Construction; the Permit Fee Waiver form; the landmark address and name lists and the Chicago Historic Resources Survey; and the Historic Preservation Division permit review page. No competitor site, contractor blog or search-engine summary was used as a source here.

Straight answers

Questions Chicago homeowners ask

Does changing the window style count as in-kind replacement?

No. Chicago defines in-kind replacement as replacement "of the same type, size, and shape". A double-hung sash swapped for a casement is not the same type, and a unit that changes the opening is not the same size. Either one takes you out of the exemption and into a permit. It is the most common way an exemption gets lost, because the change usually arrives as a suggestion from the person selling the windows. Read at chicago.gov 2026-08-11.

My building is five stories. Does the four-story exemption help me?

Not for the upper floors. The full in-kind window exemption is written for "a residential building up to 4 stories above grade or an associated accessory building (such as a garage) on the same lot". Above that, only the any-building items apply: repairing a window, replacing glass in an existing sash, storm windows, insect screens, and in-kind replacement of a ground-level window where no part of the exterior wall is cut away. Everything else needs a permit, and the Express Permit Program covers existing openings in a building up to seven stories tall, or taller with drawings by an Illinois-licensed architect or structural engineer. Read at chicago.gov 2026-08-11.

How do I find out whether my address is a landmark or in a landmark district?

Chicago publishes no instant single-address lookup. It publishes a Chicago Landmark Address List as a PDF, organized by street name and address range, covering individual landmarks and districts, plus a Landmark Name List and a separate Chicago Historic Resources Survey whose search form takes a street name rather than a full address. Careful with that last one: a survey listing is not landmark designation. The reliable answer is the Historic Preservation Division at the Department of Planning and Development, 312.744.3200 or [email protected], which is who the city tells you to contact. Read at chicago.gov 2026-08-11.

If no permit is required, does that mean no rules apply?

No, and the city says so in writing. "Any work performed without a building permit, as allowed by Section 14A-4-402 of the Municipal Code, must still comply with all applicable requirements of the Chicago Construction Codes. Section 14A-4-402 does not waive any applicable requirements of the Chicago Construction Codes or of the Municipal Code other than the requirement to obtain a building permit." Exempt means no paperwork, not no standard. Egress sizing, fall protection and energy performance still govern the window that goes in. Read at chicago.gov 2026-08-11.

Can I pull the permit myself, or does the contractor have to?

For the Express Permit Program window worktype, the city requires a licensed general contractor on every application, with the contractor class (A to E) set by the project cost. The application also requires at least one existing condition photograph and an energy and water efficiency compliance form, and a condominium property additionally requires a condominium association approval letter. So on the express route this is not a form a homeowner files alone. Read at chicago.gov 2026-08-11.

What does a Chicago window permit cost?

No figure is published here, because no attributable fee amount for this worktype was readable at the city source on 2026-08-11. Publishing a number we cannot trace is exactly the thing this site refuses to do. Ask the Department of Buildings for the current fee for your worktype and project cost, and ask any contractor quoting a permit line item to show you which city fee it corresponds to. Separately, a Permit Fee Waiver may be available for designated Chicago Landmark property; the city administers it and its own page is current.

The contractor says they will handle the permit. Is that a real service?

Sometimes it is, and sometimes it is a line item on a job the city does not require a permit for. Both happen. Ask which specific part of your job triggers the permit and check the answer against the exemption lists on this page. A straight in-kind replacement in the existing openings of a two-flat, on a property with no landmark status, sits on the city's own list of work that does not require a building permit. If the scope changes, so does the answer, which is why the question is worth asking before you sign.