2026 taxable assessment $550,000 × 1.3998%. Estimate—not a bill or account balance.
OPA also publishes a 2027 assessment of $891,200; it is not the 2026 billed-year value.
Commercial property report
231 Chestnut St
4,344 sqft · CMX3 · built 1900
Store · Hu Kuei Ling · assessed $550K (2026) · 2027 OPA assessment $891K. On the 200 block of Chestnut St.
Property summary
Assessment$550,0002026 OPA assessment · 2027: $891,200
Last sale$135KRecorded 1993
Est. tax bill$7,699/year2026 taxable assessment × 1.3998%
Tax delinquencyNo 2022 matchNot proof account is current
Permits3Every fetched City permit
Violations1 open7 historical across 5 cases
“Open” reflects records available then historical records keep their source dates estimates are labeled
BlockReport AI · cited public records
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Property tax
The estimate, live balance, and back-tax record are different.
BlockReport can calculate the annual tax from the City’s taxable assessment. Payments, credits, interest, and a current amount due live separately in Philadelphia Tax Center.
A Tax Center balance is net of bills, payments, credits, interest, and adjustments. A credit—or an amount due—is not automatically “back taxes.”
OPA 8824888002026 taxable assessment equals the full assessed value.
Historical delinquency sources No current conclusion
This parcel did not match the June 2022 delinquency snapshot. That absence does not confirm the account is current today.
For a purchase, refinance, or closing, request the City’s official Property Payoff statement in Tax Center under “More options.”
What stands out
From the public recordImproved
Why it mattersOwner pulled a electrical permit in 2020.
View supporting records →"Built 1900" is usually a placeholder
Why it mattersPhiladelphia records use 1900 as a stand-in when the real construction year was never documented. Treat the age as unknown, not as 120+ years.
View supporting records →City Property History
Fetched L&I and zoning records
Every row successfully fetched for this report is counted below. Dataset availability and matching can differ from the City's interactive file; use the official link for current detail.
- Recorded owner
- Hu Kuei Ling
- Tax mailing address
- 113 BROWN ST, PHILADELPHIA PA, 19123
- L&I district
- CENTRAL EAST
- Building ID (BIN)
- 1544950
- OPA account
- 882488800
Permits3Every dated permit
Violation cases57 violation records · 1 open
Investigations1912 failed · 6 passed · 1 closed
Building certifications1Latest result: Safe with Repair
Business licenses10 active
Appeals1OPEN
PermitsPermit number, issued date, work and City status3
AlterationPermit 647938
Oct 27, 2015 COMPLETED Completed Dec 9, 2015
REPLACE WIDNOWS-COMMERCIAL
Addition and/or AlterationPermit 895113
Mar 14, 2019 Expired Completed Apr 17, 2024
FOR ENCLOSING EXISTING VERTICAL OPENINGS FOR THE ELEVATOR WITH 1-HR FIRE RATED ASSEMBLY AND INFILL THE MISSING PORTION TO ENCLOSE THE EXISTING VERTICAL OPENINGS FOR THE STAIRWAY WITH 1-HR FIRE RATED ASSEMBLY AND 1-HR FIRE RATED DOOR AT THE OPENING TO CORRECT THE FIRE CODE VIOLATION CASE#263097. ALL CONDITIONS SHALL BE MET PER BBS VARIANCE CASE#35398. 1.INSTALL LIMITED AREA SPRINKLERS ON EACH FLOOR INCLUDING THE BASEMENT OR CLOSE OFF THE FOURTH FLOOR; 2. INSTALL 1-HOUR ELEVATOR SHAFT; 3. LIMIT OCCUPANCY TO NO MORE THAN 5 PERSONS TOTAL ABOVE THE FIRST FLOOR. SEPARATE PERMIT REQUIRED FOR LIMITED FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM OR CLOSING OFF THE FOURTH FLOOR.
ElectricalPermit 1042336
Feb 25, 2020 COMPLETED Completed Mar 4, 2020
MINOR ELECTRICAL LIGHTING AND MISCELLANEOUS RELOCATIONS TO ACCOMODATE NEW 1 HOUR ELEVATOR SHAFT FIRE RATING PER 2008 NEC (CC DIST)
Violation cases7 individual violation records; resolved history remains visible5
Case 424933CLOSED
STANDARD · Opened Apr 3, 2014 · completed May 20, 2014
- EXT ADDRESS NUMBERSViolation 3132641Apr 1, 2014 COMPLIED
Case 457329CLOSED
STANDARD · Opened Oct 18, 2014 · completed Oct 24, 2014
- RENEW LIC INDICATEDViolation 3363481Oct 18, 2014 COMPLIED
Case 597230CLOSED
STANDARD · Opened Aug 2, 2017 · completed May 22, 2018
- FIRE ESCAPE MATERIALS/STRENGTHViolation 4543252Jul 25, 2017 COMPLIED
Case 622641CLOSED
STANDARD · Opened Feb 20, 2018 · completed Feb 12, 2019
- OPERATIONS/CONSTRUCTION PERMITViolation 4815107Feb 20, 2018 COMPLIED
- MORE THAN THREE STORIESViolation 4815109Feb 20, 2018 COMPLIED
- OPEN JUNCTION BOXESViolation 4815108Feb 20, 2018 COMPLIED
Case CF-2023-018415IN VIOLATION
NOTICE OF VIOLATION · Opened Mar 7, 2023
- FIRE ESCAPE REPORT REQUIRED Violation VI-2023-013704Mar 7, 2023 OPEN
InvestigationsEvery inspector visit, including CLOSED outcomes19
BC INSPCase 49115
Apr 5, 2006 FAILED
BC INSPCase 49115
Apr 5, 2006 PASSED
CI INSPCase 424933
Apr 1, 2014 FAILED
CI INSPCase 424933
May 16, 2014 PASSED
CI INSPCase 457329
Oct 18, 2014 FAILED
CI INSPCase 457329
Oct 23, 2014 PASSED
CI INSPCase 597230
Jul 25, 2017 FAILED
CI INSPCase 597230
Oct 3, 2017 FAILED
CI INSPCase 597230
Dec 19, 2017 CLOSED
PRECOURTCase 597230
Feb 2, 2018 PASSED
CI INSPCase 622641
Feb 20, 2018 FAILED
CI INSPCase 622641
Apr 24, 2018 FAILED
CI INSPCase 622641
Sep 17, 2018 PASSED
CI INSPCase 622641
Feb 11, 2019 PASSED
L&I investigationCase CF-2023-018415
Mar 7, 2023 FAILED
L&I investigationCase CF-2023-018415
May 8, 2023 FAILED
L&I investigationCase CF-2023-018415
Aug 3, 2023 FAILED
L&I investigationCase CF-2023-018415
Oct 25, 2023 FAILED
L&I investigationCase CF-2023-018415
Jul 24, 2025 FAILED
Building certificationsInspection result and filed expiration date by L&I building ID1
Fire Escape ReportCertification BC-2023-001770
Inspected Nov 20, 2017 Safe with Repair Expires Nov 20, 2022
Business licensesHistorical and active licenses are both retained1
Food Establishment, Retail Permanent LocationLicense 199082
KUEI L HU (XENOS CANDY N GIFTS)
Revenue code 3118 · First issued Jun 8, 2004 Inactive Expiration Apr 30, 2026 Inactive Jun 29, 2026
AppealsApplication status and decision are separate City fields1
Building standards appealAppeal 35398
Nov 8, 2018 OPEN Related permit 895113
ON 09/27/2018, THE DEPARTMENT OF LICENSES AND INSPECTIONS ISSUED A NOTICE OF REFUSAL FOR APPLICATION #895113.
City of Philadelphia OPA, L&I and Zoning Board records, shown as filed. A CLOSED investigation is an outcome label, not a missing visit; an appeal's application status and decision may differ.
Legal due diligence
What this record proves—and what it does not.
These checks are triggered by this property’s actual City rows. They identify the controlling document to verify; they do not declare a use legal, a building safe, or title clear.
3 resolve before relying
3 verify
Resolve before relyingA permit row needs file-level verification1 permit not marked completed: 895113 (Expired). At least one row also carries a completion date, so the City fields conflict.
Why it mattersIssued work is not the same as approved final work. L&I uses final inspections and required certifications to close construction permits; expired, withdrawn, and completed are different City statuses.
Verify nextOpen the permit file and confirm final inspections, holds, and any resulting occupancy certificate.
Open the controlling City guidance ↗Resolve before relying1 open L&I violation7 violation rows are retained in the City ledger.
Why it mattersOpen notices can accrue fees, block permits or license renewal, and move to court or collection. Standard initial notices generally have a 30-day appeal window; unsafe or imminently-dangerous notices have a much shorter window.
Verify nextRead the notice—not only the summary status—and confirm reinspection, fees, and appeal posture with L&I.
Open the controlling City guidance ↗Resolve before relyingA life-safety certification appears expiredFire Escape Report: Safe with Repair through Nov 20, 2022
Why it mattersFire-protection certifications apply to the named system and inspection period only; they are not a whole-building safety certificate. Philadelphia generally requires annual sprinkler, standpipe, fire-alarm, special-hazard, and emergency-power inspections where those systems exist.
Verify nextRequest the correction/reinspection and current filed certificate.
Open the controlling City guidance ↗VerifyFailed inspections are dated events—not the current condition12 failed, 6 passed, and 1 CLOSED investigation outcome are in the fetched history; the latest dated visit was FAILED on Jul 24, 2025.
Why it mattersA PASSED or FAILED value applies to that inspection visit. CLOSED is a separate source status; none of the three alone proves the parent permit or violation case closed—or describes today’s condition.
Verify nextOpen the parent case/permit for each material failure and confirm its later disposition.
Open the controlling City guidance ↗VerifyA historical business license is not current operating authorityFood Establishment, Retail Permanent Location #199082: Inactive since Jun 29, 2026
Why it mattersA license record proves the licensed activity existed at that time. An inactive or expired license does not establish that the business still operates—or that it may legally reopen under the same use.
Verify nextIf business income matters, verify the current tenant, use registration, and active license in eCLIPSE.
Open the controlling City guidance ↗VerifyA separate Commercial Trash account may applyOPA classifies the parcel as commercial. BlockReport does not receive a current Commercial Trash account balance.
Why it mattersPhiladelphia charges qualifying small commercial, mixed-use, and multi-unit properties that use City collection; exemptions and private collection can change applicability. A use category alone does not prove a fee is due.
Verify nextCheck the Commercial Trash account inside the date-effective Property Payoff.
Open the controlling City guidance ↗Closing file: checks no public-record summary can replace3 documents/searches to assign before settlement
Property Sales Certification
The seller must obtain Philadelphia’s certificate showing the base zoning, last use in the zoning record, and open violations. The City warns that it does not prove Building Code occupancy or show zoning overlays.
Next: Obtain the fresh certificate and compare it with the CO, permits, and Atlas overlays.
Official guidance ↗Date-effective City Property Payoff
The Tax Center Property Payoff covers Real Estate Tax, Commercial Trash, and L&I abatement-work invoices. Philadelphia says it does not include business-tax debts or liens, water and sewer charges, or fines for code violations.
Next: Request the City statement effective through settlement; read every period and invoice.
Official guidance ↗Professional title and water-lien searches
OPA ownership, deed summaries, and a zero tax balance are not clear title. Mortgages, judgments, municipal claims, water liens, easements, heirs, and other encumbrances require separate searches.
Next: Use a Pennsylvania lawyer/title company and obtain owner’s title insurance; order the separate water search/payoff.
Official guidance ↗Separate water-lien guidance ↗Informational only—not a legal opinion, title report, code inspection, tax payoff, or substitute for a Pennsylvania lawyer, title company, inspector, or tax professional.
Records to verify together
Rule-based groupings across this property's dated public records. Each flag shows the records that belong in the same verification step and where the inference stops.
Records to verify together
More than one separately dated public record deserves a current-status check.
Evidence: 1 open L&I violation · failed L&I inspection activity in 2023, 2025
Limit: A screening signal, not a foreclosure prediction. Tax entries are historical and must be verified with Philadelphia Revenue.
Assessment/permit mismatch
The assessment jumped 62% in 2027, but no matching permit appears in the property timeline.
Evidence: assessment moved from $550,000 to $891,200 · no permit shown in 2026-2028
Limit: Not proof of unpermitted work; reassessment, corrected data, or a permit under another parcel can also explain it.
Transparent record rules, not a score or forecast. Each flag is a prompt to verify the cited records, not a prediction or allegation.
Commercial propertyProperty report
This is a store, recorded under the city's commercial category. The homeowner tools (rent estimate, homestead playbook) don't apply, so they're hidden. The full record and owner trail are below.
1 open violation
What it is
Store
Store 4 Sty Masonry
Owner
Hu Kuei Ling
OPA tax treatment
Assessed $550K
Taxable assessment on the roll
$ / sq ft
$205
above the $130 median for 12,035 commercial parcels citywide
Corridor
Old City
city commercial corridor
Assessed value
$550,000
2026 OPA · 2027: $891,200
Interior area
4,344 sqft
Lot size
1,252 sqft
Built
1900
Zoning
CMX3
Where the record looks off
Places where the city's own paperwork disagrees with itself. These are flags on the data — not problems with the property.
"Built 1900" is usually a placeholder
Philadelphia records use 1900 as a stand-in when the real construction year was never documented. Treat the age as unknown, not as 120+ years.
Block context
231 Chestnut St sits on the 200 block of Chestnut St. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.
See the whole block →Next door: 229 Chestnut St · 229 Chestnut St
Where this comes from
- Assessment, spec sheet & owner — OPA Property Assessments, Office of Property Assessment
- Sales & deed history — Realty Transfer Tax records, Recorder of Deeds
- Permits, violations & inspections — L&I Property History · Atlas
- Tax delinquency snapshot · June 2022 — Real Estate Tax Delinquencies, Dept. of Revenue
- Historical tax ledger & liens · through 2016 — Real Estate Tax Balances, Dept. of Revenue
- Current property-tax balance — Verify with Philadelphia Revenue
- Zoning appeals — L&I & Zoning Board appeals
- Neighborhood income & rents — US Census ACS 5-year estimates
- Historical mortgage rates — Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, annual averages
- Imagery — Street photo © Google · Aerial © Esri, Maxar
Methodology & freshness
This report was assembled Jul 10, 2026, 4:12 AM ET. Available City datasets are queried from OpenDataPhilly (phl.carto.com) and the cited City ArcGIS feeds; record queries paginate rather than silently taking a first page. For this property: Permits: queried · Violations: queried · Investigations: queried · Appeals: queried · Licenses: queried · Building certifications: queried. “Unavailable” means the source query failed or was not supplied, not “no record.” Reports re-pull on view after seven days and on an overnight rolling schedule; citywide benchmarks recompute weekly. Source dates still govern: the parcel-level tax-delinquency snapshot is June 2022 and the separate detailed tax ledger ends in 2016, so neither establishes today’s balance. The live balance and date-effective payoff must be verified in Tax Center. AI-written passages are grounded in the assembled record and rejected if they state a number the record does not hold.
Official city record ↗ · L&I history ↗ · See the whole block · Download this record (JSON)