How to Search the Detroit Blight Ticket Database
Category: Operational Guide
Keywords: Detroit blight ticket search, check tickets online
There are two ways to find blight tickets in Detroit: The "Free/Manual" way and the "Automated" way.
Method 1: The City Open Data Portal (Socrata)
The City of Detroit publishes a dataset called "Blight Violations" on its Open Data Portal.
- Pros: It is free.
- Cons: It is raw data. It is not always real-time. It requires you to search exactly by street address (e.g., typing "St" instead of "Street" might return zero results).
Method 2: The DAH Payment Portal
You can search by address on the payment kiosk website.
- Pros: Shows real-time balance.
- Cons: No alerts. You have to remember to log in and check every single property, every single week.
The Problem with Manual Searching
The risk isn't that you can't find the data. The risk is Human Error.
- If you manage 20 properties, checking them weekly requires 1,040 manual searches a year.
- If you forget for 3 weeks, and a ticket was issued on Day 1, you have already missed the 21-Day Default Window.
Method 3: Detroit Compliance (Automated)
We connect directly to the docket data.
- Zero Searching: You upload your portfolio once.
- Push Notifications: We text you when a ticket appears.
- Defense Prep: We provide the legal templates to fight it.