The audit trail nobody builds until they need it

Every operator can eventually produce a permit. Very few can produce the chain: when it was filed, by whom, what was paid, and what came back.

That chain matters in exactly two situations, and both of them are bad. A contested inspection finding, and diligence during a sale.

In diligence, an unprovable licence is treated as a missing one. We have watched it move purchase price.

Build the trail while it is boring. It is not recoverable retroactively.