I’m doing this on my parents behalf, since they are not able to.

They bought the house ~20 years ago, with an unfinished basement. They had the bedrooms finished, but not the room with the breaker box. Said box is missing the safety cover. It has a flip-down cover over the entire thing, but if you flip it up, all of the wiring is visible. I think the easiest way to fix it is to either buy the cover that would have come with it originally, or to just replace the entire thing.

Would either one of those need permits? (I know it can vary by city, but I’m not sure if unfinished work counts)