The Florida Senate

CS/CS/HB 803 amends provisions related to the Florida Building Code (Building Code), building permit requirements, and requirements related to inspections and private providers, including:

           Providing for 1-year expiration for building permits for single-family dwellings.

           Providing building permit requirements for placement of manufactured housing in certain locations including mobile home lots and single-family zoning districts.

           Requiring the development of uniform commercial and residential building permit applications.

           Providing limitations for the calculation of local government building inspection fees.

           Requiring local governments, except in flood hazard areas, to exempt from building permitting:

   Work on single-family residential property valued at $7,500 or less, excluding any electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical, or gas work; and

   The installation of temporary residential hurricane and flood walls meeting specified standards.

           Requiring issuance of a building permit for a retaining wall spanning more than one lot or parcel for the project as a whole.

           Restricting local government glazing requirements for new commercial or mixed-use projects.

           Requiring a 5-day response timeframe for permit applications for work valued less than $15,000.

           Prohibiting homeowners’ associations from requiring the issuance of a building permit as a prerequisite for review of construction on a parcel.

As it relates to Building Code inspection and private provider services, the bill:

           Requires the Department of Management Services to enter into state term contracts with vendors to provide building code inspection services.

           Authorizes persons meeting minimum requirements to perform building inspection and plans examination services for 1 year following state of emergency declarations.

           Requires a local government, rather than optionally allowing it, to establish a registration system for private providers and private provider firms operating in the local government’s jurisdiction.

           Requires local governments to reduce commercial construction permit fees by specified percentages.

           Substantially revises requirements related to private provider services, including:

   Limitations on local government authority related to supervision and application reviews.

   Requirements related to notifications related to applications and corrective actions.

   Revisions of local government fee calculations when private provider services are used.

If approved by the Governor, or allowed to become law without the Governor's signature, these provisions take effect on July 1, 2026.

Vote: Senate 37-0; House 109-0