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Florida’s building permit exemption 2026 is now law. Governor DeSantis signed HB 803 in May, and it takes effect July 1 — which means starting tomorrow, single-family homeowners across the Space Coast can skip the permit process for most repair and improvement work valued under $7,500. It is a meaningful shift, and it comes with nuances worth understanding before you pick up a hammer or call a contractor.

What Florida’s Building Permit Exemption Covers in 2026

HB 803 applies to single-family residential properties. If the work you are doing is valued under $7,500 and does not involve electrical, plumbing, mechanical, gas, or structural systems, you are generally exempt from pulling a permit under the new law. That covers a wide range of common projects. Fence repairs, minor siding work, drywall patching, flooring replacement, interior painting, screen enclosure repairs, and landscaping structures all qualify — provided they do not touch the systems explicitly carved out.

One procedural note: even though the permit requirement is gone, the law still requires homeowners or contractors to submit a written exemption request to the local enforcement agency along with documentation of the work’s nature and value. It is lighter than a full permit application, but it is not zero paperwork.

The new law also includes a provision for temporary hurricane or flood protection walls — those are now exempt regardless of cost, which is relevant for a coastal community like Brevard County that takes storm prep seriously.

What Still Requires a Permit No Matter the Cost

Five categories are explicitly excluded from the exemption regardless of project value: electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical, and gas work. Those still require a permit at any dollar amount. Projects in designated flood hazard areas also remain subject to permitting requirements.

The law is also explicit that you cannot artificially divide a larger project into smaller pieces to fall below the $7,500 threshold. A $20,000 renovation broken into three phases does not become three separate exempt projects. Local enforcement agencies are permitted to scrutinize this, and doing it intentionally creates more legal exposure than the permit process it was trying to avoid.

The HOA Rule Change You May Have Missed

HB 803 includes a provision that most coverage has not highlighted: homeowners’ associations are now prohibited from requiring a building permit as a precondition for their architectural review. If your HOA has previously required you to show a permit before they would even review a proposed improvement, that practice is no longer allowed under Florida law. This is a meaningful quality-of-life change for the many Brevard County communities governed by HOAs.

What This Means If You Are Selling

The Florida building permit exemption 2026 gives sellers a faster path to getting small projects done before listing. Patching walls, replacing damaged flooring, repairing screens, or fixing fence sections under $7,500 can move forward without waiting on permit approval timelines. That can meaningfully compress the prep-to-list window for sellers working on a deadline.

That said, buyers’ home inspectors do not care about permit status — they flag what they see. Work that was done without documentation, whether permitted or exempt, will come up if it is visible or if something goes wrong. Sellers who keep clean records of all work done — including exempt repairs — are in a much stronger position when a buyer’s inspector or attorney starts asking questions.

What This Means If You Are Buying

The Florida building permit exemption 2026 applies only to single-family homes, so buyers should still ask about any recent work on a property — particularly in the months leading up to the listing. Under the new law, a seller may have completed multiple small repairs without permits — that is now legal, but the quality and scope of that work is still worth understanding. Your home inspector will evaluate what they can see. For anything involving the systems still subject to permitting (electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical, gas), verify that proper permits were pulled and closed out.

In the current Space Coast market, buyers have more time and leverage to ask these questions than they did during the competitive years. Use it.

Document Everything Regardless of Whether a Permit Is Required

This is the part that matters most in a hurricane-prone market like Brevard County. Without a permit record, there is no official documentation that work was done, when it was done, or why. That gap can create real problems with insurance claims. If storm damage occurs and you have previously repaired related areas without documentation, an adjuster may challenge whether the damage is new or pre-existing.

The practical guidance: photograph everything before, during, and after any repair. Keep contractor invoices, estimates, and any written exemption submissions. If a storm causes damage that requires repairs, get an engineer evaluation before starting work when there is any possibility of an insurance claim. A permit may no longer be required, but the paper trail still protects you.

If you have questions about how this change affects your plans to sell, buy, or improve your Space Coast home, reach out directly. Knowing how these details interact with your specific situation is where local expertise makes the most difference.

Sources:
NBC Miami — Florida Bill Signed to Drop Permitting from Small Building Projects
Insurance Journal — Florida Governor Signs Bill Dropping Building Permits for Work Valued at $7,500 or Less
GovWell — How Florida HB 803 Changes Building Permits
Florida Senate — CS/CS/HB 803: Building Permits and Inspections