Lauderhill, FL Accessory Structures: Garage Conversions (2026)

Section 3.1.12.E.1 of the Land Development Regulations classifies a garage or carport enclosure as a material exterior alteration to an existing single-family home, which means the Community Appearance Committee has to approve the project before the Chief Building Official can issue a permit. Section 3.1.12.G.2 then sets the parking a homeowner must keep on site once a garage or carport conversion adds a bedroom: at least two paved spaces for a two-bedroom-or-fewer home with one inside a garage, three paved spaces for a three-bedroom home with one in a garage, four paved spaces for a four-bedroom home with two in a garage, and for five bedrooms or more, one paved space per bedroom with at least half inside a garage.

Because converting the garage itself removes the covered parking space the standard counts on, a homeowner who turns a garage into a bedroom in RS-4A has to build a new garage or carport elsewhere on the lot, or otherwise show the required number of covered spaces, before the addition can pass inspection. The rule sits inside RS-4A's own development-standards section rather than the base RS-4 district text, because RS-4A applies only to the annexed areas the Regulations name as Broward Estates and St. George.