Salt Lake County, UT Accessory Structures: Shed & Carport Rules (2026)
Shed permit rules in Salt Lake County, UT, also referred to as storage shed, backyard shed, or accessory building regulations, set size limits, setbacks, and when a building permit is required.
Key Facts
- Cap, lot under 1/2 acre
- 800 sq ft total accessory area
- Cap, lot 1/2 acre or larger
- 1,200 sq ft total accessory area
- Max accessory building height
- 20 feet
- Max rear-yard coverage
- 25% of the rear yard
- Setback from house
- 6 feet, located in rear yard
- Governing section
- Salt Lake County Code § 19.14.020
Summary
In unincorporated Salt Lake County's R-1 zones, an accessory building like a shed or detached garage stays a permitted use only up to 800 square feet on lots under half an acre, or 1,200 square feet on larger lots; go bigger and it becomes a conditional use needing planning commission approval, under Code Section 19.14.020.
19.14.020 - Permitted uses. Permitted uses in the R-1 zones are as follows: All R-1 zones-Accessory uses and buildings customarily incidental to a permitted use provided the total square footage of all accessory buildings does not exceed eight hundred square feet on lots under one-half acre or one thousand two hundred square feet on lots one-half acre or larger... 19.14.050.B Accessory Buildings: The minimum yard requirements for an accessory building...are as follows: Must be in the rear yard and 6 feet away from the dwelling | 1 foot | 20 feet | 1 foot, except lots which rear upon the side yard of an adjacent lot, in which case the minimum setback shall be 10 feet from the adjoining side yard. 19.14.060.B No building which is accessory to a single-family dwelling shall exceed twenty feet in height. For each foot of height over fourteen feet, accessory buildings shall be set back from property lines an additional foot to allow a maximum height of twenty feet. 19.14.070 No accessory building or group of accessory buildings shall cover more than twenty-five percent of the rear yard.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 49).
Full Breakdown
Salt Lake County's R-1 chapter treats a shed, detached garage or other accessory structure as an outright permitted use, listed alongside the house itself in Section 19.14.020, but only within a hard size cap: the combined square footage of all accessory buildings on the lot cannot exceed 800 square feet on a lot under half an acre, or 1,200 square feet on a lot of half an acre or more. Exceed that cap and the same section reclassifies the structure as a conditional use, which needs a public hearing and approval from the planning commission under Chapter 19.84 rather than an over-the-counter building permit.
Placement is separately controlled by Section 19.14.050(B): an accessory building must stand in the rear yard, at least 6 feet from the main dwelling, and needs only a 1-foot interior side setback, 10 feet if it backs onto a neighbor's side yard, and 20 feet if it faces a public street. Height is capped at 20 feet under Section 19.14.060(B), and for every foot of height above 14 feet the structure must step its property-line setback back by an additional foot to stay within that 20-foot ceiling. Coverage is limited too: Section 19.14.070 caps the footprint of all accessory buildings combined at 25 percent of the rear yard, even where the 800- or 1,200-square-foot area cap has not been reached.
A property owner planning a shed larger than the by-right cap, or one that will not fit the rear-yard setbacks, needs either a conditional use permit or a variance from the land use hearing officer under Section 19.92.040 before starting construction.
Violations & Fines
Building or maintaining an oversized or misplaced accessory structure without the required conditional use permit or variance violates Code Section 19.94.030 and is a Class C misdemeanor. Civil fines under Section 19.94.070 run twenty-five dollars a day in R-1 zones for a conditional use built without a permit, or fifty dollars a day for construction that violates an issued permit's terms, after a 28-day written warning period, accruing separately each day until fixed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big a shed can I build without extra approval in unincorporated Salt Lake County?
Can I put my shed close to the property line?
Is there a height limit on a detached garage or shed?
What if my accessory buildings would cover more than a quarter of my rear yard?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Salt Lake County
How Salt Lake County compares: Shed Permit Requirements by City·Compare Salt Lake County to another location·View the Utah accessory structures overview
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