Portsmouth, VA Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Section 7-96 adopts the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, with its cumulative supplements and amendments, as the building code of the City of Portsmouth, controlling construction, alteration, repair, removal, demolition, and the use and occupancy of buildings citywide. Before a permit can even be issued for new construction or an addition, § 7-107 requires the plans to be checked against the zoning ordinance, the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Overlay District rules, the tree planting and replacement article, and the wetlands chapter. Section 7-102 then enforces the permit requirement directly: anyone who starts work on a building, structure, or component such as electrical, plumbing or mechanical features or signs before obtaining the necessary permit, who skips required inspections after getting one, who deviates from approved plans without written sign-off, or who occupies a building before a certificate of occupancy issues, is guilty of a misdemeanor under the penalty set in § 7-1.

Beyond the criminal charge, § 7-102 layers on an administrative fee set in appendix A to the Code, on top of the permit fee that was always due, whenever the unlawful work is caught before a permit is pulled. 00.