Shelby County, TN Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Shelby County Code § 6-41(a) adopts the 2021 edition of the ICC International Building Code by reference for the unincorporated county, with a copy on file with the county commission's records clerk. Section 6-42 then specifies which appendices carry the force of law locally: Appendix A, Building Permit, Plans and Inspection Fees; Appendix C, Group U Agriculture Building; Appendix D, Fire District; Appendix F, Rodent Proofing; and Appendix H, Signs, while every other appendix in the 2021 IBC is expressly not adopted. Because Appendix A governs building permits, plans and inspection fees, the permit trigger, application steps and fee schedule for new construction, additions and alterations in unincorporated Shelby County run through that adopted appendix rather than a standalone county permit ordinance.

Section 6-43 layers local amendments onto the adopted IBC, attached to Joint Ordinance No. 523, Exhibit B, adopted November 1, 2021, jointly enacted with the Memphis City Council since Chapter 6, Article II governs both jurisdictions' construction codes together as the Memphis and Shelby County Building Code. The residential counterpart runs the same way: Sec. 6-44 adopts the 2021 International Residential Code, with its own local amendments effective April 1, 2025, under Joint Ordinance No. 569. Anyone building outside Memphis, Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Millington, Arlington or Lakeland pulls a permit under this adopted building code, not a separate zoning or land-use ordinance.