Roanoke, VA Building Safety: Elevator Maintenance (2026)

Roanoke does not have a standalone elevator maintenance chapter; elevator equipment falls under the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code adopted by section 7-5, and the city's own elevator-specific rule lives in the fee mechanics of section 7-6. Unlike other permit and inspection fees, which section 7-6(a) requires to be paid in full before the city issues a permit or performs the work, elevator reinspection fees under section 7-6(b) are billed after the reinspection: the city treasurer's office mails an invoice to the elevator owner at the last address of record, and payment is due thirty days after the invoice date.

1 of the city code, and the city will not perform another elevator reinspection while any earlier inspection fee or interest on that elevator remains unpaid, giving the city real leverage to collect. Section 7-6(c) carves out an exception for elevators the city itself owns: no inspection or reinspection fee is due for an elevator in a city-owned building, and no permit fee applies to maintenance or minor remodeling that city employees perform on city property. Enforcement of the underlying maintenance standards for elevators otherwise follows the same split as the rest of chapter 7: the building maintenance code official under section 7-3 handles maintenance and repair of existing equipment, while the building commissioner covers new installations, with violations of the adopted code punishable as a misdemeanor under section 7-1.