Lenexa, KS Building Safety: Plumbing Permits (2026)

Lenexa City Code Section 4-8-F-1 adopts the International Plumbing Code (IPC), 2018 Edition, fifth printing, with Appendixes B, C, D, and E. A marked official copy stays on file with the City Clerk under Ordinance No. 5696. Section 4-8-F-2 retitles it the Plumbing Code of the City of Lenexa, Kansas, repeals IPC Section 106, and replaces it with one sentence: permit administration follows Chapter 1 of the International Building Code as adopted by the City.

That sends you to Section 4-8-A-4, which requires any owner or authorized agent who intends to erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove, convert or replace a plumbing system to apply to the Building Official first and obtain the permit and licenses. Whoever does the work needs a Johnson County contractor license and a Lenexa occupational license under Title 2. A resident owner of a single family dwelling or townhouse is excused from the occupational license.

Section 4-8-A-4 exempts stopping leaks in drains, water, soil, waste or vent pipe, clearing stoppages, repairing leaks in pipes, valves or fixtures, and removing and reinstalling or replacing water closets, sinks and lavatories in the same location. Replacing a concealed trap or pipe with new material is new work that needs a permit and inspection.

Local amendments set the technical floor. Section 4-8-F-3 requires building sewers to sit at least 42 inches below finished grade. Section 4-8-F-6 requires every building with plumbing fixtures to connect to a public sewer, with an approved private system allowed only where no public sewer is available. Section 4-8-F-7 ends open roof vents at least 6 inches above the roof, or 7 feet above it where the roof is used for anything beyond weather protection. Section 4-8-F-9 limits medical gas piping work to people licensed under K.S.A. 12-1508 et seq. and certified.

A permit is not valid until fees are paid (Section 4-8-A-6). An application is abandoned 180 days after filing unless pursued, and a permit expires if the holder fails a required inspection in any 180-day period. Permits for single family dwellings, duplexes and townhouses expire 2 years after issuance. An expired permit cannot be renewed, so a new fee based on the value of the remaining work applies. Note that Sections 108.1 and 109.1 of the plumbing article cite Sections 4-8-A-8 and 4-8-A-7, but as printed those numbers head the Board of Appeals and Certificate of Occupancy sections, and the violation text sits at Section 4-8-A-9.