Middletown, OH Business Licensing & Operations: Auto Repair on Residential Property (2026)

2 names automotive and other vehicle repair and service specifically, except when such repair or service is performed on a vehicle owned by the property owner or tenant of that property. In practice, that means a resident can work on their own car or truck at home, but cannot operate a repair shop, detailing business, or mechanic service out of a residential garage or driveway for paying customers or other people's vehicles. The same prohibited list bars animal hospitals and boarding, construction and landscaping contractor storage, medical clinics, welding and machine shops, wood cutting businesses, and parking or dispatching any business vehicle from the site other than one owned by the homeowner or tenant, reflecting the code's broader goal of keeping home occupations from generating the noise, outdoor storage, or vehicle traffic of a commercial garage.

Because auto repair sits on the prohibited list rather than the permitted list in division C, there is no path to approve it as a home occupation regardless of the size of the lot or the zoning district; a resident who wants to run a repair business must locate it in a commercial or industrial district where auto repair is an allowed principal use under the applicable use table.