Melbourne, FL

Melbourne's zoning code Appendix B, Article VII addresses accessory and temporary uses and structures including ADUs. ADUs may be permitted in certain residential zoning districts…

Melbourne caps backyard sheds and other detached accessory structures at 15 feet in height, limits how many a lot can hold based on lot size, and requires a building permit before any…

Unincorporated Brevard requires a permit, engineered anchoring, and utility hookups before a tiny house on wheels can be used as a permanent home.

Melbourne requires a city animal permit before keeping chickens, other fowl or livestock outside a residence. Sec. 10-27 sets the application, structure and setback conditions, and…

Melbourne's zoning code sets no flat number for how many dogs or cats a household may keep, but the moment a property harbors five or more house pets it legally becomes a "kennel," a…

Veterinary facilities are permitted by right in Melbourne's C-1, C-2, C-P, C-E, M-1 and M-2 districts, need a conditional use permit in C-1A and C-3, and are prohibited in R-P and I-1…

Florida Statute Section 767.14 preempts all breed-specific legislation statewide. Melbourne cannot enact breed bans or restrictions. Dangerous dog classifications are behavior-based…

Inside Melbourne's city parks, dogs and other domestic animals must stay on a leash no longer than 15 feet unless the park is posted otherwise, and the handler must clean up after the…

Melbourne lets residents keep certain nondomestic animals as pets even in zoning districts that would otherwise bar them, but Sec. 10-25 hands the city's authority off entirely for any…

Melbourne has declared every land and water area within the city a wildlife sanctuary. Sec. 10-2 makes it unlawful to intentionally kill or injure any bird, waterfowl or wild animal…

Beekeeping in Melbourne is regulated by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Registration is required. Hives must comply with setback requirements from property…

Brevard County treats every animal grooming establishment as an 'animal care facility' that must register with Animal Control and pass a site inspection before it can open, county-wide…

Every cat or dog adopted, sold, or released from a Brevard County animal shelter must be sterilized first, or the new owner must post a refundable deposit and sterilize it within 30…

Brevard County requires every cat to carry a rabies vaccination and county registration tag, but sterilized, vaccinated, ear-tipped community cats are exempt from licensing and…

Brevard County's own code has no blanket ban on feeding wildlife. Section 14-57(f) makes it unlawful to feed any animal, wild or domesticated, in a way that creates a nuisance…

Brevard County bans pet stores from selling commercially bred dogs and cats, requiring animals instead come from shelters, rescues, hobby breeders, or USDA-licensed breeders under an…

Melbourne caps ambient sound at 55 dB(A) in noise-sensitive zones at any time, 60 dB(A) by day and 55 dB(A) at night in residential areas, and 65 dB(A) by day and 60 dB(A) at night in…

Under a special activity permit, amplified music and entertainment sound in Melbourne must stop by 11:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and by midnight Friday and Saturday, with tighter…

Melbourne treats a barking dog as "impulsive sound" under its noise code, capping it at 65 dB(A) in residential areas and 60 dB(A) in noise-sensitive zones like schools and hospitals…

Melbourne exempts permitted construction activity from its decibel limits only between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Work outside that window loses the exemption and falls under the city's…

Melbourne folds car-stereo enforcement into the state's "plainly audible" standard under F.S. § 316.3045 rather than setting its own decibel limit, but it carves out one local…

Melbourne bans any sound between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. that annoys, disturbs or endangers the comfort or peace of a reasonable person, on top of the numeric decibel tables that…

Brevard County exempts landscape maintenance equipment, including leaf blowers, from noise limits only between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.; running gas blowers outside that window loses the…

Melbourne requires a building permit before any fence or wall goes up, under Sec. 9.48, and the application must meet both the fence article and the City of Melbourne Building Code…

Melbourne bans barbed wire, concertina wire, razor wire and electrically charged fencing citywide under Sec. 9.47, with a narrow exception allowing barbed wire atop industrial-district…

Any retaining wall in Melbourne needs a building permit before construction, the same as any other fence or wall under Sec. 9.48 of the City Code. Height caps run six feet for…

Melbourne caps residential fences at six feet, dropping to four feet in a required front yard and on the street side of a corner lot, per Sec. 9.43. A separate visibility rule in Sec…

Unincorporated Brevard County requires every fence owner to keep their fence from becoming dilapidated or structurally unsound, and pre-existing fences must meet full code standards…

Melbourne limits landscape irrigation to two assigned days a week tied to your street address, with a mandatory shutoff between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. year-round. The schedule…

Cutting down, destroying, or moving any tree in Melbourne requires a land alteration permit from the engineering department, though trimming up to 20 percent of a tree's canopy is…

Melbourne's landscape code requires new commercial, multifamily, and industrial developments to make at least 50 percent of required trees native species, capping palms at 25 percent…

Melbourne's solid-waste code bans dumping waste on any lot without a license or permit, but it specifically excludes compost piles on private property from that prohibition. Backyard…

Melbourne's defaulted-mortgage property maintenance code counts artificial turf/sod as approved landscaping, alongside grass and shrubs, while excluding bare weeds, gravel, broken…

Grass and weeds on unincorporated Brevard County lots can't exceed 10 inches in height under the county's excessive overgrowth ordinance, enforced as a public nuisance by code…

Melbourne requires a fire chief-issued permit for any outdoor fire except cooking and small recreational fires, and gives the chief standing authority to prohibit open burning outright…

Melbourne enforces FL Statute 791 regarding fireworks. Consumer fireworks are legal on designated holidays (July 4, Dec 31, Jan 1) per Florida HB 1059 (2020). The city hosts an annual…

Brevard County bans campfires, bonfires and open burning in unincorporated areas whenever the Keetch-Byram Drought Index hits 500 or the county chair declares a burn ban: violators…

The Florida Forest Service has statewide jurisdiction over wildfire prevention and suppression on non-municipal land under Chapter 590, Florida Statutes.

Melbourne requires manufacturing, storage, wholesale, retail, hotel and similar uses to provide dedicated off-street loading space at least 14 by 25 feet under Sec. 9.76, scaled up by…

Melbourne bars recreational vehicles, trailers and boats from residential lots unless kept in a carport, enclosed building, or behind the front building line, under Sec. 9.74(p)…

Melbourne allows parking in a required front, rear or side yard for single- and two-family homes only up to 20 percent of the lot, under Sec. 9.74(o)(2), and requires a paved driveway…

Melbourne bans storing an abandoned, junked or discarded vehicle on private property without proper licensing. A missing current tag or registration is treated as proof the vehicle is…

Melbourne prohibits parking, storing, or depositing any bus, road tractor, semitrailer, truck tractor, or other heavy equipment on public or private property in every single- and…

Melbourne bans stopping or parking on sidewalks, in intersections, on crosswalks, or in front of driveways and fire hydrants, and requires parked vehicles to sit within 12 inches of…

Florida law protects condominium unit owners' rights to install electric vehicle charging stations in their designated parking areas under Fla. Stat. 718.113(8), while commercial…

Florida caps the drop fee a tower can charge at half the posted rate if the owner shows up mid-tow, requires a signed itemized receipt, and forces storage lots within 10 to 15 highway…

Melbourne prohibits home-based business signage outright. Section 11.20(C)(1)(e) bars home-based business signs on single-family lots, and Section 11.20(C)(2)(e) repeats the ban for…

Melbourne treats a licensed family day care home as a by-right residential use in nearly every zoning district. Table 1A permits it outright in R-1AAA, R-1AA, R-1A, R-1B, R-2, R-3, R-4…

Melbourne caps client and customer visits to a home-based business at two vehicle round trips per hour and ten per day, a rate the code says matches an ordinary single-family home…

Home-based businesses are a permitted accessory use in every Melbourne zoning district, but the business has to stay secondary to the home: retail transactions happen inside the…

The Brevard County code has no cottage food ordinance. A food business run from a house is treated as a home occupation under section 62-1155, and section 54-126 requires a county…

The City of Melbourne has not adopted a vacation-rental-specific occupancy ordinance, and Florida Statute 509.032(7)(b) preempts the city from imposing STR-only guest caps unless one…

Melbourne's general parking regulations apply to STR properties. Off-street parking is required per the zoning code based on use type. Beach-area rentals have limited street parking…

Brevard County caps noise from short-term "resort dwellings" in unincorporated areas at the residential decibel limit in Sec. 62-2271, and bars audible music, TVs or stereos at the…

Anyone who rents out living quarters or operates a vacation rental in unincorporated Brevard County must first obtain a tourist development tax account from the county before renting…

Brevard County's code enforcement special magistrate can suspend a resort dwelling's business tax receipt for up to 30 days on a first violation, then revoke it entirely on a repeat…

Brevard County levies a 5% tourist development tax, 2% plus three added 1% increments, on vacation rentals leased for six months or less, collected from the guest and remitted through…

Melbourne requires a building permit before any residential swimming pool is built or placed on a lot. The zoning code classifies pools as accessory structures, so the permit must be…

Melbourne enforces Florida Building Code and FL Statute 515 pool barrier requirements. All residential pools require a barrier at least 48 inches high. Gates must swing away from the…

Melbourne's city manager is authorized to adjust a water bill for excessive consumption caused by a leak, but only when the situation involves no negligence and the account holder…

City of Melbourne requires properties inside its designated north and south reuse service areas to hook existing irrigation systems into the reclaimed water system within 90 days of a…

Melbourne caps how much of a residential lot a building footprint can cover. Table 2A of the zoning code's dimensional standards limits single-family lot coverage to 40 percent in R-A…

Melbourne caps most residential buildings at three floors and 36 feet, with townhouses and multifamily allowed a fourth floor up to 48 feet. Table 2A sets the base limits, while…

Melbourne sets minimum front, side, and rear yard setbacks for every residential zoning district in Table 2A, ranging from a 50-foot front yard in R-A down to 20 feet in R-1A and R-1B…

Melbourne Code § 56-43 sets no separate wrecker procedures; it expressly incorporates Florida Statutes Chapters 713 and 715 for towing, storing, and placing liens on vehicles removed…

Melbourne requires a city license before anyone can operate or work at a sexually oriented business or adult entertainment establishment. Sec. 4-31 sets six license classifications and…

Unincorporated Brevard requires a county license before any massage or leisure spa business opens, with an annual $250 fee and inspections: separate from state massage therapist…

Brevard County requires pawnbrokers to hold a business tax receipt, but won't issue one until the applicant proves current state registration as a secondhand dealer under Florida's…

Pawnbrokers, precious metals dealers, and secondhand dealers in unincorporated Brevard County operate under Florida Statutes chapter 538, part I, which County Code section 26-3 adopts…

Florida Statute 569.315 expressly preempts the regulation of the marketing, sale, and delivery of nicotine products and dispensing devices to the state, voiding most municipal…

Melbourne closes its public parks from sunset until 7:00 a.m. the next day. Being present in a listed city park during closed hours is a code violation unless the parks and recreation…

The Brevard County code contains no general juvenile curfew for unincorporated areas. The only age-based hours rule is section 74-57, which limits when a juvenile rave club may…

Melbourne sorts mobile food vendors into three classes with different zoning access: full-menu food trucks are limited to commercial, industrial and institutional districts, canteen…

Melbourne prohibits stopping, standing, or parking any vehicle, whether motorized or not, on any street, public right-of-way, or other property to vend, display, or advertise goods or…

Melbourne does not charge a local permit fee for mobile food dispensing vehicles, but every operator must hold a city business tax receipt plus state health and business approvals, and…

Melbourne outright bans launching or operating drones in any city park or recreational facility. The prohibition sits alongside bans on hot air balloons, model airplanes and other…

Brevard County's code has no drone-specific ordinance. What does apply to commercial work is section 26-25, which requires a film-commission production permit for commercial…

Brevard County's code has no ordinance that names drones or unmanned aircraft. The closest local rule is section 78-106: you may not take off in or land any aircraft in a county park…

Melbourne makes it illegal to dump garbage, motor oil, excrement or other objectionable waste on any public or private property, or to discharge sewage, industrial waste or other…

Melbourne collects bulk household items like furniture and appliances curbside on regular collection days, but pressure-treated lumber is excluded and must go to the county landfill in…

Melbourne supplies a 64-gallon yellow-lid recycling cart to every customer and requires rinsed containers with a lengthy list of banned contaminants, from plastic bags to greasy pizza…

Melbourne requires households to rinse glass, plastic and metal containers before setting them in the recycling bin and bars a specific list of contaminants, from plastic bags to dirty…

When a Melbourne resident's regular trash day falls on a Holiday, the city's franchise agreement pushes collection to the next scheduled collection day rather than skipping the week…

Melbourne City Code Sec. 9.22 bans trash and recycling dumpsters from front yards and street frontages, sets minimum setbacks from residential buildings and property lines, and…

Melbourne limits when residents can put garbage, recycling and yard trash at the curb: no earlier than 5:00 p.m. the evening before collection, and in place by 6:30 a.m. on collection…

Melbourne caps garden and yard trash at 50 pounds per container, bans plastic or paper bags for storage, and requires it to be kept separate from household refuse and recyclables at…

Melbourne bars setting trash at the curb before 5 p.m. the night before pickup and requires it out by 6:30 a.m. on collection day, placed within four feet of the curb and clear of fire…

Every occupied residential, multifamily, and commercial unit in Melbourne must subscribe to and pay for the city's solid waste and recycling collection service, whether or not the…

Melbourne places the duty to fix a broken, cracked, or uneven public sidewalk on the abutting property owner. City Code Sec. 9.120(a) declares such sidewalks a nuisance and requires…

Driving a vehicle over a Melbourne sidewalk or curb anywhere a driveway does not already exist requires a permit from the building official plus a right-of-way use permit from the city…

Melbourne bans placing any box, counter, shelving, debris, sign, merchandise or building material on a public street, sidewalk, parkway, park or plaza. City Code Sec. 52-4 makes…

Melbourne declares overgrown vegetation past 12 inches, accumulated junk or trash, and unprotected open pits public nuisances. The city notifies the owner by mail, allows a hearing…

Brevard County bans excessive overgrowth on vacant unimproved lots in unincorporated areas, capping grass and weeds at 10 inches and treating taller growth within 25 feet of…

Melbourne regulates bass frequencies separately from overall volume: at the 31.5 Hz octave band, residential property is capped at 89 dB by day and 85 dB at night, and any sustained…

Melbourne treats a generator like any other noise source under its decibel tables, so day-to-day use must stay within the 55-70 dB limits for the surrounding land-use zone. The only…

Bars and nightclubs inside Melbourne's downtown entertainment district may run sound up to 70 dB(A) between 9:00 a.m. and 1:30 a.m., dropping to 60 dB(A) overnight until 9:00 a.m., a…

Residential air conditioning and pool pump equipment is exempt from Brevard County's noise ordinance as long as it operates in reasonable mechanical condition with standard…

Brevard County bans loading and unloading boxes, crates, containers, or building materials during nighttime hours (10:01 p.m.–6:59 a.m.) if it creates a noise disturbance across a…

Melbourne requires an outdoor public assembly permit from the parks and recreation director before any parade, rally or public gathering in a city park. Applications are due 60 to 180…

Melbourne requires a special activity permit before residents can close a street for a block party. City Code Sec. 2-682(c) sets who may apply, waives the city's usual event insurance…

Reserving any area of a Melbourne park requires a facility use permit from the parks and recreation director, with a signed indemnification agreement, before the reservation is…

Restaurants, brewpubs and bars in Melbourne need a sidewalk use seating approval before putting tables on a public sidewalk, plus a $30 application fee, a $100 annual fee, and $25 per…

Melbourne has no separate 'street fair' chapter; outdoor vendor events are governed by Sec. 2-684 (farmers' markets) and Sec. 2-685 (outdoor seasonal sales) in the special activity…

A Brevard County production permit for motion and still photography replaces every other required county permit: once the film commissioner issues it, no separate special-event…

Melbourne requires a permit from the city engineer before any activity that can alter stormwater runoff, from clearing land and building ditches to subdividing property or increasing…

Building a dock, boat lift or covered mooring on Melbourne waterfront property requires a city building permit backed by a state-licensed survey, plus separate state and federal dock…

Melbourne requires new and substantially improved buildings in flood hazard areas to elevate their lowest floor to the base flood elevation plus 1.33 feet, a local amendment stricter…

Melbourne requires a stormwater management plan before most land-disturbing construction, and City Code Sec. 50-49(a)(2) makes concurrent control of erosion, sedimentation, water…

Any development wholly or partly inside a Melbourne flood hazard area needs a floodplain development permit before work begins. The city bases its flood hazard maps on the Brevard…

Brevard County sets its own coastal setback line 25 feet west of the 1981 FDEP control line. No new major habitable structure may be built seaward of it, and Chapter 46 restricts…

Melbourne bans drinking or carrying an open alcoholic beverage on any street, alley, sidewalk or public parking area within 100 yards of a business open to the public. Sec. 6-7…

Melbourne bans urinating or defecating in any public place, and in residential or commercial districts without the owner's permission. City Code Sec. 32-124 carries fines up to $500…

Melbourne bans loitering or trespassing in a municipal parking garage or city-operated surface lot when the time or manner isn't usual for law-abiding people and creates a reasonable…

Melbourne bans skateboarding, rollerblading, and scootering in Campbell Park and Holmes Park, on posted-prohibited public property, and on redevelopment-area sidewalks fronting…

Brevard County bans smoking and tobacco use in youth athletic areas, playgrounds, indoor facilities, and any posted no-smoking area within county parks and recreational lands, plus…

Melbourne requires new buildings in flood hazard areas, including Coastal A Zones, to elevate their lowest floor to the base flood elevation plus 1.33 feet or the design flood…

After a declared emergency or disaster, the City of Melbourne may enter private streets, roads and other private property to clear debris that poses an immediate public-safety threat…

Brevard County requires a mandatory roofing inspection before a certificate of occupancy issues, with two separate inspections, dry-in and final, for tile, slate, and similar roof…

Brevard County's property maintenance code lets owners install storm shutters or panels on occupied homes only temporarily, during an actual storm threat, and requires one exterior…

Melbourne's historic preservation ordinance treats monuments, memorials and ceremonial sites as protectable historic resources once the city council designates them on the Melbourne…

Melbourne's tree code lists Brazilian pepper, Australian pine, melaleuca, and 11 other named species as prohibited, plus any tree on the state's category I or II invasive list. City…

Melbourne has no standalone green building code chapter. Instead, appendix B, article IX, § 6(D)(5)(n) directs the planning and zoning board and city council to weigh a project's…

Melbourne enforces plumbing work under the Florida Plumbing Code, current edition, adopted by reference in Section 13.107, along with the code's Appendices B, D and E. The planning and…

Melbourne enforces electrical work under the National Electrical Code, NFPA 70, current edition, adopted by reference in Section 13.95. The city's electrical inspector can disconnect…

Before issuing a permit, Melbourne's building official can examine the plans, and once work begins the official inspects every building, electrical, gas, mechanical and plumbing system…

Unincorporated Brevard requires a building permit before you construct, alter, repair, move, or demolish a structure, or touch its electrical, gas, mechanical, or plumbing systems.

Unincorporated Brevard adopts Florida's child care statutes by reference and layers on local staffing, transportation, and playground rules enforced with fines up to $500 a day.

Brevard County requires automatic sprinklers and alarms in new buildings three stories or taller, over 35 feet, or exceeding 15,000 square feet per floor in unincorporated areas, not…

Melbourne bans stopping, standing, or parking any vehicle on a sidewalk, bike path, or bike lane anywhere in the city. City Code Sec. 56-34(a)(1)b makes blocking a bike lane a parking…

Florida flips the usual assumption: a golf cart is barred from public roads unless a county, a municipality, or a water control district has affirmatively designated that road for cart…

Melbourne allows a 30 percent density bonus for affordable housing on R-1B, R-2, R-3 and I-1 zoned property carrying a future land use designation that already permits residential…

Property owners in the Melbourne Downtown and Olde Eau Gallie Community Redevelopment Areas need a certificate of architectural appropriateness before changing a building's exterior…

Melbourne protects 'grand trees,' meaning cypress, oak or pine species with a 30-inch or greater trunk diameter, under Sec. 9.272(g): no person may cut down, remove, relocate or damage…

Melbourne bans cutting, removing, relocating, or damaging any 'grand tree,' defined as an oak, pine, or cypress with a 30-inch trunk diameter. City Code Sec. 9.272(g) protects grand…

Melbourne regulates yard signs supporting candidates or ballot measures as 'temporary noncommercial signs.' On a residential lot the cap is six square feet and three feet tall, with…

Melbourne caps temporary window signs at 10% of a storefront's glass surface area per window or service bay, and allows only one window or service bay per premises to carry them. The…

Brevard County bans new off-premises signs outright since 2003 and permits digital billboard conversions only to settle eminent domain claims on existing nonconforming billboards.

Unincorporated Brevard has barred new off-premises billboards since October 16, 2003, so freeway-facing advertising signs cannot be newly erected anywhere in the county.

Brevard County exempts garage sale signs from sign permits, but directional signs in the road right-of-way are capped at 4 square feet, 4 feet tall, and must come down when the sale…

Melbourne protects agricultural land use through its AEU, Agricultural Estate Use, district, a 2.5-acre-minimum zone that permits farming, animal grazing and farm stands by right while…

Bona fide farm operations on Brevard County agricultural land are exempt from the county noise ordinance under Florida's Right to Farm Act, so routine farm sounds cannot draw a…

Melbourne's zoning code prohibits medical marijuana treatment center dispensing facilities outright. Both Table 1A and Table 1B mark the use 'N' for not permitted in every residential…

Florida prohibits home cultivation of cannabis for both recreational and medical use; only state-licensed Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers may grow cannabis.

Melbourne prohibits home users from throwing used needles into the trash bound for the landfill or flushing them into the sewer system. City Code Sec. 48-30(9)(g) requires residents to…

Melbourne regulates door-to-door solicitors, peddlers and canvassers under Chapter 46, Article II. Sec. 46-21 fixes the hours they can work a residential neighborhood, bars them from…

Melbourne assigns every business a specific tax classification under its business tax receipt schedule, and the specific classification always controls over a general one. Disputes…

Melbourne bans camping or sleeping overnight on any public property citywide, including rights-of-way, parks and city buildings. Officers can order violators to vacate on the spot, and…

Brevard bans standing, sitting, or occupying medians, crosswalks, bike lanes, and arterial or collector roadsides where it interferes with traffic, under the county's 2022 Pedestrian…

Melbourne caps light spilling from any property onto a neighboring residential lot at one footcandle. Parks lighting until midnight, public street lights, and residential security…

Brevard County caps digital billboard brightness at 0.3 foot-candles above ambient light and requires an automatic dimming sensor. All illuminated off-premises signs must be shielded…

Unincorporated Brevard requires cut-off, shielded fixtures on any site plan and caps light spilling onto neighboring residential land at 0.2 footcandles.

Brevard County requires anyone reporting a suspected code violation to give their name and address: anonymous complaints cannot trigger an investigation except for imminent health…

Filming on any Brevard County-owned street, park, courthouse, or government center requires a production permit from the film commissioner before shooting begins; permits also apply to…

Filmmakers who want to close a public street or sidewalk in unincorporated Brevard must state the closure and its duration in their county production permit application, filed with the…

Unincorporated Brevard caps garage sales at 48 hours per sale, with only two sales allowed per lot in any 12-month period.

Brevard County follows FL Chapter 83 (Residential Landlord-Tenant Act). No just-cause eviction requirement in Florida. 15-day notice for month-to-month non-renewal; 3-day for…

The county's property maintenance code requires owners of unincorporated Brevard rental housing to keep buildings safe and sanitary, working plumbing, sound roofs, secure doors and…

Fla. Stat. § 83.56 requires a 3-day notice to pay rent or vacate for nonpayment, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays from the count. For lease violations, the landlord…

Under Fla. Stat. § 83.53, a Florida landlord must give at least 24 hours' notice to enter for repairs and may enter only at reasonable times, defined as between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m…

For a month-to-month tenancy, Fla. Stat. § 83.57 now requires 30 days' written notice (raised from 15 days by 2023's HB 1417). Breaking a fixed-term lease triggers landlord remedies…

Florida effectively bans local rent control. State law bars any city or county from imposing controls on rents, and the 2023 Live Local Act removed the old narrow exception that had…

Florida has no rent control and no statute setting a maximum rent increase or a dedicated advance-notice period. On a month-to-month tenancy, a new rent takes effect only through the…

Florida Statute 509.032(7) preempts local regulation of vacation rental bans, duration, and frequency, while FS 83.425 (2023) preempts local regulation of residential tenancies…

Florida places no dollar limit on residential security deposits, but it enforces tight deadlines. If the landlord makes no claim, the deposit must be returned within 15 days of…

Adverse possession in Florida requires 7 years of actual, continued, exclusive possession plus paying all taxes within a year and filing a return with the property appraiser (Fla…

Brevard County levies a five percent tourist development tax, 2% plus three added 1% increments, on hotel, motel, and vacation rental stays of six months or less, countywide including…

Installing solar panels in unincorporated Brevard County requires a permit pulled by a contractor holding the county's own Solar Contractor certificate of competency, issued separately…

Florida Statute §163.04 prohibits HOAs from preventing solar panel installation. HOAs may determine placement but cannot effectively ban solar or impose requirements that reduce…

Florida Statute 218.077 prohibits local governments from establishing a minimum wage other than the state or federal rate, preempting city and county living-wage ordinances except for…

Florida Statute 509.032(7) and broader employment preemption framework prevent local governments from requiring private employers to follow predictive or fair-scheduling rules beyond…

Florida allows permitless concealed carry of firearms by law-abiding adults under FS 790.01 and continues to issue concealed weapon licenses through FS 790.06, with both regimes…

Florida Statute 790.33 expressly preempts the entire field of firearm and ammunition regulation to the state, voiding all local ordinances and imposing personal civil penalties on…

Florida's open carry ban (FS 790.053) was struck down by the First District Court of Appeal in McDaniels v. State on September 10, 2025. The Florida Attorney General issued guidance on…

Florida Statute 790.25(5) allows any law-abiding person 18 or older to possess a concealed firearm in a private vehicle for self-defense, provided the firearm is securely encased or…

Florida cardrooms operate only inside licensed pari-mutuel facilities, dog tracks, horse tracks, and jai alai frontons, under a license from the Florida Gaming Control Commission. Fla…

Florida lets charitable, nonprofit, and veterans' organizations run bingo without applying for any state gaming license: the statute itself sets the eligibility bar and the limits. A…

Florida law exempts small-stakes card and tile games from gambling crimes under Fla. Stat. § 849.085, but only under strict conditions: winnings per hand can't exceed $10, the game…

Sports wagering is legal in Florida only through the Seminole Tribe's Hard Rock Bet platform, authorized under the state's gaming compact codified at Fla. Stat. § 285.710(13)(b)7…

Under Fla. Stat. § 720.3085, unpaid assessments become a lien on a parcel, and the homeowners' association may foreclose like a mortgage. Before recording the lien the association must…

Under Fla. Stat. § 720.303(2), Florida HOA board meetings must be open to members with notice posted at least 48 hours ahead. Section 720.306 governs member meetings and elections, §…

Under Fla. Stat. §§ 720.303 and 720.3035, a Florida HOA enforces its recorded covenants and architectural standards, but only where authority is stated or reasonably inferred in the…

Florida Statute 163.04 bars homeowner association deed restrictions and local ordinances from prohibiting clotheslines, solar collectors, or other renewable-resource energy devices in…

Florida law bars HOA declarations, articles, and bylaws from prohibiting Florida-friendly landscaping, defined by statute as drought-tolerant, water-conserving design. Section…

Florida law bars homeowners associations from stopping owners from flying up to two flags, each no larger than 4 1/2 by 6 feet, including the U.S. flag, Florida's state flag, military…

Under Fla. Stat. § 720.305, a Florida HOA may fine up to $100 per violation and $1,000 in the aggregate unless the governing documents allow more. The association must give at least 14…

A Florida association can foreclose an assessment lien in the same manner a mortgage is foreclosed, but only after two separate 45-day notices, and fines are largely off limits: a…

Florida limits how homeowners' associations can restrict renting out a home, but only in communities governed by Chapter 720, not condos or co-ops. Under Fla. Stat. § 720.306(1)(h), a…

Florida allows sobriety checkpoints, and the discretion of the individual trooper is what gets constrained. Fla. Stat. § 321.05(1) gives Florida Highway Patrol officers the power to…

Florida is an all-party consent state, but that rule reaches less far than it sounds. Fla. Stat. § 934.03(2)(d) makes interception lawful only when every party consents, while §…

Florida has no general stop-and-identify statute. The Florida Stop and Frisk Law, Fla. Stat. § 901.151(2), lets an officer temporarily detain you to ascertain your identity when…

Florida wrote the automobile exception into its statutes in 1927. Fla. Stat. § 933.19 adopts the United States Supreme Court's decision of March 2, 1925 in the Carroll case, reported…

Florida Statute 403.7033 preempts the regulation of disposable plastic bags by local governments, prohibiting cities and counties from enacting bans or fees on retailers pending a…

Florida Statute 500.90 preempts the regulation of polystyrene products by local governments, blocking cities and counties from banning expanded polystyrene foam food containers, cups…

Florida Statute 569.101 prohibits the sale or delivery of tobacco and nicotine products to persons under 21, aligning with federal law and applying uniformly statewide under the…

Florida is one of the states that says yes to underbody lighting in so many words. Fla. Stat. § 316.235(3) provides that any motor vehicle may be equipped with one or more lamps or…

Florida does not give dash cameras a windshield carve-out. Fla. Stat. § 316.2952(2) is written as a closed list of exactly four things that may be attached to, or located in or upon, a…

Florida bans lane splitting in so many words. Fla. Stat. section 316.209(3) states that no person shall operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows…

Florida treats an obscured plate as a crime, not a ticket. Fla. Stat. section 320.061(1) makes it unlawful to apply or attach any substance, reflective matter, illuminated device…

A driver of a private passenger vehicle may use a radar detector in Florida. No section of the Florida Statutes prohibits owning, carrying or operating one, and chapter 316, which…

Florida does not ban studded tires and does not restrict them to a winter season. The one wheel-surface provision in the traffic code, Fla. Stat. section 316.299, prohibits driving on…

Florida sets a separate light transmittance floor for each piece of glass rather than one statewide number. Side wings and side windows forward of or next to the driver must pass at…