Mobile, AL

Mobile's residential building code amendments formally adopt IRC Appendix AQ, the tiny house standards, giving tiny homes a recognized construction path under the city's code.

Mobile's UDC sets no separate size or height limit for sheds; accessory structures must stay out of required yards like any building, except for narrow encroachments listed in Table…

In Mobile's Historic Avenue Overlay, one accessory dwelling unit is allowed by right per single-family lot, capped at 50 percent of the main house's floor area and no taller than the…

Mobile requires short-term rentals to win a conditional use permit under Unified Development Code Section 64-5-6 before an owner can list a property. Site standards cap guest rooms at…

Short-term rentals in Mobile are explicitly taxed the same as hotels: 10 percent of the rental charge inside city limits under Sec. 34-101, or 5 percent in the police jurisdiction…

A Mobile short-term rental must provide two off-street parking spaces for the principal occupants plus one more space for every guest room, and none of the extra spaces can sit in a…

Mobile treats short-term rentals as a conditional use capped at eight guest rooms per establishment, with no on-site employees, no meal service, and no cooking facilities in guest…

Any dog sold, gifted, or transferred at a Mobile pet store, swap meet, or by a pet trader must be implanted with an identifying microchip before the sale, per City Code Section 7-26.

Mobile has declared its entire corporate limits a bird sanctuary, making it unlawful to pursue, injure, capture, kill, or destroy any songbird within city limits, with a narrow safety…

Mobile lets stores sell dogs, but only with a health certificate, fecal test, microchip, and a minimum age of nine weeks under § 7-26.

Mobile sets minimum corral space for livestock and keeps pens at least 150 feet from a neighbor's dwelling under City Code § 7-15.

Mobile bans keeping pets in numbers too great to properly house or care for, with confiscation and criminal penalties under City Code § 7-22.

Mobile has no breed-specific ban; instead § 7-24 lets the animal services director impound any animal that bites or attacks without provocation.

Mobile does not require a city license for cats, but owners must keep cats from roaming at large and must have them vaccinated for rabies by three months of age.

Mobile requires every dog owner to keep the animal on a leash or other effective restraint at all times, on or off their own property, with added limits on tethering.

Mobile requires a veterinary clinic to get a board of adjustment special exception before opening, not just a zoning permit. Sec. 64-5-11.E.3(i) specifically requires satisfactory…

Alabama Code Title 2, Chapter 14 requires all beekeepers to register colonies with the Department of Agriculture and Industries and complies with state apiary inspection and disease…

Alabama Department of Conservation regulations restrict baiting and feeding of deer and other game animals statewide during hunting seasons, with separate rules on bear feeding and…

Mobile caps grass and weeds at 10 inches on every lot in the city, and the duty to cut runs the whole way from the property line out to the curb. Owners also have to destroy poison…

Mobile's Property Maintenance Code allows rainwater collection and nonpotable-reuse systems, but Section 505.5 requires every cistern, barrel or conveyance line to stay in a safe…

In Mobile, Alabama's historic districts, when the urban forester permits removal of a heritage tree, the tree must be relocated if it costs $500 or less, or replaced under the…

Mobile property owners and tenants must keep the sidewalk fronting their property clear of tree branches and other obstructions to a height of at least 7 feet and a width of at least 4…

The Alabama Water Resources Act (Ala. Code Title 9, Chapter 10B) gives the Office of Water Resources authority to declare drought stages and trigger conservation measures. Local water…

Mobile requires a permit for every fence or wall built in the city, per the Sec. 11-34 fee schedule: $5 if no inspection is required, $25 if inspection is required. Fences are not on…

Mobile exempts retaining walls of 4 feet or less from a building permit: taller walls, or any wall holding back a surcharge or hazardous liquids, need one.

Mobile caps sight-obstructing fences at 3 feet in a required front or corner-lot side yard, and allows up to 8 feet everywhere else.

Adjoining property owners in Mobile must split the cost of building and repairing a shared partition fence or wall, unless they privately agree otherwise. If neighbors cannot agree…

Mobile prohibits barbed wire or other unsafe fencing material along or adjacent to any building line, with a narrow carve-out for fencing around city-owned public property.

Mobile's Unified Development Code lists 'electric vehicle charging station' as an accessory use, marked 'A', in all nineteen zoning districts, meaning it's allowed only alongside a…

Mobile declares any inoperable vehicle left in public view on private property for 30 or more days a public nuisance, subject to city removal and towing costs billed to the owner.

Mobile has no nightly parking curfew, but Sec. 61-266 makes it a nuisance to leave any vehicle standing on a public street or sidewalk for more than seven days, and to abandon a…

Mobile puts hard dollar ceilings on nonconsensual towing. Section 63-39, adopted July 15, 2025, caps a class A tow of a vehicle weighing 10,000 pounds or less at $200, caps…

Mobile's traffic engineer decides where buses, taxis, and other passenger carriers may stop under Sec. 61-315, marking bus stops, bus stands, and taxicab stands with signs, and Sec…

Mobile bans parking on sidewalks, in intersections, and in front of driveways, plus within set distances of fire hydrants, crosswalks, and stop signs. Sec. 61-273 lists every no-stop…

Mobile defines a large vehicle as anything 20 feet long and 8 feet tall, or 25 feet long regardless of height, and Sec. 61-278 bans parking one on a residential R-1, R-2, or R-3 street…

Mobile lets residents park one recreational vehicle on their property in a residential district, but the RV can't be lived in there unless approvals are obtained, and other heavy…

Mobile, Alabama (Mobile County) bars playing radios or other sound-reproducing devices on public streets, sidewalks, and parks loud enough to be plainly audible 25 feet away.

Mobile, Alabama (Mobile County) caps sound-producing devices in residential districts at 85 db(a) from 6 a.m.-10 p.m. and 50 db(a) overnight, measured at the property line.

Mobile, Alabama exempts construction activity and equipment from the city's residential noise limits only between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. under City Code § 39-96.1(d)(6). Outside that…

Mobile exempts leaf blowers and other domestic power equipment from its noise limits only between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.; outside that window the general residential noise limits…

Mobile treats habitually barking, crowing, or yelping animals that cause unreasonable annoyance to neighbors as a public nuisance under City Code § 7-21.

Mobile, Alabama (Mobile County) tightens its residential noise rule overnight: sound audible 25 feet away is banned from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., versus 50 feet by day.

Mobile, Alabama (Mobile County) makes it unlawful to play a car radio or stereo on a street or highway loud enough to be heard 25 feet from the vehicle.

Mobile limits home businesses to one non-illuminated sign of one square foot, mounted flat against the house.

Mobile allows home-based businesses as an accessory residential use under strict conditions: no on-site sale of goods not made in the home, a 25% floor-area cap, no non-resident…

Mobile, Alabama lets a resident run a home-based child day care for up to six children as an accessory use in nearly every residential and business zoning district, no separate permit…

Mobile's Unified Development Code allows only one customer visit on a home-occupation property at any time, keeping home businesses from generating retail-style traffic. The business…

Alabama runs one of the plainer cottage food laws in the country. Ala. Code § 22-20-5.1(b) states that a cottage food production operation is not a food service establishment and is…

Alabama has never created a microenterprise home kitchen permit. The words "microenterprise" and "home kitchen" return no sections at all in the Code of Alabama, and Ala. Admin. Code…

Mobile's Property Maintenance Code separately requires private pools, hot tubs and spas over 24 inches deep to have a 48-inch barrier with self-closing, self-latching gates positioned…

Mobile's amended Fire Code doesn't just require smoke alarms, it requires proof they still work. Apartment, hotel and motel owners in Groups R-1 and R-2 must file a quarterly report…

Mobile bans possessing, selling, or using fireworks year-round, but allows consumer-grade fireworks on New Year's Eve/Day and July 3-4, plus sparklers and permitted proximate displays.

Alabama requires a state burn permit from the Alabama Forestry Commission for most outdoor burning of forest, grass, woods, and brush during fire season, applying universally across…

The Alabama Liquefied Petroleum Gas Board regulates the storage, handling, transportation, and installation of propane and LP-gas systems statewide under Title 9, Chapter 17, with…

Alabama's State Forestry Commission may declare a drought emergency by regulation under Ala. Code § 9-13-141, making all outdoor burning unlawful in the affected counties. Such…

Mobile requires a building permit for most construction, alteration, or repair work under City Code Section 11-34, with narrow exemptions like small playhouses and low retaining walls.

Mobile requires an electrical permit for most work under City Code Section 11-35, exempting only minor repairs, radio/TV transmission wiring, and temporary testing systems.

Mobile's Property Maintenance Code requires every elevator to stay in service under the ASME A17.1 safety code, with a current inspection certificate posted where the public can see…

Mobile requires every rented dwelling, rooming, or housekeeping unit door to have a deadbolt with at least a 1-inch throw that opens without a key from inside.

Mobile enforces the 2021 International Plumbing Code as its own Plumbing Code, requiring a licensed plumber and permit fee for most plumbing work under City Code § 45-1.

Mobile's Property Maintenance Code makes carbon monoxide alarms mandatory in dwellings, pointing owners to the same national fire and residential code sections that set placement and…

Mobile's code official must inspect for Property Maintenance Code violations and may enter structures at reasonable times to check compliance.

The city collects household garbage once a week and household trash (bulky/yard waste) every other week, with carts assigned to each residence by the public services department.

Dumping litter, garbage, trash, or junk on any private or public property in Mobile without permission is a Chapter 25 violation, punishable by up to a $350 fine or three months in…

Mobile's biweekly household trash pickup is free for up to two cubic yards or 15 bags of leaves per household; anything beyond that is billed as an oversized load.

Mobile collects yard waste as part of household trash under Sec. 25-6, picked up every other week. Leaves, straw, and clippings must be bagged or boxed, and the free limit is about two…

Mobile zoning bars dumpsters from front yards, buffers, and rights-of-way, and requires an 8-foot enclosure of matching materials unless the dumpster is hidden from view.

Mobile collects household garbage once a week on a set day by address; carts must reach the curb no earlier than noon the day before pickup and be pulled back in by 6 a.m. the next…

Mobile bars placing waste dumpsters in front yards, protection buffers, right-of-way or street frontages, and requires an enclosure sized to the dumpster's height, up to eight feet…

Mobile's household garbage collects weekly and household trash collects every other week, but both schedules can shift around holidays. The Department of Public Services sets pickup…

Alabama imposes no mandatory recycling on residents or businesses. Under the Solid Wastes and Recyclable Materials Management Act, every county and municipality must file an…

In the historic downtown core bounded by Jackson, Government, Royal and St. Michael Streets, Mobile bans jaywalking outright: pedestrians may cross only at a street intersection and…

Mobile prohibits smoking and all tobacco product use in every municipally owned park, playground, and outdoor recreational area, from ballfields to walking trails and parking lots.

Mobile's 2024 aggressive-solicitation ordinance bans touching, blocking, following, or verbally abusing people while panhandling, plus group and near-ATM solicitation.

Mobile, Alabama (Mobile County) bans loitering or prowling in a manner unusual for law-abiding people when it creates a reasonable alarm for safety, but officers must first give the…

Mobile makes it unlawful to drink liquor, wine, or beer on public streets, alleys, parks, or transit stations unless the spot is licensed to sell alcohol or sits in a designated…

Mobile caps garage and yard sales at four per calendar year per site and 72 hours each, but doesn't require a permit for them. Sales can't spill onto public property, sidewalks…

Mobile caps building height at 35 feet in every R-1 Single-Family Residential sub-district: Urban, Suburban, and Conservation. Sec. 64-2-5.E's dimensional standards table pairs that…

Mobile's Unified Development Code caps "coverage," the share of a lot buried under buildings and roofed structures, by zoning district. The Residential Agriculture (R-A) district…

Front, side, and rear yard setbacks for Mobile's R-1 Single-Family district vary by sub-district. R-1 Suburban requires a 25-foot front yard while R-1 Urban and Conservation need only…

Mobile requires transportation network company drivers to accept rides only through the TNC's app or digital platform; street hails are prohibited under the city's TNC ordinance.

Mobile requires cyclists to ride near the right side of the road, limits riders to two abreast, and mandates use of adjacent bike paths when provided.

Alabama has no general statute putting golf carts or low-speed vehicles on public roads. The only statewide scheme, Ala. Code §§ 11-73-1 to 11-73-7, applies by its own terms in Class 2…

Anyone operating a massage parlor in Mobile must hold a city business license under the privilege license schedule before opening. The license can be revoked for any violation of…

Mobile requires every dealer in secondhand articles to register with the police chief before opening, keep serialized purchase records, and hold each item 15 days before resale or…

Tattoo and tattoo-parlor businesses in Mobile, Alabama must buy an annual business license under NAICS code 812197 before opening, priced at 0.40% of gross receipts with a $120…

Mobile bars new adult entertainment enterprises within 1,000 feet of a church, school, park, or home and within 2,000 feet of another adult business, on top of an individual…

Every vape shop in Mobile must hold a city business license plus a $150 annual vapor-product registration, and pay a 10-cent-per-milliliter excise tax on top of standard sales tax.

Mobile requires wrecker companies to hold a city permit, pass a vehicle inspection, carry required insurance, and show three years of local operating history before joining the tow…

Mobile requires every pawnbroker to post a $1,000 city bond, keep a detailed log of pawned goods, and report transactions to police.

Mobile classifies businesses by NAICS industry code on its adopted schedule of licenses, and requires a separate license per line of business once a second NAICS sector tops 10 percent…

Mobile requires site development plans to hold post-construction stormwater runoff to pre-development rates, certified by a licensed engineer and reviewed by the city engineer.

Mobile requires new construction in special flood hazard areas without mapped base flood elevation data to elevate the lowest floor at least 3 feet above the highest adjacent grade.

Mobile requires a floodplain development permit from the permitting department before any construction or land-disturbing activity begins in a city-identified or FEMA-mapped special…

Mobile requires land-disturbing sites to revegetate cleared ground within 10 days of substantial completion, using cover crop and mulch under an erosion-control plan enforced by the…

Alabama's Coastal Area Management Program, administered by ADEM under Code §9-7, regulates development in Mobile and Baldwin counties' coastal zones, requiring permits for construction…

Mobile, Alabama requires a block party permit from the police department before any street, park, or public gathering, however casual, under City Code § 49-81. Apply 15 to 30 days…

Mobile, Alabama requires a police department permit before any parade, march, or organized procession uses a city street, under City Code § 49-51, and the rule reaches the police…

Mobile, Alabama requires a city permit before anyone holds, conducts, or operates a fair on public or private property, under City Code § 49-111. Applications must be sworn and filed…

Burglar and security alarms in Mobile are exempt from the noise ordinance but must self-terminate within 15 minutes of activation.

Mobile food trucks may set up in right-of-way parking spaces, on approved city property, or wherever zoning allows, but not within 150 feet of a restaurant's seating area.

Mobile requires an annual peddler's license for anyone selling from a cart, stand, booth, or table, capping the display area at 40 square feet and limiting one spot to 30 days a year.

Food trucks in Mobile, Alabama must display a valid city business license and any required food or health permit before selling, Mobile City Code § 57-53. A separate…

Anyone canvassing or soliciting door-to-door in Mobile, Alabama, or its police jurisdiction must hold a permit from the city, Mobile City Code § 55-22. Applicants file a sworn…

Mobile bars anyone from blocking a public sidewalk by standing, sitting, lying, or placing objects so pedestrians must take evasive action to get by.

Mobile, Alabama places the duty to keep sidewalks in repair on the owner of the abutting property, not the city, and makes an owner liable if someone is hurt because the sidewalk was…

Mobile requires a right-of-way permit, major, minor, small project, or landscape, before anyone constructs in or obstructs a public right-of-way, including sidewalks.

Mobile's Unified Development Code lists 'data processing, hosting and related services (including data centers)' as a by-right use in six zoning districts, B-3, B-4, B-5, CW, I-1, and…

Within Mobile's Spring Hill Overlay, exterior building and security lighting must be shielded or directed onto the structure or ground, mounted between six and fourteen feet high, with…

Mobile's development code requires site, parking lot, and outdoor recreation lighting near residential areas to be shielded, cast downward, and fitted with cut-off devices so no more…

Mobile requires every business building, from restaurants to warehouses, to be rat stopped and kept ratfree under City Code Chapter 43, Article II. The county health officer inspects…

Mobile County doesn't require every restaurant to carry a food handlers card, but anyone running food at a temporary exempt event, a festival or fundraiser lasting up to three days…

Mobile's Residential Agriculture (R-A) zoning district is set aside for full-range farming and forestry uses on tracts of at least one acre, shielding them from encroaching development.

Mobile's R-A zoning code gives farmers in agricultural districts a right to farm free from restrictions imposed by neighboring residential or nonagricultural land uses.

Minors under 18 in Mobile cannot be in public places during nighttime curfew hours, generally 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. on weeknights, with a separate school-day daytime curfew.

Mobile's Fire Code bans charcoal burners and other open-flame cooking devices on balconies or within 10 feet of combustible construction, and requires multi-family landlords to notify…

Mobile's fire code bans charcoal grills and other open-flame cookers on balconies or within 10 feet of combustible construction, and requires multifamily landlords to warn tenants in…

In Mobile's commercial and industrial zoning districts, window signage on a single-establishment site is capped at 20 percent of window area, with a 200-square-foot ceiling, under UDC…

Mobile allows political signs on private property in every district, capped by size and a 7-day post-election removal deadline.

Yard and garage sale signs in Mobile's public rights-of-way are allowed only from 4 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Monday, capped at 24 by 24 inches and 48 inches tall, and never on trees or…

Mobile allows off-premise digital billboards in commercial and industrial zones but caps how fast images can change, bans blinking or scrolling effects, and sets buffers from…

Mobile designates certain live oaks and eight other species as protected 'heritage trees' once they reach 18 inches DBH (8 inches in historic districts), a status that triggers the…

New and redeveloped commercial parcels in Mobile's Peninsula and Africatown overlays must provide street trees along the lot frontage, spaced per an approved plant list, plus a 5-foot…

Mobile names eight specific species, hickory, longleaf pine, magnolia, oak (excluding water oak), river birch, sweet gum, sycamore, and yellow poplar, as protected 'heritage trees'…

Mobile's residential building code requires impact-rated windows, doors, and garage doors, or code-compliant removable panels, on homes because the entire city sits in a 115+ mph…

Mobile can force the repair, securing, demolition or vacation of any building the code official finds dangerous and unsafe, from a collapsing roof to a structure with disconnected…

Mobile's weed and grass ordinance singles out vacant lots by name: any land with no structure, or with an unoccupied business or residential structure, counts, right-of-way, easements…

Mobile can designate a single building, structure, site, or work of art a historic property outside any district if it meets one of five significance criteria set out in the code.

Mobile requires landlords who agree to furnish heat to maintain 68°F in rented dwelling units from October 1 through March 31.

Under Ala. Code § 35-9A-421 an Alabama landlord must give 7 business days' written notice for unpaid rent (pay or quit) and 7 business days to cure a material lease violation. After…

Alabama's Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Ala. Code Title 35, Chapter 9A) provides the exclusive statutory framework for residential evictions. The act sets uniform notice…

Under Ala. Code § 35-9A-303 an Alabama landlord must give the tenant at least two days' notice and enter only at reasonable times for legitimate purposes such as repairs, inspection…

Alabama's Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act sets no maximum late fee and no mandatory grace period. Late fees are governed entirely by the lease; rent is late the day after…

Under Ala. Code § 35-9A-441 either party ends a month-to-month tenancy with 30 days' written notice and a week-to-week tenancy with 7 days' notice. Breaking a fixed lease early…

Rent control is illegal at the local level in Alabama. Ala. Code § 11-80-8.1 preempts the field, barring any county, city, town, or municipality from enacting, maintaining, or…

Alabama's Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act sets no specific notice period or dollar limit for raising rent. A landlord generally cannot raise rent mid-lease, but for…

Alabama caps a residential security deposit at one month's rent under Ala. Code § 35-9A-201, with exceptions for pets, alterations, and added liability risk. Landlords must return the…

Alabama recognizes two adverse-possession paths: 20 years of open, continuous possession by prescription, or 10 years under Ala. Code § 6-5-200 with color of title recorded, annual tax…

Mobile charges a 10 percent lodgings tax on hotels, motels, inns, and other transient accommodations inside city limits, dropping to 5 percent in the police jurisdiction, on top of…

Mobile has opted in to medical cannabis: Sec. 35-3 authorizes state-licensed dispensaries and integrated facilities inside city limits, but only subject to the city's own zoning and…

Alabama prohibits all home cultivation of cannabis statewide. Even patients enrolled in the medical cannabis program cannot grow plants at home; only licensed cultivators authorized by…

Alabama's Uniform Minimum Wage and Right-to-Work Act (Ala. Code § 25-7-40 et seq.) preempts cities and counties from setting a local minimum wage. Alabama has no state minimum wage, so…

Alabama allows permitless concealed carry of handguns for lawful adults, while still issuing optional permits for reciprocity, with state preemption blocking local restrictions.

Alabama law preempts most local firearm regulations, reserving authority over guns, ammunition, and accessories exclusively to the state legislature under Code Section 13A-11-61.3.

Alabama has no statewide charitable gaming law. Nonprofit bingo is legal only in the roughly 18 counties that adopted their own constitutional amendment authorizing it, Jefferson…

Alabama makes being a player in unlawful gambling a Class C misdemeanor, but Ala. Code § 13A-12-21(b) gives players a defense if they were in a "social game in a private place." The…

Alabama has no legalized sports betting. Wagering on the outcome of a sporting event is "gambling" under Ala. Code § 13A-12-20(4), and a bettor who knowingly advances or profits from…

Under the Alabama Homeowners' Association Act, an association has a lien on each lot for unpaid assessments, plus interest and costs the declaration allows. The lien is recorded in…

An Alabama homeowners' association governed by Ala. Code § 35-20-13 must hand over ten named categories of records to any member or potential purchaser who asks in writing, within a…

Alabama sets no maximum dollar figure for a homeowners' association fine. Ala. Code § 35-20-11 lets a board assess only "reasonable penalties," only to the extent the declaration and…

An Alabama homeowners' association governed by the Alabama Homeowners' Association Act cannot foreclose on its own. Ala. Code § 35-20-12 requires it to give the lot owner 30 days'…

The Alabama Legislature has never written a checkpoint statute. Searching the Code of Alabama on the Legislature's ALISON database returns zero sections containing roadblock…

Alabama never enacted an express right to record police, so the question is answered by the definitions in its eavesdropping article. Section 13A-11-30(1) defines eavesdropping as…

Alabama Code § 15-5-30 lets a named list of officers stop a person who is abroad in a public place on reasonable suspicion of a felony or other public offense and demand three things…

Alabama has no statute telling officers to ask for consent, to warn you that you may refuse, or to log the answer, and a full-text search of the Code returns nothing at all for the…

Alabama prohibits the sale of tobacco, vapor, and alternative nicotine products to anyone under 21 under Code Section 28-11-13, aligning with federal Tobacco 21 law.

Alabama counts auxiliary lamps one by one rather than leaving them to a general glare rule. Section 32-5-241(a) permits not more than one spot lamp, not more than two fog lamps mounted…

Alabama is one of the few states whose code says the words dash camera. Section 32-5A-350.1(g)(5), added by the 2023 hands-free act, exempts from the distracted-driving offense the use…

Lane splitting and lane filtering are illegal in Alabama with no exception for stopped or slow traffic. Ala. Code § 32-5A-242(c) says no person shall operate a motorcycle between lanes…

Alabama has no statute that names license plate covers, tinted shields or frames. A full-text search of the Code of Alabama on the Legislature's own code database returns zero sections…

No section of the Code of Alabama mentions a radar detector. The ban that does apply to commercial drivers arrives indirectly: § 32-9A-2(a)(1) makes it an offense to operate a…

Alabama never sets a studded-tire season. Ala. Code § 32-5-210(b) instead bans every block, stud, flange, cleat or spike made of any material other than rubber that projects beyond the…

Alabama's tint chapter carries its own numbers, so nothing has to be looked up in an inspection regulation. Section 32-5C-2(a)(2) forbids operating a vehicle registered in this state…