Montgomery, AL

Montgomery, Alabama has no breed-specific ban: City Code Sec. 4-121 defines a vicious animal by its conduct and expressly states no dog may be declared vicious based solely on its…

Montgomery, Alabama requires every cat over three months old to be vaccinated against rabies annually and to wear a collar or harness with an inoculation tag whenever off the owner's…

Montgomery, Alabama bans letting a dog run at large: a dog off its owner's property must be fenced in, enclosed in a vehicle, or on a leash no longer than six feet with a properly…

Montgomery, Alabama has declared its entire corporate territory a bird sanctuary. City Code Sec. 4-12 makes it unlawful to maim, kill or injure any wild or migrating bird anywhere…

Montgomery, Alabama requires every dog or cat over nine months old to be microchipped and registered with a national microchip registry unless a narrow exception applies. City Code…

Montgomery, Alabama bans keeping or possessing any wild animal or wild bird within city limits unless state or federal law specifically permits it. City Code Sec. 4-11 defines a wild…

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's Right to Farm Act protects agricultural operations from nuisance suits and limits municipal restrictions on bona fide farms, while statewide livestock laws govern fence-out…

Alabama Code Sections 13A-11-14 and 13A-11-241 criminalize animal cruelty and neglect statewide, capturing hoarding conduct that deprives animals of food, water, shelter, or veterinary…

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…

Montgomery bans running lawn equipment, including leaf blowers, mowers, chainsaws and hedge trimmers, before 7:00 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m. in residential areas, regardless of whether…

Montgomery bars residents and lawn crews from running mowers, blowers, chainsaws, hedge trimmers, and weed trimmers before 7:00 a.m. and after 8:00 p.m. in residential areas. Sec…

Montgomery declares it a nuisance to play a radio, stereo, or musical device from a motor vehicle or as a pedestrian loudly enough to be plainly audible to anyone else standing 25 feet…

Playing a car stereo, radio or musical device loud enough to be heard 25 feet away is a declared nuisance and a citable offense in Montgomery, whether the sound comes from a vehicle or…

Montgomery, Alabama treats a habitually barking or yelping dog as a public nuisance animal under City Code Sec. 4-3. Owners get a written warning first; if the noise continues past…

Montgomery's noise ordinance protects construction activity and construction equipment operated between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. as a permitted act, meaning daytime work inside that…

Montgomery, Alabama allows a day care facility for five or fewer people of any age to operate inside a single-family dwelling under the Residential Code rather than commercial building…

Montgomery, Alabama allows a home occupation in any dwelling, but only as a use conducted entirely inside the home, run solely by the resident, using no more than 25 percent of the…

Montgomery, Alabama caps home occupation signage at one sign no larger than two square feet under the conventional zoning ordinance's definition. In the city's SmartCode transect T3…

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…

Montgomery, Alabama exempts retaining walls up to 4 feet tall, measured from the bottom of the footing, from a building permit. Anything taller, or any wall holding back a surcharge…

Within Montgomery, Alabama's SmartCode Sub-Urban (T3) Transect zones, the zoning code bars barbed wire and razor wire fencing on both residential and commercial lots. The city's older…

Montgomery caps fences and walls on office or residential lots at seven feet (eight feet in the R-20-t, R-24-t, PGH-35 and PGH-40 districts), dropping to three feet in any required…

Alabama's partition-fence law (Ala. Code § 35-7-1 et seq.) makes a boundary fence between improved lands a shared expense of adjoining owners, with § 35-7-3 apportioning costs. Alabama…

Montgomery bans possessing, storing, selling, or setting off fireworks anywhere in the city, with no exception for backyard use. The only legal way to set off fireworks is a permitted…

Montgomery lets residents keep a recreational or cooking fire without a burn permit as long as it burns only charcoal, coal, or firewood inside a steel, metal, or masonry container…

Montgomery bans kindling any open fire anywhere in the city without a burn permit from the fire department first, and violating a permit's own conditions is equally unlawful. First…

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…

Montgomery, Alabama makes it unlawful to paint, delineate or mark any curb, curb return or driveway approach. City Code Sec. 26-125 carves out exactly one exception: a property address…

Montgomery, Alabama bars keeping a dismantled, junked or inoperable vehicle in the open on any property. City Code Sec. 27-13 gives the owner five days to remove it after written…

Montgomery bans parking a motor vehicle in a front yard unless it sits on a proper paved driveway, and bans parking on sidewalks or unpaved rights-of-way entirely. Sec. 27-395 fines…

Montgomery, Alabama bans on-street parking that blocks any traffic lane, blocks a driveway entrance in an alley, or stands on the closed side of a one-way street. City Code Sections…

Montgomery, Alabama caps overnight parking in the central business district at one hour between 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., with an exception only for physicians on emergency calls. City…

Montgomery, Alabama limits passenger curb loading zones to three minutes and freight curb loading zones to 30 minutes without a special permit from the chief of police. City Code…

Montgomery, Alabama bars parking trailers, buses, mobile homes and truck-tagged commercial vehicles on residential streets unless actively delivering, loading or servicing, or unless…

Montgomery bars parking a recreational vehicle on a public street, and any RV, boat trailer or camper stored outside a licensed travel trailer park must be kept behind the lot's…

Alabama regulates the paperwork of a nonconsensual tow far more tightly than the price of one. Ala. Code § 32-13-2(d) lets a property owner or lessee have a car removed once it has…

In Montgomery's residential districts, a shed or other accessory structure cannot be built in a required front or side yard, cannot exceed two stories, and cannot cover more than 30…

Alabama enforces statewide minimum building, energy, and manufactured-home standards through the Alabama Manufactured Housing Commission and the state-adopted residential code. Tiny…

Anyone pruning or cutting trees for hire anywhere in Montgomery needs a permit from the city's urban forester, and construction crews working near a city tree's roots must fence off…

Cutting, removing or damaging a city tree, or a private tree required by another city ordinance, is illegal in Montgomery without a permit from the urban forester. The city will only…

Montgomery caps grass and weeds at 12 inches on any property inside the city, including lots that abut city streets. Overgrown growth that hides pests, poses a fire risk, or is simply…

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…

Montgomery excludes Airbnb-type hosts from the flat $200 rooming and boarding house business license under Schedule AJ, so short-term rental operators must instead obtain a standard…

Montgomery requires a physical barrier around any pool or spa holding more than 24 inches of water, adopted as part of the city's International Pool and Spa Code. The rule exists to…

Montgomery requires a building permit before work starts on any residential swimming pool, issued under the city's adopted International Pool and Spa Code. The permit fee runs at a…

Montgomery, Alabama requires every food truck vendor to hold a city business license before selling anything on a street or property within city limits. The license is issued under…

Montgomery, Alabama confines street-legal food truck vending to public rights-of-way and public parking lots carrying posted permanent signs reserving that parking for food trucks…

Montgomery requires a business license before selling food, beverages or merchandise from a cart or kiosk on any city street or sidewalk, at an annual fee of $300 per cart. Licenses…

Montgomery, Alabama requires every business building to stay ratproofed and rat-free under City Code Article V, and makes it unlawful to create conditions that attract or harbor rats…

Montgomery makes it a nuisance and a crime for any business, bar, or nightclub to play a radio, stereo, television, phonograph, or musical instrument so loudly the sound is plainly…

Montgomery's noise ordinance defines audibility by ear, not decibel meter, and expressly states that bass reverberations count even when the words of a song aren't clear. Any raucous…

Montgomery, Alabama exempts one- and two-family homes from the city's 2021 International Fire Code sprinkler and inspection mandates enforced by Montgomery Fire/Rescue. Commercial…

Montgomery, Alabama adopted the 2024 International Plumbing Code as its Plumbing Code and requires a permit for erection, installation, alteration, repair, relocation or addition to…

Montgomery, Alabama's Inspections Department administers permit inspections under the adopted Technical Codes, charging nothing for a first re-inspection but $50 to $100 for a third…

Montgomery makes it unlawful to start excavation, construction, moving, alteration or repair of any building or accessory structure, or to store building materials or erect a temporary…

Montgomery has adopted the 2026 National Electrical Code and requires a written permit from the city electrical division before any wiring, apparatus, or electrical appliance is…

Montgomery classifies every business by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code under City Code § 16-104, then assigns each code a lettered pay schedule in § 16-105…

Montgomery, Alabama's Inspections Department Property Maintenance Division enforces the adopted Property Maintenance Code against vacant, unfit or dangerous structures, with authority…

Montgomery bans letting litter, trash, junk or unstaffed donation boxes pile up on any property in the city, and the ordinance specifically names vacant lots among the places covered…

Montgomery, Alabama bars any building feature from projecting into the public right-of-way above grade and below 8 feet high, except where a door or window may swing open up to 48…

Montgomery makes it unlawful to stand, loiter, walk, or run on a public street so as to block free passage, and the code's definition of 'street' expressly includes sidewalks. Sec…

Montgomery makes it a nuisance to restore or repair a motor vehicle in the front yard of any residential building, including rental houses, boarding houses and apartments. Routine or…

Montgomery requires every massage parlor to hold a city license before opening to the public, priced on a sliding scale tied to gross receipts, plus a separate $100 annual license for…

Towing companies operating in Montgomery, Alabama need a business license issued only after the city council passes a resolution authorizing it, one of just 14 license types singled…

Montgomery classifies cigar shops, e-cigarette retailers and vape shops under NAICS code 459991 in its business license schedule, requiring the same city privilege license every…

Every pawnbroker or secondhand dealer in Montgomery must report all pawned or purchased personal property to the police chief by 10:00 a.m. the next day, naming the seller, and must…

Montgomery requires a special event permit before anyone may hold a parade, march, demonstration, or other organized public assembly on city streets, sidewalks, or parks. Sec. 26-202…

Montgomery, Alabama requires a special event permit before any 'gathering of persons, animals or vehicles upon public property,' a definition broad enough to reach a neighborhood block…

Anyone wanting to use a Montgomery park for an activity beyond ordinary public use, a reunion, tournament, rally or vendor setup, must get a permit from the parks and recreation…

Selling at a street fair, craft show or festival in Montgomery, Alabama runs through the city's transient-business license schedule. City Code Sec. 16-106(a)(4) prices a carnival, fair…

Montgomery treats a rental property as a 'disruptive residential rental property' and a public nuisance when loud music, boisterous gatherings, or other conduct that disturbs the…

Montgomery, Alabama's code doesn't use the word 'skateboard,' but City Code Sec. 27-12 bars anyone on roller skates or riding a coaster, toy vehicle or 'similar device' from going onto…

In Montgomery, Alabama's business districts, City Code Sec. 27-344 requires pedestrians to cross only in a crosswalk. Elsewhere, mid-block crossing is legal but Sec. 27-343 requires…

Montgomery, Alabama bans drinking or selling alcohol on streets, sidewalks, public buildings and public property citywide, including inside any vehicle on a public street. The ban…

Montgomery parks stay open every day of the year except during unforeseen emergencies, but each individual park keeps its own posted opening and closing hours rather than one citywide…

Montgomery's sanitation department collects household garbage at least twice a week and rubbish, leaves, grass and shrubbery trimmings once a week, all through city-issued roll-out…

Montgomery requires every resident to use the city-issued roll-out cart and put it at the curb no later than 7:00 a.m. on pickup day, then pull it back in by 7:00 p.m. the same day…

Montgomery's sanitation department will haul away oversized brush, tree trunks and large appliances on a special schedule for up to $180.00 per load. Sec. 25-35(c) caps regular…

City Code Sec. 25-33 sets Montgomery's baseline pickup schedule: residential garbage at least twice a week, business garbage as needed except Sundays, and rubbish, leaves, grass and…

Businesses, apartment complexes and condominiums that use a contractor for garbage service have to place their containers, defined citywide to include any dumpster, in the rear of the…

Dumping garbage anywhere but a sanitary landfill, or depositing refuse on streets, sidewalks or someone else's property, is unlawful under Secs. 25-142 and 25-143. A first conviction…

Montgomery's sanitation department runs residential garbage twice a week and yard rubbish once a week under City Code Sec. 25-33, but that same section lets the city shift any route…

Small yard debris like hedge cuttings and limbs under four feet long or eight inches thick goes out with regular trash in 30-gallon bags or containers placed behind the curb. Anything…

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…

Montgomery's urban forester develops the city's street tree planting plan and must approve any tree or shrub planted in a public right-of-way or parkway strip before work begins…

Montgomery requires a grading permit before any land-disturbing activity begins, whether it's clearing, excavating, or filling. The city engineer, acting as the city official, must…

Montgomery requires a floodplain development permit before any construction, fill, or substantial improvement in a mapped special flood hazard area, adopted under Ord. No. 4-2026…

Montgomery requires new construction and substantial improvements in mapped flood hazard areas to elevate the lowest floor at least two feet above the base flood elevation. The…

Montgomery prohibits discharging anything but storm water into its municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4), including illicit connections like sewage lines tied into storm drains…

Montgomery bans idling or leaving any motor vehicle running unattended for more than 15 minutes, treating the act as a public nuisance under the city's noise ordinance. The city says…

Montgomery, Alabama permits boat docks, slips, piers, wharves and moorages for yachts and pleasure boats only inside the city's Waterfront Recreation (W-R) zoning district, under City…

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…

Montgomery's fire code amendment bans charcoal burners and other open-flame cooking devices, sprinklered building or not, on any balcony, and bars operating them within 10 feet of…

Since October 21, 2025, Montgomery, Alabama bars standing, sitting or lying on a traffic median under City Code Sec. 27-362(2), unless the median is a designated pedestrian refuge and…

Montgomery, Alabama treats agriculture and poultry or livestock raising as a Class F use, allowed in residential districts only on appeal to the board of adjustment, and it bars any…

Alabama Code Section 6-5-127 protects established farms from nuisance lawsuits when surrounding non-agricultural land use changes, supporting long-term agricultural operations.

Montgomery's zoning ordinance fixes minimum yard depths by residential district in the Article VII district table. In the Very Low Density zones, an R-125 lot needs a 50-foot front…

Montgomery caps building height at 35 feet and two stories in its Very Low Density residential zones (R-125, R-100 and R-85), under the Article VII district table that Sec. 8 of the…

Montgomery, Alabama caps building coverage in its very-low-density residential districts at 20 percent of gross lot area in R-125 and 25 percent in both R-100 and R-85, under the…

Under Montgomery's SmartCode, a developer who certifies a building as green (energy saving) can add one or two extra stories above the normal height allowance. Two bonus stories…

Montgomery, Alabama requires shared motorized scooter and mobility-device providers to hold a city license and permit before operating, renewed annually, and bans device parking in…

Montgomery, Alabama's Code authorizes both red-light camera enforcement at intersections and automated speed cameras in school zones, charging a $60 civil penalty for a first or second…

Montgomery, Alabama requires drivers to give any bicycle a three-foot passing buffer under City Code Sec. 27-16, and requires cyclists riding on a sidewalk to yield to pedestrians and…

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…

Montgomery, Alabama bans new outdoor advertising structures next to interstate and primary highways under City Code Appendix C, Article IX, unless they fall into a narrow list of…

Montgomery caps political signs to an eight-week window before an election and requires removal within ten days after, bars them from rights-of-way, city property and abandoned lots…

Montgomery, Alabama lets homeowners install small-scale rooftop or ground solar panels by right in every zoning district under City Code Appendix C, Article XI, Section 2, adopted May…

Montgomery, Alabama bans flashing, intermittent or moving lights on outdoor advertising structures next to interstate and primary highways under City Code Appendix C, Article IX…

Montgomery treats door-to-door selling and soliciting as a transient business license category with a $1,000.00 annual license tax, one of the steepest license classes in the fee…

A posted 'no solicitors,' 'no soliciting,' 'no peddling' or 'no trespassers' sign at a Montgomery residence or business makes it unlawful for any canvasser, peddler or solicitor to…

Montgomery has no crypto-mining moratorium or dedicated facility ordinance. City Code § 16-105 folds cryptocurrency mining into NAICS code 518210 alongside cloud storage and web…

Montgomery has no sanctuary policy; instead its code punishes local businesses that knowingly employ illegal aliens by suspending or revoking their city business license. A first…

Montgomery levies an 11 percent transient occupancy tax on gross receipts from hotels, motels, tourist courts and similar lodging renting to guests for less than 180 consecutive days…

Montgomery, Alabama sets a minimum number of toilets landlords must install by dwelling type, from one per private dwelling up to one per 15 occupants in larger multi-family buildings…

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…

Alabama medical cannabis dispensaries operate only under Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission licenses with statewide siting standards including 1,000-foot school buffers; cities may…

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…