Palm Bay, FL

Palm Bay allows up to six hens per single-family lot in residential districts: no roosters, no breeding, and coops must meet the city's animal enclosure standards.

Florida Statute Section 767.14 preempts all breed-specific legislation statewide. Palm Bay and Brevard County cannot enact breed bans or restrictions. Dangerous dog classifications are…

Palm Bay caps residential dog ownership at four dogs per dwelling unit in most zoning districts, with a grandfathered certificate option for households that already exceeded the cap.

Palm Bay allows beekeeping on residential properties with registration through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Hives must be set back from property lines…

Unincorporated Brevard requires a conditional use permit and acreage minimums before anyone may keep Class I or Class II wildlife or venomous reptiles.

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 requires veterinary hospitals, clinics, and pet kennels in unincorporated areas to sit at least 300 feet from the nearest residence on a minimum two and one-half acre…

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…

Brevard County requires owners to keep dogs under leash, fence, or tether at all times; letting a dog run at large in unincorporated areas draws civil fines starting at $55.

Palm Bay bars noisy construction, drilling, or demolition work across a residential property line from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. weeknights and from Saturday 9 p.m. until Monday 7 a.m.

Palm Bay caps sound at the receiving property line under Table 1: 65 dBA/75 dBC in residential areas by day, 60/70 at night, and just 55/65 in posted noise-sensitive zones.

Palm Bay's noise code targets yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling, or singing on public streets, particularly between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., when it rises to a noise disturbance.

Amplified music at a permitted Palm Bay special event must stop by 11 p.m. on weeknights or midnight on weekends, and stay under 65 dB at the event boundary, 55 dB near homes.

Palm Bay bans driving a vehicle so out of repair, overloaded, or misused that it creates loud grating, grinding, or rattling noise, and requires exhaust to pass through a muffler.

Palm Bay limits lawn mowers, edgers, trimmers, and power hedge shears to 7 a.m.-7 p.m.; the code does not name leaf blowers separately but this is the only power-yard-tool curfew.

Brevard County treats a dog, cat, or other pet barking, howling, or whining for 15 straight minutes without noise-baffling shelter as a nuisance, punishable by a $500 civil fine per…

Palm Bay limits freight curb loading zones to active loading and unloading only, capping any stop at 30 minutes regardless of how much is being moved.

Palm Bay police may impound any vehicle left unattended on a street or right-of-way for more than 24 hours as presumed abandoned, while junked vehicles on private property are a…

Palm Bay bans parking commercial vehicles, trucks, buses, trailers rated Class 4 or heavier, on public or private property in every residential zoning district, at any time, with…

Palm Bay requires vehicles parked in front of a home to sit inside the paved driveway or right next to it, capping extra vehicles on the driveway's far side at two.

Palm Bay's towing chapter prints no dollar rate. It caps the drop fee at fifty percent of the city's allowable charge, requires release within one hour of a request, forbids any…

Palm Bay bans parking a vehicle so it faces oncoming traffic on any street, right-of-way, or swale, curbed or not, as part of its baseline on-street parking rules.

Brevard County caps yard-stored RVs and boats at two per property on lots ½ acre or smaller, limits the front yard to just one, and requires driveway parking perpendicular to the…

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…

Palm Bay's landscaping code requires at least half of all trees added to a development site to be native canopy species, planted at a minimum 8-foot height.

When the City Council declares a water shortage emergency, Palm Bay limits lawn and landscape watering to set morning/evening hours on odd or even days by street address.

Removing any Palm Bay tree 6 inches DBH or larger, or a palm with 4.5+ feet of clear trunk, requires a permit first, with agricultural, nursery, and emergency-hazard exceptions.

Palm Bay caps weeds, grass, and undergrowth on improved (developed) property at 12 inches, and bars owners from letting rubbish, debris, or dead trees create a public nuisance.

Barbed wire fencing is banned in Palm Bay's residential districts and allowed only on land zoned General Commercial, Light Industrial, or Heavy Industrial; razor tape, razor wire, and…

Freestanding walls in Palm Bay, including retaining walls built outside the building lines, are capped at 4 feet in front setbacks and 6 feet elsewhere, and require a Building Official…

Most new fences and walls in Palm Bay need Building Official plan review and a permit before construction, though small residential fences meeting on-site siting rules can skip the…

Palm Bay caps fences and walls at four feet within the front setback and six feet everywhere else, with a six-foot allowance on corner-lot side yards if sight-triangle rules are met.

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…

Palm Bay lets homeowners convert an attached garage to living area only if replacement parking is provided on-site and the new space connects directly to the house.

Palm Bay allows one accessory dwelling unit per single-family lot where the zoning district's Table 173-1 permits it, capped at 800 square feet or half the main house, plus required…

Palm Bay charges impact fees on an accessory dwelling unit as if it were a separate mobile home, not folding it into the fee already paid for the principal house.

Palm Bay requires the property owner to actually live in either the main house or the accessory dwelling unit: you can't build an ADU purely as a rental with an absentee owner.

Palm Bay allows tiny home development only within planned unit developments, letting an all-tiny-home PUD use a one-acre minimum site instead of the standard five-acre PUD minimum.

Sheds in Palm Bay can't exceed half the home's living area, and sheds, gazebos or pergolas over 120 square feet need a 10-foot rear setback, 6-foot side setback, and 10 feet on corner…

Palm Bay caps the parking and traffic a home-based business can generate, requiring it stay no greater than what a similar residence without a business would produce.

Palm Bay allows home-based businesses only in residentially zoned districts, requiring a business tax receipt and compliance with criteria that keep the business secondary to the…

Small family day care homes (up to 10 children) are permitted by right in nearly every Palm Bay residential zoning district; large homes need conditional use approval in most districts.

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…

Brevard County caps home occupation signage in unincorporated areas at one square foot: a single nonilluminated window or wall sign, with no freestanding, lit, or portable signs…

Palm Bay follows Florida Building Code pool safety standards. Pools built after October 1, 2000 must include at least one approved safety feature such as pool alarms, safety covers, or…

Above-ground and portable pools in Palm Bay must sit at least 10 feet from the rear property line and match the principal structure's side setback, with height capped at 25 feet.

Palm Bay has no city-specific short-term rental occupancy cap. Florida Statute 509.032(7)(b) preempts the city from adopting STR-only occupancy rules unless the ordinance was on the…

Palm Bay does not have a city-specific short-term rental ordinance or registration requirement as of 2026. Florida law preempts local STR bans under FL Statute 509.032. Operators must…

No STR-specific parking rules exist in Palm Bay. General residential parking regulations under Chapter 74.25 apply, requiring vehicles to park on paved driveways. Parking on swales or…

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…

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…

The Fire Chief can halt open burning permits and impose a citywide burning ban once wild-land fire conditions escalate to Phase One.

Palm Bay Chapter 135 regulates fireworks. Consumer fireworks are prohibited except as permitted under FL Statutes 791.02, 791.04, and 791.07. Florida HB 1059 (2020) legalized consumer…

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.

When FEMA's flood maps don't list a base flood elevation for a site, Palm Bay's Floodplain Administrator defaults it to three feet above the highest adjacent grade, unless evidence…

Any development wholly or partly inside a Palm Bay flood hazard area needs a floodplain development permit from the Floodplain Administrator first, covering everything from grading and…

Before clearing, grading, or filling an undeveloped lot, Palm Bay requires a certified biologist's threatened-species assessment, stormwater controls, and on-site sediment retention…

Palm Bay property owners must build and maintain their own stormwater drainage facilities and get Public Works Director approval before altering any non-city stormwater drainage system.

Palm Bay requires a city building permit plus a state submerged-land authorization from DEP, the St. Johns River Water Management District, and the Army Corps of Engineers before…

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…

Palm Bay defines a block party as a closure of a public right-of-way under one-fifth of a mile, and requires a City Manager permit filed at least 30 days ahead plus insurance and an…

Palm Bay requires a City Manager permit for any parade that requires closing or rerouting public streets, filed at least 30 days ahead with insurance and an indemnity agreement.

Any street fair, carnival, or festival in Palm Bay counts as a 'special event' under city code and needs a City Manager permit before it can be held, on city or private property alike.

Reserving a Palm Bay park facility or holding an organized park activity requires a permit from the Recreation Director, issued only when the event won't unreasonably interfere with…

Palm Bay allows outdoor dining only alongside a licensed restaurant, requiring site-plan approval, buffers, five-foot clearance from crosswalks and utilities, and a 10 p.m. weekday, 11…

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…

City crews collect household garbage twice a week in Palm Bay, while recycling, yard trash, and bulky waste are each picked up once a week under the mandatory collection ordinance.

Palm Bay collects bulky waste like furniture and appliances curbside once a week, with no limit on the amount collected per residential unit.

Palm Bay residents can put carts at the curb starting at 5 p.m. the evening before pickup, must have them out by 4 a.m. on collection day, and pull empties back that same day.

Palm Bay requires recyclables sorted and placed curbside weekly in city-provided containers, separate from trash, and materials become city property once collected.

Dumping waste on any lot, street, alley, park, stream, canal, or other waterway in Palm Bay without required permits is unlawful, whether the land is public or private, vacant or…

Tree limbs and yard trimmings set out for Palm Bay curbside pickup must be cut to 4 feet if under 6 inches thick, or 2 feet if thicker, and stacked neatly.

Every occupied home, multi-unit building, and business in Palm Bay must subscribe to and pay for the city's solid waste collection service: self-hauling instead of enrolling isn't an…

Businesses in Palm Bay must screen dumpsters on at least three sides with a 6-foot masonry wall, fence, or similar barrier that blocks the view from neighboring properties.

Unincorporated Brevard requires curbside recycling carts for single-family homes, caps cart weight to manufacturer limits, and lets haulers refuse twice-tagged bad bins.

Palm Bay residents can hold a garage sale without any permit or license, but the code caps sales at one per residence per quarter, three consecutive days, and daylight hours only.

Palm Bay protects red, white, black, and buttonwood mangroves along the Indian River Lagoon; removal or trimming needs FDEP approval and a specially certified arborist.

New residential developments in Palm Bay must plant canopy street trees every 50 feet in a parkway strip at least 6 feet wide, with palms capped at 25% of the total.

Brevard County designates large, rare, or historically significant trees as protected "specimen trees", hardwoods 24 inches dbh or larger, and bars their removal on lots over 1.25…

Palm Bay exempts the operation of a farm from its noise ordinance, protecting bona fide agricultural activity from city noise-disturbance enforcement inside city limits.

Palm Bay allows agriculture only in the General Use (GU) and Rural Residential (RR) zoning districts, where farming is a by-right use; selling farm products there requires a…

Palm Bay bars anyone under 17 from streets and public places between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., with exceptions for work, a parent's company, or a police-issued permit.

Palm Bay parks are open 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. if lighted, or 7:00 a.m. to sunset if unlighted; being in a park outside posted hours is a crime.

Palm Bay police may issue a civil citation instead of a criminal charge for possessing 20 grams or less of cannabis or drug paraphernalia, with escalating fines and mandatory treatment…

Palm Bay strictly bans all solicitation on road rights-of-way citywide, panhandling, signature-gathering, or literature drops to motorists in traffic, punishable as a second-degree…

Palm Bay bans open containers and public drinking within 100 yards of any business open to the public, citywide.

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…

Brevard County bans loitering, standing, or parking within 50 feet of the county jail at 860 Camp Road in Sharpes; the county has no general public loitering ordinance elsewhere in the…

Palm Bay requires wreckers towing a vehicle from private property without the owner's consent to report tow details to police immediately and follow strict release and fee rules.

Tattoo parlors are a permitted use in Palm Bay's Neighborhood Commercial, Community Commercial and General Commercial districts, but a Neighborhood Commercial shop can't exceed 5,000…

Palm Bay secondhand dealers must file daily itemized reports with the Chief of Police on every item purchased, traded, or pawned.

Major vehicle repairs, spray painting, body work, or any mechanical fix that disables a car for 24+ hours, are illegal in Palm Bay's residential districts unless done inside an…

Adult entertainment establishments and sexually-oriented businesses in Palm Bay need a city license and cannot locate within 2,500 feet of a school or park, or 1,500 feet of each other.

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…

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…

Palm Bay lets mobile food vendors set up on designated city property or on private property with the owner's written permission, subject to separation rules.

Palm Bay regulates where mobile food vendors may operate through zoning rules: city property only in Mayor-designated areas, private property only with written owner permission, and…

Palm Bay prohibits mobile food vendors from operating in any public or private right-of-way, including sidewalks, and bars blocking traffic or building access.

Digital billboards are allowed only on existing billboard signs near Interstate 95 or Palm Bay Road, require a state DOT permit, and must follow strict display and shutoff rules.

Window signs in Palm Bay cannot cover more than 25% of a window's total surface in aggregate, or the sign is expressly prohibited and treated as a nuisance.

Palm Bay exempts temporary residential garage sale signs from sign permits but requires immediate removal after the sale.

Palm Bay gives political signs no special category: they're regulated as ordinary temporary signs under the citywide, content-neutral Chapter 178 sign code.

Palm Bay exempts seasonal decorative lighting, like typical low-wattage Christmas lights, from its outdoor lighting standards in every zoning district from Thanksgiving through January…

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.

Digital billboards in Palm Bay cannot exceed 0.3 foot-candles above ambient light and must include light-sensing dimming and an automatic full-black shutoff if the display malfunctions.

Palm Bay requires every nonexempt outdoor light fixture to be shielded so its output drops to zero at the property line, stopping glare from spilling onto neighbors.

Palm Bay bans low-pressure sodium fixtures citywide, caps outdoor lighting at 1,000 lumens per fixture, and limits light poles to 30 feet under its dark-sky-style lighting code.

Palm Bay requires new roadway bikeways to follow FDOT bicycle design standards, with new streets built using separated or protected bike lanes rather than a painted lane alone.

Palm Bay runs Automated Speed Detection cameras at 16 designated school zones under state traffic law; the city has no red-light camera program at intersections.

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…

Any construction, alteration, or access to a curb, driveway, sidewalk, or gutter within a Palm Bay street or easement requires a driveway permit from Public Works.

Palm Bay bars stopping, standing, or parking any vehicle on a public sidewalk, and on curbed swale areas that lack curb cuts, keeping the pedestrian path clear citywide.

Palm Bay makes the abutting property owner pay to remove and replace curbs, gutters, culverts, and sidewalks whenever a driveway or improvement is relocated, changed, or abandoned.

Palm Bay enforces the 2023 Florida Building Code, Plumbing edition, as its official Plumbing Code, requiring permits and inspections for water, sewer, and gas piping work performed…

Palm Bay requires a requested inspection at every active stage of permitted work, or the Building Official can require a permit extension of at least six months.

Palm Bay adopts the 2020 National Electrical Code for electrical work citywide, but excludes Article 210.52 and enforces its own locally amended version through a separate exhibit…

In Palm Bay's coastal high hazard flood zones, decks and patios thicker than 12 inches need a registered design professional's flood-impact analysis before the city will approve them.

New multi-family buildings with 3+ units built after April 21, 2005 must have automatic fire sprinklers under NFPA 13 or 13R standards.

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.

Palm Bay requires owners of vacant, unimproved lots to keep weeds and vegetation under 12 or 24 inches near property lines and roads, with an exception for protected-species habitat.

Palm Bay requires owners to keep building exteriors free of deterioration and blighting influences, backed by a Special Magistrate nuisance-abatement process with daily fines.

Palm Bay bans all Class I invasive plant species, Brazilian pepper, camphor, carrotwood and others, from any landscaping plan and requires their removal before a certificate of…

Palm Bay sets minimum yard setbacks by zoning district; in the RS-1 single-family district, homes must sit back 25 feet from the front and side corner, 8 feet on the interior side, and…

Palm Bay limits maximum building coverage on a lot by zoning district, from just 10% in the General Use district up to 30% in the RS-1, RS-2 and RS-3 single-family districts and 35% in…

Palm Bay caps single-family building height at 35 feet in the GU and RR districts and 25 feet in the RE, SRE, RS-1, RS-2, RS-3 and RMH districts, under the Land Development Code's…

Palm Bay bans medical marijuana treatment center dispensing facilities anywhere within city limits, using the local opt-out Florida law gives municipalities that don't want…

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

Palm Bay classifies every business under the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification system for tax purposes; a classification dispute goes first to the Community and Economic…

Palm Bay customers must stop leaks on their own property immediately and report any leak they discover on someone else's premises to the Utilities Department right away.

Unincorporated Brevard County restricts reclaimed (reuse) water to irrigation, fire protection and similar outdoor uses under Chapter 110: never for drinking, indoor use, or filling…

Palm Bay's zoning code lets developers earn density, intensity, or height bonuses for features like mixed-use design or affordable housing, capped at one bonus per feature and two…

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…

Brevard County bans sleeping or camping on any beach, dune, or beach access from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. unless the county has specifically authorized overnight camping there.

Homes built in unincorporated Brevard County must sit above the street or, in FEMA flood zones, at least 12 inches above the base flood elevation before the county issues a certificate…

After a declared disaster, unincorporated Brevard residents must stack storm debris neatly at the road's edge, sorted by type, for county pickup: misplaced debris becomes the owner's…

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…

Brevard County bans household disposal of hypodermic needles and lancets in trash containers or waste facilities; residents must use county-designated home-user sharps collection sites…

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…

Bars and nightclubs in unincorporated Brevard County can't blast music outward to attract customers, and their sound systems don't get the county's usual equipment noise exemption…

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…

Brevard County treats amplified bass that shakes walls as regulated noise, capping it at 65 dBC by day and 60 dBC by night on residential property, with a separate 300-foot…

Brevard County exempts building-mounted business generators from its noise-article decibel limits if properly maintained and screened, but portable or residential generators still must…

Brevard County's Historical Commission can mark forts, Indian mounds, and other historic sites with monuments, tablets, or markers anywhere in the county, acting on its own initiative…

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…

Brevard County has no door-to-door solicitor permit or background-check program in its code. Anyone selling in the unincorporated county needs a local business tax receipt, and…

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…