North Carolina Ordinances (2026)

North Carolina law protects backyard beekeeping statewide. Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 106-645, no county may ban owning five or fewer hives, and any city ordinance must permit up to five…

North Carolina's Right to Farm Act limits nuisance lawsuits and local restrictions on bona fide farm operations, including livestock and poultry kept on qualifying farms statewide.

North Carolina sets statewide dangerous dog standards under N.C.G.S. Chapter 67, but specific leash requirements are delegated to counties and municipalities, which retain regulatory…

North Carolina restricts possession of native wildlife under Wildlife Resources Commission rules and sets statewide standards for inherently dangerous animals through county-level…

North Carolina regulates retail sale of vapor products and e-cigarettes under NCGS 14-313 and requires licensure under NCGS Chapter 105, while the federal Tobacco 21 law sets the…

North Carolina permits cities and counties to enact juvenile curfews under general police power but requires constitutional safeguards under state law.

North Carolina repealed its state commercial drone operator permit and knowledge test effective December 1, 2024, so commercial pilots now need only the FAA Part 107 remote pilot…

North Carolina General Statute 15A-300.1 and related laws set statewide rules for unmanned aircraft, banning drone surveillance without consent and weaponized drones, while federal law…

North Carolina has no statewide predictive scheduling law and effectively preempts local fair workweek or predictive scheduling ordinances through its Wage and Hour Act framework.

The Coastal Area Management Act, N.C.G.S. 113A-100 through 113A-134.3, requires CAMA permits for development in 20 coastal counties and Areas of Environmental Concern, preempting local…

The North Carolina Sedimentation Pollution Control Act, codified at N.C.G.S. 113A-50 through 113A-66, requires erosion and sediment control plans for land-disturbing activities…

North Carolina General Statute 143-215.51 through 143-215.61 and the state Uniform Floodplain Management Program require minimum flood damage prevention standards that all…

North Carolina General Statute 143-214.7 establishes the state stormwater program administered by the Department of Environmental Quality, setting minimum design and runoff standards…

North Carolina prohibits all aerial and explosive fireworks statewide, allowing only permissible ground-based pyrotechnics, with classifications and possession rules that…

North Carolina regulates open burning statewide through Department of Environmental Quality air rules and Forest Service permit requirements that apply uniformly across all…

North Carolina regulates propane storage statewide under G.S. Chapter 119, Article 5. The Board of Agriculture adopts a code of safety, NFPA 58 via 02 NCAC 38 .0700, governing the…

North Carolina vests statewide wildfire response and burn ban authority in the Commissioner of Agriculture and the State Forester, whose declared bans override local burn permits.

North Carolina issues concealed handgun permits through county sheriffs under NCGS 14-415.10 and recognizes reciprocity with many states; permitless carry is not authorized statewide.

North Carolina preempts local governments from regulating firearms, ammunition, and concealed handgun permitting beyond what state law expressly allows under NCGS 14-409.40.

North Carolina generally permits open carry of handguns and long guns without a permit, but local discharge ordinances and posted-property restrictions may apply under state law.

North Carolina permits transporting firearms in a vehicle, but a handgun carried concealed within reach generally requires a concealed handgun permit under NCGS 14-269 and 14-415.10.

North Carolina regulates mobile food units under N.C.G.S. 130A-248 and 15A NCAC 18A .2600, requiring uniform statewide permits, commissary requirements, and inspections by local health…

North Carolina lets exempt nonprofits run bingo and raffles under Chapter 14, Part 2's charitable-gaming statutes. Bingo requires a $200 annual license from the Alcohol Law Enforcement…

North Carolina's gambling law, N.C.G.S. § 14-292, makes it a Class 2 misdemeanor for anyone to bet money, property, or anything of value on a game of chance, whether the wager is…

North Carolina legalized sports wagering under G.S. Chapter 18C, Article 9, effective March 2024. The State Lottery Commission licenses online and in-person sportsbooks; interactive…

Under the North Carolina Planned Community Act, G.S. 47F-3-116, any assessment unpaid for 30 days or longer becomes a lien on the lot. If unpaid for 90 days or more, the association…

North Carolina's Planned Community Act requires HOAs to hold at least one association meeting each year (G.S. 47F-3-108) with 10-60 days' advance notice stating the agenda, and to give…

North Carolina law overrides certain HOA restrictions. G.S. 22B-20 voids covenants that prohibit residential solar collectors (with narrow visibility exceptions). G.S. 47F-3-121…

North Carolina suspends an HOA's power to require landscaping irrigation once the area is designated severe, extreme, or exceptional drought and a government body has imposed water…

State law strips North Carolina homeowners associations of power to block the American or state flag on a member's own lot. G.S. 47F-3-121(1) voids any covenant restriction on a flag…

North Carolina's G.S. 47F-3-107.1 requires due process before an HOA can fine an owner. A hearing must be held before the executive board or an adjudicatory panel, with notice of the…

North Carolina lets a homeowners association foreclose on a house without ever filing a lawsuit. Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47F-3-116, an assessment unpaid for 30 days can be turned into…

North Carolina has no cottage food law in the usual sense: there is no statutory sales cap, no annual gross-receipts ceiling, and no permit fee. Instead the state treats a home kitchen…

North Carolina General Statute 110-86 and Chapter 110 Article 7 require state licensure for any home caring for three or more unrelated children, preempting most local attempts to ban…

North Carolina is one of the few states whose legislature expressly authorized sobriety and license checkpoints by statute. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-16.3A lets any law enforcement agency…

North Carolina never enacted an express right to record police, and it never enacted a buffer law either. What it has is a one-party consent wiretap statute: N.C. Gen. Stat. §…

North Carolina has no general stop-and-identify statute. A pedestrian stopped on the street commits no offense by declining to give a name, and the state's entire vagrancy article…

North Carolina is one of the few states that wrote consent searches into statute instead of leaving them to case law. Article 9 of Chapter 15A defines consent as a statement to the…

North Carolina makes water reuse, including captured rainwater, official state policy, and residential rain barrels used for outdoor irrigation are permitted statewide without a state…

North Carolina local governments cannot impose standalone tree replacement mandates on private property without specific legislative authorization, though replacement rules tied to…

North Carolina runs two entirely separate regimes, and which one you are in is decided by five miles per hour. A golf cart is defined as a vehicle not capable of exceeding 20 mph, and…

North Carolina General Statute 20-137.7 and Chapter 160A-303.2 set the framework for declaring and removing abandoned, junked, or nuisance motor vehicles, defining minimum criteria…

North Carolina's private-lot towing statute, G.S. 20-219.2, is not a statewide rule: it applies only in 13 named counties, including Wake, Mecklenburg, Guilford, Forsyth, and…

For nonpayment of rent, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-3 requires a 10-day demand for past-due rent before the lease term is forfeited. The landlord then files summary ejectment under Article 3…

Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-42, landlords must keep rental premises fit and habitable, comply with building codes, maintain plumbing, electrical, heating and other facilities, and…

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46 caps residential late fees on monthly rent at $15 or 5% of the monthly rent, whichever is greater, and bars charging the fee until rent is at least five days…

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-14 sets notice periods to end periodic tenancies: seven days for month-to-month, two days for week-to-week, and one month or more before the year ends for…

North Carolina law preempts local rent control. Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-14.1, no county or city may enact, maintain, or enforce any ordinance that regulates the amount of rent…

North Carolina restricts cities from requiring residential rental registration, permits, or fees absent a specific qualifying public safety problem.

North Carolina caps a residential security deposit by tenancy length under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-51: two weeks' rent for week-to-week, one and one-half months' rent for month-to-month…

North Carolina recognizes adverse possession after 20 years of open, continuous possession under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-40, or after 7 years if the possessor holds under color of title…

North Carolina limits county zoning of bona fide farms under NCGS 160D-903, exempting most agricultural activities on qualifying farms from county zoning regulation.

North Carolina protects established agricultural and forestry operations from nuisance lawsuits under NCGS 106-701, the Right to Farm Act, with strict limits on plaintiff eligibility…

North Carolina imposes statewide sales tax on short-term rental accommodations and authorizes counties and cities to add room occupancy taxes only under specific state enabling…

North Carolina law permits political signs in state highway rights-of-way during election periods with size and timing restrictions.

North Carolina has no statewide ban on plastic straws and does not authorize local governments to ban single-use plastic straws or other utensils.

North Carolina voids any deed restriction, covenant, or HOA agreement that bans, or effectively bans, solar collectors on residential property, under G.S. 22B-20. The protection covers…

North Carolina requires building and electrical permits for solar panel installations under the State Building Code, with uniform statewide technical standards and licensed contractor…

Federal law sets the minimum tobacco purchase age at 21 nationwide, but North Carolina's own statute, NCGS 14-313, still sets the state age at 18, so retailers must follow the stricter…

North Carolina has not enacted a statewide flavored tobacco or flavored vape ban, and no state law authorizes local governments to ban flavored tobacco products, leaving flavor rules…

North Carolina prohibits disposal of specific recyclable materials in landfills statewide under G.S. 130A-309.10, applying uniformly to all residents, businesses, and waste haulers.

North Carolina lets any motor vehicle carry up to two spot lamps and up to two front auxiliary driving lamps, and it caps every other added lamp at 25 candlepower unless the beam is…

North Carolina has no statute telling you where a dash cam may be mounted. Part 9 of Article 3 of Chapter 20 regulates the windshield only for tint and for safety glass, and nothing in…

North Carolina has never authorised lane splitting and has never written a section that uses the phrase. The motorcycle lane statute, G.S. 20-146.1, entitles a motorcycle to the full…

North Carolina bans anything over a plate that makes part of it unreadable, and it names frames and clear covers specifically. G.S. 20-63(g) makes it an infraction to cover a plate…

North Carolina has no statute regulating radar detectors in a private passenger vehicle. The words radar and detector appear nowhere in the 868 sections of Chapter 20, the Motor…

North Carolina lets you run studded tires on any day of the year. G.S. 20-122(b) permits studs on regular and snow tires "for increased safety" so long as they project no more than one…

North Carolina allows aftermarket tint on any window except the windshield down to 35% total light transmission, with reflectance of 20% or less and no red, yellow or amber film. The…