Demolition permits in Palm Beach County

The county contains 39 municipalities, and the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser keeps a page linking each one to its own permit department. A parcel inside a city or town gets its demolition permit there. Several small towns hire outside help: Gulf Stream's permits and inspections run through Highland Beach under an interlocal agreement, and Hypoluxo contracts a private building-services firm. The permit still carries the town's name.

Land outside every municipality belongs to Palm Beach County Planning, Zoning and Building, whose Building Division takes applications through its ePZB portal. That is no small remainder. In the 2020 Census, 649,776 of the county's 1,492,191 residents lived in unincorporated areas, which include The Acreage, Jupiter Farms, Canal Point and long stretches west of Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and Lake Worth Beach.

Many offices take the Universal County-Wide Building Permit Application, though not all of them. Palm Beach Shores, for one, requires its own form. Look up the parcel's jurisdiction before anything else, because a street address alone can mislead near a city line.

For unincorporated parcels the Building Division follows its policy PB-O-110, Demolition Permits, effective June 28, 2024. A demolition permit is needed for anything that would need a building permit to build, which pulls in signs, modular buildings and swimming pools. Commercial and multifamily demolitions get a full plan review; a whole one- or two-family house does not.

Before demolition may start, an inspector visits. Gas, water, sewer, telephone, cable and electric service must already be disconnected, a septic tank removed or abandoned, and any pool either taken out or broken through at the bottom and filled with earth. Taking down a house also means taking down its accessory structures, unless the Building Official agrees otherwise before the permit issues.

One rule is unusual. In the county's Urban/Suburban Tier, a single-family demolition with no redevelopment permit behind it is reviewed for significant degradation of the neighborhood. If that is found, the owner submits a landscape plan for the empty lot or an affidavit that redevelopment will be applied for within 120 days, and a missed deadline goes to Code Enforcement.

Palm Beach County does not run its own air agency for asbestos. The Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County enforces the federal NESHAP rule (40 CFR Part 61, Subpart M) across the county, and county-owned buildings are the exception, filed with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Southeast District instead.

For a regulated demolition, a licensed asbestos survey comes first and written notice must be postmarked or delivered at least ten working days before work begins. The notice is required even when the survey finds no asbestos. County code adds a step: written approval from the health department before a NESHAP-regulated demolition starts. Fees rise with the quantity of regulated material.

Condominiums and co-ops are covered by the rule. A residential building of four or fewer units is generally outside it, but only if it was never used commercially and is not coming down as part of a commercial or public project. Some town forms still name the state agency as the place to file; follow the health department's current instructions and the form your town hands you. Asbestos consultants and abatement contractors are licensed by the state under section 469.003, Florida Statutes.

Most offices want proof that services are off before they issue a full demolition permit. West Palm Beach's November 2025 checklist asks for releases from Florida Power & Light, Florida Public Utilities for gas, AT&T, Comcast and the city's own utilities, plus a rodent extermination letter. Boca Raton adds an adjacent owner notification letter, a refrigerant affidavit and its own water and sewer disconnect form.

Water can be its own small project. On the island, the Town of Palm Beach gets its water from the City of West Palm Beach, so that release comes from a different government than the permit. Manalapan wants the sewer lateral severed, sealed, raised two feet and painted green for inspection, while Tequesta asks for temporary water to be arranged with village utilities.

The utilities and the licensed trades do the disconnects. We request the letters, keep a list of which have arrived, and file once the set is complete, because an application missing one release usually sits until it comes in.

Florida's underground facility damage prevention law, section 556.105, treats demolition the same as excavation. Sunshine 811 must be notified at least two full business days before the work, and a locate ticket stays valid for 30 calendar days. Slab, footing and pool removal all disturb the ground, so the ticket goes in before those start.

West Palm Beach sends every demolition application to its Historic Preservation office. Inside one of its locally designated districts, such as Flamingo Park, El Cid or Old Northwood, demolition of a contributing or a non-contributing building is heard by the Historic Preservation Board, and applications are due two months before the meeting.

Delray Beach applies the same idea to its five districts: a Certificate of Appropriateness from its Historic Preservation Board, with demolition held until the replacement's building permit is issued. Lake Worth Beach requires a Certificate of Appropriateness in its six districts, and Boca Raton reviews demolition of locally designated properties.

The Town of Palm Beach has the firmest calendar. Under section 18-112 of its code, no structure may be demolished and no demolition permit issued from the Monday before Thanksgiving through March 31, and equipment such as pneumatic jackhammers waits until after May 1. A designated landmark, or a property under consideration for designation, cannot get a demolition permit at all.

Palm Beach County has roughly 47 miles of Atlantic shoreline, and much of it is designated critically eroded. Work seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line, set under section 161.053, Florida Statutes, needs a permit or a written exemption from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on top of the local permit. We confirm which applies before scheduling.

Sea turtle nesting season runs from March 1 through October 31. County rules on sea turtle protection cover lighting and construction activity on the beach, so oceanfront demolition plans account for the season early.

When repairs or improvements reach 50 percent of a building's market value, not counting the land, the building must be brought up to current flood-resistant standards. On a low, older house that often decides between renovating and starting over.

State law limits what local governments can do about that choice. Since July 1, 2022, the provision now numbered section 553.79(25) has barred them from prohibiting or restricting a code-compliant demolition permit for a single-family home in a coastal high-hazard area or flood zone, with narrow exceptions. Section 553.8991, added in 2024, applies a similar limit to certain buildings at least partly seaward of the CCCL that fall below flood elevation or are declared unsafe, but it excludes single-family homes and individually National Register–listed buildings.

Florida's owner-builder exemption, section 489.103(7), covers an owner who will occupy or use the building: a one- or two-family home, a farm outbuilding, or a commercial building whose cost stays under the cap the statute sets. The owner must directly supervise, on site, all work not done by licensed contractors.

The exemption is lost if the work was really for sale or lease, and a sale or lease within one year of completion is presumed to show exactly that. Palm Beach towns add their own limits on top: North Palm Beach does not allow owner-builder permits for multifamily or condominium work, and Wellington and Manalapan require the application to be notarized for every owner-builder.

Construction and demolition debris in the county goes to facilities permitted by the Solid Waste Authority, or to the Authority's drop-off center at the North County Landfill, where mixed loads are sorted. Cities add rules. Wellington requires an annual village permit for any roll-off hauler, West Palm Beach lists approved franchise haulers and charges a per-cubic-yard fee when an owner hauls the debris, and South Palm Beach accepts dumpsters only from Waste Management.

The permit closes when the final inspection passes, and some offices ask for more at the end. The county wants debris gone and the lot graded, and the Town of Palm Beach requires a lot to be sodded and irrigated if construction does not begin within 30 days. As contractor of record, Romco files the application, coordinates the licensed trades and outside agencies, and books inspections through to close-out.