Florida’s governor in May signed House Bill 803 into law, dropping building permit requirements for construction work valued at $7,500 or less.
The law takes effect July 1.
“A local government that issues building permits shall exempt an owner of a single-family dwelling or the owner’s contractor from the requirement to obtain a building permit to perform any work valued at less than $7,500 on the owner’s property,” the bill reads. The exemption does not apply to property in a flood hazard area.
A sponsor of the changes said it was designed to help speed up minor projects, such as fences and decking. But it should raise concerns for residential property insurance companies because more construction projects are likely to be done by unlicensed firms and work will not be inspected, one longtime roofing contractor said.
The bill also directs the Florida Building Commission to adopt a statewide commercial building code and a residential building code by July 2027.
The measure also puts new emphasis on the use of private building inspectors and ties the hands of local governments, to some degree.
“The local building official may only perform building inspections of construction that a private provider has determined to be compliant with the applicable codes if the local building official has knowledge that the private provider did not perform the required inspections,” the bill reads.
The law also bars local governments from adopting zoning rules or regulations that treat factory-built homes differently from site-built structures.
The unprecedented decision stems from a shooting at a neighborhood store in East Atlanta, DeKalb County, in 2019. Stephanie Plummer’s husband, Ja’Marcus Holloway, was killed, and Plummer filed a premises liability suit against the store owner, Henry Properties Inc., or HPI.
Commercial Insurance Agency Inc. had acted as the insurance broker for the store, obtaining a commercial liability policy through Colony Insurance, the appeals court explained.
Colony denied coverage. In 2021, the carrier secured a judgment from the federal court in north Georgia declaring that a policy exclusion barred coverage for injuries resulting from assault, battery or firearms. So, the store owner sued the insurance broker, known as CIA, charging that the agency should have known it was not recommending adequate coverage for the situation.
The widow, Plummer, settled with HPI. As part of that settlement, HPI assigned its claims against the insurance broker to Plummer. Plummer’s attorneys, from the national firm of Morgan & Morgan, argued that CIA was guilty of negligence and breach of fiduciary duty by failing to obtain a policy or endorsement that would have covered shooting injuries at the store.
A lower court in DeKalb County sided with the insurance broker, finding that the claim was a personal tort, and personal torts are not assignable under Georgia law. The widow appealed, and the appellate judges agreed with her, deciding for the first time in Georgia litigation that the assigned claim was, in fact, a property claim.