Broward County Demolition Permits: Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and the Rest

Broward County's Building Code Division serves unincorporated areas; the 31 municipalities each permit their own. Fort Lauderdale, for example, moved fully digital at the start of 2024 — applications and plans go through LauderBuild and are reviewed online, with no paper accepted.

The practical consequence is the same as for bulk pickup: search your city's name plus "demolition permit" rather than looking for one county-wide answer.

Before demolishing or renovating any existing structure in Broward, the county requires a Statement of Responsibilities Regarding Asbestos, filed online with its Environmental Engineering and Permitting Division. The SRRA determines whether federal and county asbestos rules apply to the project, and produces the Certificate of Submittal that the city building department wants attached to the permit application.

Owner-occupied residences with four or fewer dwelling units that are not used commercially are exempt from the SRRA fee and from most of the asbestos rules — but not from filing. The submittal is still required to get the certificate.

The city's demolition permitting checklist calls for a signed and sealed current survey that identifies each structure to be demolished and its square footage, the SRRA certificate, and — before the main demolition permit is issued — a closed sewer cap permit so the lateral is properly capped. A Notice of Commencement has to be recorded and on site when the job's value is above the state threshold.

Expect the city to review these digitally in the LauderBuild plan room, and expect the first review cycle to take longer than a simple over-the-counter permit.

Broward cities generally treat fence and deck removal as unpermitted work — the permit was for putting them up. Screen enclosures and pool cages are the exception to watch: they were permitted aluminum structures, and some municipalities want a demolition filing to close them out. Sheds follow the same logic as elsewhere in South Florida: a permitted, site-built shed may need a filing; a kit shed does not.

When we schedule a light demolition job in Broward, we ask the city on your behalf before we quote and tell you if anything needs to be filed in your name.