Under Florida Statute 553.791 the jurisdiction is on a clock, and if it lets the clock run out your permit is approved by operation of law. Enter your submission date and see exactly when that happens.
Business days exclude Saturdays, Sundays and the legal holidays listed in s. 110.117, Florida Statutes, applying the standard observed-day rule where a holiday falls on a weekend. An individual jurisdiction's observed calendar can differ, so treat the result as the statutory floor and confirm locally before relying on it.
| Stage | Deadline | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Permit application, general | 10 business days | F.S. 553.791(8)(b) |
| Permit application, single-trade plans review on a one or two family dwelling | 5 business days | F.S. 553.791(8)(b) |
| Permit application with a sealed engineer or architect affidavit | 10 business days | F.S. 553.791(12) |
| Revision after a first resubmittal | 5 business days | F.S. 553.791(8)(d)–(e) |
| Certificate of occupancy or completion, general | 10 business days | F.S. 553.791(16)(a) |
| Certificate of occupancy or completion, one or two family dwelling | 2 business days | F.S. 553.791(16)(a) |
| Inspection records from the private provider to the building official | 4 business days | F.S. 553.791(14) |
All but the last of these run against the local building official. The last runs against the private provider.
CS/CS/HB 803, enacted as chapter 2026-63, Laws of Florida, cut the general permit application review window from 20 business days to 10, and narrowed that review to completeness of forms and documents only. It also moved the private provider's inspection record deadline from 2 business days to 4.
If a jurisdiction quotes you 20 business days, it is quoting superseded law. So is most of what is currently published about this statute, including summaries that still use the pre-2026 subsection numbers. Our crosswalk of what changed has the full before and after.
It is not a figure of speech. Under F.S. 553.791(8)(b), if the local building official does not provide written notice of incomplete forms or documents within the applicable window, the permit is deemed approved as a matter of law, and the permit must be issued by the local building official on the next business day.
The certificate of occupancy provision works the same way. Under F.S. 553.791(16)(b), if no notice comes within the applicable period, the request is automatically granted and deemed issued as of the next business day, and the official must hand over the written certificate within 10 days after that.
These are rights that exist whether or not anyone asserts them. The practical difference between providers is whether the deadline gets raised when a jurisdiction lets one pass.
Where a private provider is used, F.S. 553.791(8)(b) gives the local building official 10 business days from receipt of the application and the private provider's affidavit to give written notice of any incomplete forms or documents, or 5 business days if the application relates to a single-trade plans review for a single-family or two-family dwelling. If no notice is given in that window, the permit is deemed approved as a matter of law and must be issued on the next business day. Before July 1, 2026 the general figure was 20 business days.
The permit is deemed approved as a matter of law and the building official must issue it on the next business day. For a certificate of occupancy or completion, F.S. 553.791(16)(b) provides that the request is automatically granted and deemed issued as of the next business day, and the official must provide the written certificate within 10 days after that.
Under F.S. 553.791(16)(a), the building official has no more than 10 business days after receiving the request, the certificate of compliance, and all other required approvals including payment of outstanding fees, or no more than 2 business days for single-family or two-family dwellings.
Weekends and legal holidays are excluded. This calculator excludes Saturdays, Sundays, and the legal holidays listed in s. 110.117, Florida Statutes, applying the standard observed-day rule where a holiday falls on a weekend. A particular jurisdiction's observed calendar can differ, so treat the result as the statutory floor and confirm locally before relying on it.
Not from zero. Under F.S. 553.791(8)(c), a first revision gets the remainder of the tolled period plus 5 business days. Under (8)(d) and (e), later revisions get 5 business days each. The same deemed-approval consequence applies if the jurisdiction does not respond.
This calculator implements the deadlines in Florida Statutes s. 553.791 as amended through chapter 2026-63, Laws of Florida, effective July 1, 2026. Provided for general information by Inspektr, a Florida private provider. It is not legal advice and it is not a substitute for confirming a jurisdiction's own calendar and procedures. The authoritative statutory text is published by the Florida Legislature at leg.state.fl.us. Last reviewed September 2026.