What do these permits involve in Broward County?

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Certificate of Use (CU)

A Certificate of Use is required for any new tenant or change of occupancy in commercial, retail, office or industrial space in UNINCORPORATED Broward County before opening, and it certifies Florida Building Code, Broward Zoning Code and Fire Marshal compliance together in one review. This requirement applies only in the unincorporated area — every incorporated Broward city runs its own certificate-of-occupancy or zoning-compliance process instead, and a CU is neither required nor available inside a municipality. The fee runs $265 to $425 depending on the business or use type, plus a separately charged $15 non-refundable processing fee; a second independent search pass cross-confirmed these figures against the county's own fee-schedule and application listings, raising confidence in them. The CU is one-time once issued, but a change of ownership, occupant or business name triggers a brand-new CU and a new fee. Holding a Local Business Tax Receipt does not substitute for a Certificate of Use, and the two are checked separately.

Local Business Tax Receipt (LBTR)

Every business anywhere in Broward County needs this receipt, and the requirement is countywide: a business inside Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood or any of Broward's other 31 municipalities still owes the county LBTR in addition to that city's own business tax receipt, not instead of it — this matches the Miami-Dade pattern and Broward is not an exception. Base fees run roughly $27 to $150 depending on the classification code assigned to the business (drivers include employee count, seat count, unit count or machine count), plus a separate Tax Collector processing fee of about $25; the exact dollar figure for any one of the ten target industries depends on the classification code, so confirm the current classification fee directly with the Tax Collector before budgeting for it. The tax year runs October 1 through September 30, and a receipt must be held before commencing operation at each location. Certain professions need a prior state license or Certificate of Competency before the Tax Collector will issue the receipt, and holding an LBTR is not itself proof of zoning compliance — that is what the separate Certificate of Use establishes in unincorporated Broward.

Fire-Rescue Operational / Life-Safety Inspection

Every commercial or multi-residential occupancy in Broward needs a life-safety/fire inspection, but which agency performs it depends on location and that map is currently changing. BSO Fire Rescue's Fire Prevention Bureau serves unincorporated Broward plus a named group of contract cities — Cooper City, Dania Beach, Deerfield Beach, Hallandale Beach, Hillsboro Beach, Lauderdale Lakes, Pembroke Park, West Park and Weston — while other cities, including Fort Lauderdale, run their own independent fire department and Office of the Fire Marshal instead. On September 23, 2026 the Broward County Commission voted unanimously, 9-0, to end BSO's management of county fire-rescue when the current contract runs out in 2028, converting roughly 900 BSO Fire Rescue employees into direct Broward County employees; the county specifically named Cooper City, Weston and Dania Beach as fire agreements it is assuming, and Sheriff Gregory Tony publicly objected to the vote. Separately, and outside that county-level vote, Deerfield Beach's own BSO fire contract already expired in September 2025: a 24-month transition began, the Deerfield Beach City Commission voted 4-1 on January 21, 2026 to build standalone police and fire departments, BSO continues serving the city through September 2027, and the city's own target for independent fire operations is Fall 2027 — an earlier version of this research incorrectly said spring 2027, corrected here. Confirm the current fire-code authority for a given address before relying on a single fire-prevention contact, and expect this list to keep changing through 2028.

Permit	Issuing agency	Fee	Renews	Last checked
Certificate of Use (CU)	Broward County Planning and Development Management Division (Building Services and Zoning)	$265–$425 one-time, by business or use type, plus a separate non-refundable $15 processing charge	one-time, unless ownership, the occupant or the business name changes, which triggers a new CU	2026-09-28
Local Business Tax Receipt (LBTR)	Broward County Tax Collector, Local Business Tax Section	$27–$150 annual, by classification code (employee count, seats, units or machines) under the schedule set by County Ordinances 72-13 and 88-35, plus a separate Tax Collector processing fee of roughly $25; the exact figure depends on the classification assigned by the Tax Collector	annual; tax year October 1-September 30	2026-09-28
Fire-Rescue Operational / Life-Safety Inspection	Broward Sheriff's Office (BSO) Fire Rescue, Fire Prevention Bureau	The fee for this inspection is not set on a single countywide schedule: it depends on which fire-code authority actually serves a given address — Broward Sheriff's Office (BSO) Fire Rescue in unincorporated Broward and its contract cities, or an independent municipal fire department elsewhere, such as Fort Lauderdale's own Office of the Fire Marshal; contact the serving fire authority for the current fee.	annual life-safety inspection; typically bundled into the Certificate of Use inspection in unincorporated Broward	2026-09-28

Business licenses and permits in Broward County, Florida

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Permits that apply to every type of business in Broward County