Posted October 20, 2026. The city ordinance, the Florida statute and the city page quoted here were checked on October 14, 2026. Deadlines and rules change — our city-by-city page carries the current answer for each Pinellas jurisdiction.
If you own a nonconforming structure in Madeira Beach whose 2024 hurricane damage was “less than 50 percent of its current fair market value,” the city’s Ordinance 2026-09, adopted September 9, 2026, sets two tests. By September 25, 2027, a permit must be issued and a notice of commencement recorded in the Official Records of Pinellas County. By September 25, 2028, the work must be completed and the permit closed. Miss both, and the ordinance says the structure “shall not be further repaired or rebuilt, except in conformity with the entire requirements of this Code.”
Whether your property falls in that category is the city’s call. Our city-by-city page has the building department’s contact details and keeps the dates current. This piece is about what each test takes to meet.
“Issued” is the building department’s step, not yours
Applying starts a review. The first test is met only when the permit issues, and issuing it is the department’s act. In our experience, permitting in Pinellas generally runs two to four months, depending on the city and its current workload. That is a guide from past projects, not a promise about yours, and Madeira Beach’s own review time may differ.
So work backwards in dates. If a review took four months, a complete application would need to be in by late May 2027 to issue by September 25. Design and drawings come before that. A review that sends questions back takes longer than one that doesn’t, which is the case for applying early rather than close to the line.
The notice of commencement has its own rules and its own clock
The same test requires a notice of commencement to be recorded. That filing comes from Florida law, not the city. Section 713.13 of the Florida Statutes says an owner or the owner’s authorized agent must record it “in the clerk’s office” before starting work, and post a copy on site. The signature is the owner’s alone: “no one else may be permitted to sign in his or her stead.” The statutory form also warns that the notice “must be recorded and posted on the site of the improvement before the first inspection” (Florida Statutes, read October 14, 2026).
One more rule in the same section matters here. If work does not actually start within 90 days of recording, the notice “is void and of no further effect.”
Neither the ordinance nor any source we have read says what a void notice would mean for the city’s 2027 test. If you plan to record well before work starts, ask the building department how to time it against September 25, 2027 before you file.
“Closed” is a separate condition from “finished”
The 2028 test has two parts. The ordinance lists the work being “completed” and the permit being “closed” as separate conditions, so finishing the work does not meet the test on its own. What closes a permit, and whether yours is still open, are questions for the building department. Ask both, and if you pulled a permit after the storms and the work stalled, ask where it stands now.
If your situation is different
If your structure was substantially damaged, the two tests above are not yours. The ordinance sets no deadline to apply for a permit to rebuild after a catastrophic loss, provided the conditions in that section are met. The city-by-city page sets them out, and our lift-and-repair walkthrough covers what that kind of work involves.
A separate provision of the same ordinance, a business-tax-receipt waiver for some properties, shares the September 25, 2027 date but has a different test. If it might apply to you, the city-by-city page has the terms.
The city’s notice page, as of October 14
When we checked on October 14, 2026, the city’s notice posted April 7, 2026 still read “Permits must be issued by September 25, 2026.” Ordinance 2026-09, adopted September 9, extended that deadline for the repairs this piece covers. If you saw the notice first, that is why the dates differ. If you are unsure which applies to you, ask the building department.
Where to start
Ask the building department which rule covers your property. If it is the repair test, put September 25, 2027 and September 25, 2028 in your calendar, then work backwards: drawings, a complete application, and a review that generally takes two to four months. Ask how to time the notice of commencement against the 2027 date, and what closes your permit. The department’s contact details are on our city-by-city page.