Titusville home-based business rules

Yes, Titusville allows a home-based business as an accessory use of a residence, as long as it meets the limits in Section 28-360 and holds a city business tax receipt.

The Titusville Land Development Regulations, Section 28-360 defines a home-based business as a work activity, for profit or nonprofit, where all or part of the activity happens inside a structure whose principal use is residential and that meets both the city criteria and Florida Statutes 559.955. The district table in the same Titusville section marks the use L, permitted with limitations, under residential district codes such as R-1A, R-1B and R-2 (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Section 28-360).

State law sets the outer boundary for what Titusville can require. Under Florida Statutes section 559.955, residential zoning cannot by itself keep a qualifying home business out, and a city has to treat such a business the same way it treats other businesses in licensing and regulation, apart from the limits the statute itself sets. Titusville adopted its current section through Ordinance 23-2020 on November 24, 2020, and amended it through Ordinance 7-2022 on March 22, 2022 (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Section 28-360).

Titusville requires the business to stay secondary to the home, look residential from the street, keep non-resident workers to two and keep parking and equipment in check.

The Titusville column comes from the Titusville Land Development Regulations, Section 28-360, and the state column from Florida Statutes section 559.955. The worker and appearance rows match nearly word for word. The parking wording differs: the city code says the use shall not require an off-street parking area for more than two motor vehicles, while the statute compares the parking a business generates with what an ordinary home without a business would need (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Section 28-360).

Several Titusville rules have no counterpart in the table. Commercial vehicles used by the business must be parked off the street in a lot that meets city parking rules, equipment may not cause radio or television interference or voltage fluctuation off the premises, and any work activity held illegal by other applicable statutes cannot be run as a home-based business (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Section 28-360). The Titusville City Council may also relax the standards through a conditional use permit to meet the needs of applicants with disabilities, if the public welfare is not harmed (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Section 28-360).

Florida Statutes 559.955 bars Titusville and every other local government from regulating a qualifying home-based business more strictly than an ordinary residence on noise, fumes, odors and hazardous materials.

Under Florida Statutes section 559.955, a city's limits on noise, smoke, dust, glare, heat, vibration, fumes and odors from a home business can be no tougher than the limits that would apply to the same house without the business, and the same ceiling covers rules on corrosive, combustible or hazardous materials. Business vehicles and trailers have to use legal parking spaces, which rules out the street right-of-way, spots on or over a sidewalk and unimproved surfaces at a Titusville home (Florida Statutes section 559.955).

The statute gives home business owners a way to push back. An owner, or a would-be owner, harmed by a local action that breaks the statute can challenge it, and whichever side wins can collect reasonable attorney fees and costs, appeals included (Florida Statutes section 559.955). The Titusville code anticipates conflicts too: it says a business that no longer meets the definition in Section 559.955 or the city requirements may lose its business tax receipt (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Section 28-360).

Yes, Florida's home-based business law does not override condominium, cooperative or homeowners association covenants, so a Titusville subdivision's deed restrictions still apply.

Subsection 5 of Florida Statutes section 559.955 leaves condominium declarations under chapter 718, cooperative documents under chapter 719 and homeowners association covenants under chapter 720 in force, whether they exist now or are adopted later. A Titusville resident in a deed-restricted neighborhood therefore answers to two sets of rules: the city's Section 28-360 standards and whatever the association documents say (Florida Statutes section 559.955).

The same subsection also leaves in force local laws on transient public lodging establishments that are not otherwise preempted under chapter 509 (Florida Statutes section 559.955). Separately, the Titusville code requires external changes made to a home for a business to conform to the residential character and architectural aesthetics of the neighborhood (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Section 28-360).

Yes, Section 28-360 makes every Titusville home-based business subject to the city business tax receipt, reviewed and renewed each year along with that receipt.

The Titusville Land Development Regulations, Section 28-360 says each home-based business license is reviewed and renewed annually at the same time as the business tax receipt, and that issuing or renewing the receipt does not give a business that breaks the city code any vested right to continue. If the Code Enforcement Board or Special Magistrate finds that a business no longer meets the definition or the code, the Titusville City Council may revoke the receipt after notice and a hearing (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Section 28-360).

Exemptions reduce the cost but not the paperwork. The Titusville business tax exemptions page says that even when an exemption applies, a business tax receipt is still required to conduct business in the City of Titusville and is issued free of charge or at a reduced rate. The exemption categories listed there include individuals 65 or older, disabled honorably discharged veterans, other disabled individuals, unremarried spouses of disabled veterans, widows with minor dependents, and charitable, educational and religious institutions (Titusville business tax exemptions page). The Titusville business tax receipts guide covers fees and renewal dates.

Titusville asks a home business for its application, a Home Occupation Affidavit, proof of the right to use the home, and any state name or entity filings.

The Titusville Home Based Businesses page lists the Home Occupation Affidavit in PDF and DOCX formats. Owners attach proof of ownership from the Brevard County Property Appraiser's Office, while a renter's landlord completes the Property Owner's Affidavit, which must be notarized (Titusville Home Based Businesses page). A business operating under any name other than the owner's given name first registers a fictitious name or an LLC at Sunbiz and submits a copy of that paperwork to the city (Titusville Home Based Businesses page).

Before filing, the Titusville steps page tells applicants to call the Planning Department at 321-567-3782 to confirm that the location is inside city limits and compatible with zoning (Titusville business tax receipt steps page). A business that needs a state license gets it before applying for the city receipt, and once the city receipt is issued, the business applies for a Brevard County Business Tax Receipt at 321-264-6910 (Titusville business tax receipt steps page).

The Titusville Business Tax Receipt office, at 321-567-3758 and 555 S Washington Avenue, handles home occupation affidavits and receipt applications.

The Titusville business tax exemptions page gives 321-567-3758 as the line for business tax receipt applications, the property owner affidavit and the home occupation affidavit, and lists the office at 555 S Washington Avenue, Titusville, FL 32796, with mail to P.O. Box 2806. Zoning questions about whether a particular home business fits a district go to Planning at 321-567-3782 (Titusville business tax receipt steps page).

Last verified: October 21, 2026, with fresh reads of Titusville's home based business section of the zoning code, the city's home business and exemptions pages, its receipt steps page and Florida Statutes 559.955 (Titusville business tax exemptions page).