Lee County, Mississippi Building Permit Guide

The Lee County website lists no building, planning or floodplain office. The county contacts relevant to a permit applicant are the Board of Supervisors at 300 W Main St, Tupelo, MS 38804 (662-432-2000, Monday - Friday 8AM - 5PM) and a separate Mobile Home Permits line, 662-432-2090.

This guide covers the county contacts, septic permits and the City of Tupelo. Official websites for Saltillo, Verona and Guntown could not be found, so contact those towns directly.

What requires a permit in Lee County?

Since House Bill 1163 of 2022, every Mississippi county must require a permit for construction in its unincorporated areas, so ask the Board of Supervisors which county permits apply to the parcel. Inside Tupelo, all construction, land use, demolition and occupancy needs a permit from the Department of Development Services.

Some work is exempt statewide: farm structures once the owner files an affidavit (Mississippi Code §17-2-7), and manufactured housing built to federal standards, certain industrial and utility facilities, buildings on non-public fairgrounds and hunting or fishing camps with an owner’s affidavit (§17-2-9). None of these exemptions reaches floodplain rules. The state minimum codes are the Mississippi Building Code and Mississippi Residential Code, the residential code drawn from the 2021 International Residential Code. How building codes apply in Mississippi

Who handles permitting in Lee County?

Culverts are inspected by the Road Maintenance Crew on request, and repairs are decided by the crew, the Road Manager and the Supervisors. For septic permits, MSDH places Lee County in its North Region (Wastewater Call Center 1-855-220-0192).

Lee County towns

By the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 estimates, the incorporated places are Tupelo (38087), Saltillo (5060), Verona (2713), Guntown (2616), Shannon (1496), part of Baldwyn (1268), part of Nettleton (876), Plantersville (856) and part of Sherman (6). The unincorporated balance held 30753 residents.

Building permits in Tupelo

Applications can be emailed to permits@tupeloms.gov or taken to Development Services. Each needs a current recorded deed, and a lease if the owner is not the applicant. Permitting staff (662-841-6510) schedule building and rental inspections; the Building Division is at 662-841-6411.

The Site Plan Review team meets every Thursday on commercial construction and renovation. No land development is allowed in the city without a Commercial Construction application and a Land Development application to the Building Division plus preliminary review by that team.

Lee County permit costs and fees

Tupelo’s fee schedule bases construction fees on project value, using the ICC 2018 valuation schedule for new homes and residential additions and a signed contract or invoice for renovations; the City’s 2026 commercial application prices new commercial buildings at gross area × ICC square-foot value × 0.0073, plus a $100 plan review fee, and commercial additions and renovations on estimated cost and fixture counts. The City Council adopted the 2024 ICC codes, keeping the 2017 National Electrical Code, on March 3, 2026. Other fees include demolition $100.00 (entire structure), land development $50.00, wall and fence $35.00 and rezoning $200.00. A residential certificate of occupancy has no fee for the initial inspection, but failed inspections cost $50.00 for the 1st reinspection, $100.00 for the 2nd, $200.00 for the 3rd and $400.00 for the 4th.

Fee schedules in Mississippi are set locally and revised on each jurisdiction’s own cycle, so ask Lee County for the schedule in force on your filing date, and ask separately about plan review, trade, re-inspection and revision charges. How Mississippi permit fees work

How to get a permit in Lee County

In Mississippi, correction cycles turn mostly on the local layer: which code edition Lee County enforces, whether a coastal or flood-zone parcel triggers wind and elevation requirements, whether the project value crosses a state licensing threshold, and whether the submittal has the sets and forms the office requires. Permits also carry a validity period set by the issuing jurisdiction, so confirm the expiry on phased or delayed work. Review and corrections in Mississippi

Official Lee County permitting resources

These are the primary sources behind this guide. Codes, fee schedules and procedures change — confirm the position for your filing date.

• Lee County contacts
• Lee County Road Management
• Lee County Health Department
• Tupelo permitting applications
• Tupelo Development Services divisions
• Tupelo fee schedule

Frequently asked questions

Does Lee County have a building department?

Its website lists no building, planning or floodplain office. The Board of Supervisors (662-432-2000) and the Mobile Home Permits line (662-432-2090) are the county contacts.

What does a failed certificate of occupancy inspection cost in Tupelo?

$50.00 for the 1st reinspection, rising to $100.00, $200.00 and $400.00 for the 4th.

When does Tupelo’s Site Plan Review team meet?

Every Thursday, on commercial construction and renovation projects.

Simplify Lee County permitting with Alliance Permitting

• Confirm whether the parcel is in Tupelo, another town or the unincorporated county
• Prepare the Tupelo application with the deed and any lease, or the county mobile home permit
• Book inspections and track the certificate of occupancy

Alliance Permitting is a permit documentation and submission company in Mississippi. We prepare your paperwork, file it correctly and coordinate with the permitting authority through issuance. We are not a contractor and we do not perform licensed plan review or inspections; that work stays with your licensed team and the jurisdiction.

This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about Lee County permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.