Certificate of Occupancy — Houston (no zoning)
A City of Houston Certificate of Occupancy is required before any commercial or lease space may be occupied as a restaurant, or when the use changes.
Overview
Houston requires a valid Certificate of Occupancy for commercial buildings and individual lease spaces (single-family/U-occupancies excepted), issued by the Houston Permitting Center, Building Code Enforcement.
For an existing space, file an Application for Occupancy Compliance Inspection (Form CE-1045A); after final inspections pass, you pick up the CO.
No Zoning — But Deed Restrictions Apply
Houston is the largest U.S. city with no conventional zoning, so there is no zoning-approval step. However, deed restrictions (private) and the Chapter 42 development code can still restrict a use, and floodplain/historic districts add requirements. Verify deed restrictions before signing a lease.
What SpoonSeal tracks
The document(s) you upload for this requirement, with automatic renewal/expiration tracking (Current, Due Soon, Expired). Where the city publishes health-inspection results (e.g., NYC and Chicago), SpoonSeal syncs them automatically; elsewhere they can be added manually.
Stay ahead of this requirement
SpoonSeal stores your documents, tracks expirations, and reminds you before anything lapses — so you are always inspection-ready.
Get started free →This guide is informational and not legal advice. Always confirm current requirements with the official agency linked above.