Iowa Code § 103A.20

This is the official text of Iowa Code § 103A.20, part of Iowa’s Code — part of the compiled statutory law of Iowa, published by the state as "Code." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Permits — duty to issue.

Official statutory text

(1) (a) If the plans and specifications accompanying an application for permission to construct a building or structure fail to comply with the provisions of building regulations applicable to the governmental subdivision where the construction is planned, the state or governmental subdivision official charged with the duty shall nevertheless issue a permit, certificate, authorization, or other required document, as the case may be, for the construction, if the plans and specifications comply with the applicable provisions set forth in the state building code, whenever such code is operative in such governmental subdivision.

(1) (b) However, a permit, certificate, authorization, or other required document for the construction of a building shall not be issued to a contractor who is required and fails to obtain a contractor registration number pursuant to chapter 91C.

(2) Any building or structure constructed in conformance with the provisions of the state building code, shall be deemed to comply with all state, county, and municipal building regulations, and the owner, builder, architect, lessee, tenant, or their agents, or other interested person shall be entitled, upon a showing of compliance with the code, to demand and obtain, upon proper payment being made in appropriate cases, any permit, certificate, authorization, or other required document, the issuance of which is authorized pursuant to any state or local buildings or structure regulation, and it shall be the duty of the appropriate state or local officer having jurisdiction over the issuance to issue the permit, certificate, authorization, or other required document, as provided herein, whenever the code is operative in the governmental subdivision.

[C73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §103A.20]90 Acts, ch 1136, §15; 2008 Acts, ch 1032, §201

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.