Assumption Parish, Louisiana requires a Parish Permit Office permit before new construction, enlargement, a qualifying major renovation or a change in occupancy1. Unincorporated Assumption Parish has no zoning ordinance, but building, land-development, septic and floodplain rules still apply23. Permitted work is inspected before occupancy approval45.
At a glance
- Building permit
- Required for new construction, enlargement, qualifying major renovation and occupancy changes1
- Zoning
- No zoning ordinance in unincorporated Assumption Parish; other development rules still apply23
- Septic permits
- Required by the state and administered through parish health-unit sanitarians6
- RV living
- Temporary stays are allowed in approved campgrounds and RV parks; long-term private-parcel occupancy is unconfirmed7
- Tiny homes
- No tiny-home rule found in the parish regulations; a guest house is conditional and cannot be rented separately8
- Owner-builder
- Contractor-license exemption available for a qualifying personal residence; permits still apply9
- Minimum lot size
- Community-sewer lots in unincorporated land developments must be at least 5,000 square feet; onsite-sewage lots follow state health standards1011
- Water wells
- State notification and registration rules apply; ordinary domestic wells use post-construction notification12
Who to call
Building permits
Assumption Parish Permit Office
Parish building permits and occupancy approvals
105 Martin Luther King Drive, Napoleonville, LA 70390
Septic permits
Louisiana Department of Health - Assumption Parish Health Unit
Environmental Health Services and local coordination for onsite wastewater approval
4910 LA-308, Napoleonville, LA 70390
Contact details are copied from each office’s official page and were checked against it on October 10, 2026.
Off-grid gear
Going off-grid in Assumption Parish means bringing your own water and power. The kit we’d start with:
- Water Crystal Quest Filter any source — well, rain, or creek — to drinking-clean.
- Power Bluetti Solar generators and home battery backup for living off the grid.
- Septic Soil percolation test kit Run your own perc test before paying an engineer — the first thing a septic office asks about.
- Water Well water test kit Bacteria, nitrates, hardness — know what the well on a parcel is really pumping.
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Do you need a building permit in Assumption Parish, Louisiana?
Yes. Assumption Parish requires the owner or authorized agent to apply to the Parish Permit Office before constructing or enlarging a building, changing its occupancy, or undertaking a renovation that exceeds 50% of the work area and requires a code-compliance inspection1. The Permit Department also issues building and occupancy permits for moving, constructing, remodeling or renovating buildings and mobile homes13. Listed exemptions include certain retaining walls no more than 4 feet high, finish work, qualifying above-ground pools, playground equipment, nonfixed movable fixtures and agricultural shade-cloth structures114. Permitted construction must remain accessible for inspections, including foundation, rough systems, framing, floodplain, energy-efficiency and final inspections as applicable4. A building cannot be occupied until the building official issues a certificate of compliance and the Permit Office issues the Certificate of Occupancy5.
Who issues building permits in Assumption Parish?
The Assumption Parish Permit Office is the local starting point for building and occupancy permits13. Its office is at 105 Martin Luther King Drive, Napoleonville, LA 70390, directly behind the Parish Administration Office, and the phone number is 985-369-738615. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.15. The parish page links a Permit Fee Schedule and Permitting Requirements and directs applicants to the Permit Office for details16. Louisiana's State Uniform Construction Code applies in Assumption Parish, with statutory limits and amendments17. A permit application must identify the work and land, state the intended use, occupancy and valuation, include required construction documents and other information, and be signed18. The building official reviews the filing and must explain a rejection in writing; a conforming application is issued as soon as practicable18.
Does Assumption Parish have zoning?
Unincorporated Assumption Parish has no zoning ordinance219. We could not confirm a general minimum dwelling size, lot-coverage limit or building-height limit in the parish regulations, so ask the Parish Permit Office before drawing plans15. Separate land-development regulations still govern development, subdivisions and the construction or placement of residential, commercial and industrial structures outside incorporated areas3. In those developments, a lot with community sewer must be at least 5,000 square feet and meet health, width, setback and parking standards; a lot using onsite sewage must meet State Sanitary Code and Office of Public Health area and width standards1011. Mobile-home sites in unincorporated parks or communities must be at least 5,000 square feet and 50 feet wide, with setbacks of 20 feet at the street frontage, 8 feet on each side and 10 feet at the rear20.
How do septic permits work in Assumption Parish?
Assumption Parish requires public sewerage where it is available; otherwise, an individual sewage system needs a state health officer permit before installation, alteration or operation216. Louisiana administers that permitting through sanitarians in parish health units, so start with the Assumption Parish Health Unit at 4910 LA-308, Napoleonville, LA 70390, or 985.369.6031622. Its Environmental Health Services hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.22. Final verification comes from an onsite inspection, a licensed installer's certification, or both, and the certification must be submitted within 15 days after completion23. Site feasibility is a serious issue: 0% of Assumption Parish's mapped soils avoid severe limitations for a conventional drain field24. A sewage tank must be at least 50 feet from a well or other water source, while disposal fields and lines must be at least 100 feet away25. For an individual mechanical wastewater system, the state health office releases utilities after certification and the state identification tag go to the local health unit and the permit is finalized, so plan power hookup around that step26.
Can you live in an RV or tiny home in Assumption Parish?
We found no rule in Assumption Parish that specifically addresses tiny-home occupancy on private land, so confirm with the Parish Permit Office; a tiny home that is a dwelling still falls under the parish building permit and occupancy approval rules1515. In approved campgrounds and RV parks, tents, camping trailers and RVs are temporary living quarters on short-term spaces27. Guests generally may stay no longer than 180 days and then must leave for another 180 days unless the Assumption Parish Police Jury approves otherwise7. Manufactured or mobile homes are not allowed in those campgrounds or RV parks7. Those commercial-park rules do not establish whether someone may live long-term in an RV on an ordinary private parcel, so ask the Parish Permit Office before relying on that use15. A guest house must remain accessory to the principal structure, meet applicable health and floodplain codes, obtain required permits and sewerage approval, and cannot be rented separately from the main house8. Inside a manufactured or mobile home park, a utility company may not connect electrical service to a mobile home without a stamped development permit from the Parish Permit Office28.
What are the steps to build a home in Assumption Parish?
- Call the Parish Permit Office with the parcel location and proposed use, and ask which land-development and floodplain requirements apply1529.
- Confirm sewer availability; if public sewer is unavailable, begin the state health approval process through the Assumption Parish Health Unit before fixing the site plan622.
- If you will act as owner-builder, prepare the required exemption affidavit; the contractor-license exemption does not remove parish permit or inspection duties9.
- File the signed parish application with the project description, land location, intended occupancy, valuation and required construction documents18.
- Obtain the building permit and any required special-flood-hazard development permit before work begins129.
- For a development governed by the parish land-development rules, obtain Police Jury approval by permit for the size and grade of driveway culverts or other pipe in roadside ditches30.
What should you check before buying land in Assumption Parish?
Check sewer and soils before committing to a house site. Public sewer must be used where available, individual systems require state approval, and 0% of mapped parish soils avoid severe conventional drain-field limitations21624. Check the current flood map and proposed building pad because development in special flood-hazard areas under Police Jury jurisdiction requires a development permit29. Published floodplain development-permit fees are $10 for a residential mobile home and $20 for other residential construction31. Verify road ownership and drainage access; covered unincorporated developments need Police Jury approval for driveway-culvert size and grade, while a state-highway connection needs LaDOTD approval before construction3032. For water, Louisiana generally uses notification and registration rather than a state well permit outside the Capital Area Ground Water District; ordinary domestic wells use post-construction notification within 60 days1233.
Watch-outs
- No zoning ordinance does not make an unincorporated Assumption Parish parcel rule-free; land-development, floodplain, building and sanitation requirements can still apply329.
- The owner-builder provision is a contractor-license exemption, not an exemption from Assumption Parish permits, inspections or occupancy approval9.
- The RV-park stay rule does not answer long-term RV occupancy on an ordinary private parcel; confirm that use with the Parish Permit Office715.
Sources
- Assumption Parish Administrative Code Ordinance - Permitting Requirements, quoted and re-checked
- Parish Hazard Mitigation Plan, quoted and re-checked
- Chapter 26 — Land Development Regulations, quoted and re-checked
- Assumption Parish Administrative Code Ordinance - Permitting Requirements, quoted and re-checked
- Assumption Parish Administrative Code Ordinance - Permitting Requirements, quoted and re-checked
- Onsite Wastewater Program, quoted and re-checked
- Chapter 26 - Land Development Regulations, quoted and re-checked
- Chapter 26 — Land Development Regulations, quoted and re-checked
- Louisiana Revised Statutes § 37:2157 — Exemptions, quoted and re-checked
- Chapter 26 - Land Development Regulations, quoted and re-checked
- Chapter 26 - Land Development Regulations, quoted and re-checked
- Louisiana Groundwater Management Frequently Asked Questions, quoted and re-checked
- Departments | Assumption Parish Police Jury, quoted and re-checked
- Assumption Parish Administrative Code Ordinance — Permitting Requirements, quoted and re-checked
- Assumption Parish Permit Office (assumptionla.com)
- Parish Permit Office, quoted and re-checked
- Louisiana Revised Statutes § 40:1730.28 — State Uniform Construction Code, quoted and re-checked
- Assumption Parish Administrative Code Ordinance - Permitting Requirements, quoted and re-checked
- Parish Hazard Mitigation Plan, quoted and re-checked
- Chapter 26 - Land Development Regulations, quoted and re-checked
- assumptionla.com, quoted and re-checked
- Louisiana Department of Health - Assumption Parish Health Unit (ldh.la.gov)
- Louisiana Administrative Code Title 51, Part XIII, Public Health—Sanitary Code (Louisiana statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
- Share of soils USDA rates "not limited" for a conventional septic drain field (SSURGO). A strict rating: the median county is about 6% and a tenth of counties are 0%, so a low figure means most lots need a site evaluation or an engineered system, not that septic is impossible. Cite it only with that caveat: Bolthole Index county data
- assumptionla.com, quoted and re-checked
- Assumption Parish Administrative Code — Permitting Requirements, quoted and re-checked
- Chapter 26 - Land Development Regulations, quoted and re-checked
- Chapter 26 - Land Development Regulations, quoted and re-checked
- Chapter 5 - Building and Construction Regulations, quoted and re-checked
- Chapter 26 — Land Development Regulations, quoted and re-checked
- Chapter 5 - Building and Construction Regulations, quoted and re-checked
- LaDOTD Access Connections Policy (Louisiana statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
- For Water Well Owners, quoted and re-checked
Written October 10, 2026 from the rules quoted below, each taken from an official source and re-checked by an independent reviewer. This is research, not legal advice: rules change, so confirm with the office before you buy or build.