City of Hendersonville, Tennessee - Codes Department

City of Hendersonville, Sumner County, Tennessee

city

Hendersonville, TN

Required

The City publishes its adopted codes as the 2021 editions with amendments across the suite: the International Residential Code 2021 edition and amendments, the International Building Code 2021 edition and amendments, the 2021 International Fire Code with amendments (Ordinance No. 2025-03), the 2021 NFPA 101 Life Safety Code (Ordinance No. 2025-04), and the 2021 editions of the International Fuel Gas Code, International Plumbing Code, International Property Maintenance Code, International Existing Building Code, International Energy Conservation Code and International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, each with amendments. The codified provisions sit in Title 12 of the Hendersonville Municipal Code, Building, Utility, Etc. Codes, current through Supplement No. 4. Hendersonville is one edition ahead of the Tennessee statewide minimum of the 2018 International Residential Code, which the state scheme permits: a local government may be stricter than the state minimum but not less stringent, and its adopted edition must be within seven years of the latest published.

Not required — Hendersonville imposes no impact-resistance or hail-rating requirement on roof coverings. Title 12 of the Municipal Code, Building, Utility, Etc. Codes, was read in full and contains no reference to UL 2218, to FM 4473, or to a Class 4 or Class IV impact classification, and no requirement of that kind in any other wording. Nor does it amend any provision of the roof assemblies chapter of the adopted residential code.

Two layers maximum - one overlay is permitted, and a second existing layer requires a tear-off. Hendersonville adopts the 2021 International Residential Code, and Title 12 of its Municipal Code was read in full - some sixty thousand characters covering the building, residential, plumbing, gas, mechanical, energy and property maintenance provisions. It contains no amendment to section R908 or to any part of the roof assemblies chapter, so the adopted code text governs unchanged. Section R908.3.1.1 of the 2021 International Residential Code provides that a roof recover shall not be permitted where any of three conditions occur, the third being "where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." One existing layer may be recovered; a second forces removal. The other two conditions apply whatever the layer count: a covering that is water soaked or has deteriorated to the point that it is not an adequate base for additional roofing, and a covering of slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile. TENNESSEE PUTS A FLOOR UNDER THIS THAT IS WORTH KNOWING: the statewide minimum for one- and two-family dwellings is the 2018 International Residential Code, and Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0780-02-23-.12(2) provides that "no city, county, town, municipal corporation, metropolitan government, or political subdivision of the State of Tennessee shall adopt or enforce any ordinance prescribing less stringent standards ... than those established hereunder" without the state fire marshal's written approval. A Tennessee jurisdiction may therefore be stricter than the two-layer rule but cannot be more permissive than it.

9.75% in the City of Hendersonville - the 7% Tennessee state sales tax plus the 2.75% local tax levied by the city. Tennessee sets the state rate and lets each county or incorporated city levy its own local tax on top: the Department of Revenue states that "any county or incorporated city, by resolution or ordinance, may levy the local sales and use tax on the same privileges that are subject to the state's sales or use tax," and that "the local tax rate may not be higher than 2.75% and must be a multiple of .25." THAT CAP IS WHY A CITY RATE IS NOT ADDED TO ITS COUNTY RATE: several Tennessee cities levy the full 2.75% while sitting in a county that levies less, and stacking the two would exceed the statutory maximum. Where an incorporated city has its own rate, that rate is the local rate inside the city; where it has none, the county rate applies. The figures here are from the Department of Revenue's own machine-readable rate file for the third quarter of 2026, which the Department publishes for use in tax calculation applications. Sumner County levies 2.25%, but the City of Hendersonville levies the full 2.75% permitted by statute and the city rate applies inside the city. The Department of Revenue records the city rate as effective from February 1, 2025, so a quote prepared before that date used a different figure. Note that neighbouring Gallatin, in the same county, moved to 2.75% a month later - the two cities match today but did not for most of 2025.