NC Regulatory Reform Act of 2025
Update Date: This bill was ratified and presented to the Govenor on 9/25/2025
Read Full Bill Here: H926v9.pdf
HB 926: What This Omnibus Bill Means for Housing and Land Use
The General Assembly’s HB 926 is a wide-ranging package that touches environmental permitting, professional licensing, utilities, nuisance law, and housing and land development rules. While many sections are technical, several carry real implications for how homes get built, where local authority begins and ends, and the rights of developers, surveyors, and nearby property owners.
As with any omnibus bill, the impacts will ripple differently depending on where projects are located and how local governments interpret the new rules.
Certainty in land use law should make development approvals smoother in edge-case parcels.
Greater clarity in vested rights helps protect long-term project planning.
Surveyor and nuisance law changes shift legal exposure in ways that could affect development costs and neighbor relations.
Utility contract provisions stabilize infrastructure planning, which underpins housing supply.
Land Use & Zoning: Clarifying Jurisdiction
One of the most important housing takeaways is the bill’s revision of Chapter 160D, the state’s consolidated land-use law. Developers often face long, costly disputes when parcels straddle two jurisdictions or when utilities and zoning don’t align. HB 926 gives landowners clearer rules and more leverage, which could speed up approvals for new housing projects.
Vested Rights Protection: The bill ensures that a vested right (such as one tied to a development approval or permit) does not extinguish other vested rights on the same property. This matters when a housing developer secures one kind of approval but is also relying on other entitlements.
Special Use Permits: If a special use permit lapses without vesting, the current zoning ordinance will govern moving forward. This closes ambiguity for projects that stall but also reinforces the importance of moving quickly on entitlements.
Multiple-Jurisdiction Parcels: Where land lies in more than one city’s planning area, and no agreement exists between those cities, the landowner now has the right to choose which jurisdiction applies—based on the location of the majority of the acreage. That decision applies to the entire development phase. Importantly, if only one jurisdiction can provide water or sewer service, that jurisdiction gets the regulatory say.
Surveying, Trespass, and Development Costs
This combination raises liability exposure for surveyors while easing their access to land. Developers may see higher insurance costs or more litigation risk in disputes, but also less red tape when survey crews need to work across multiple properties to keep housing timelines on track.
Courts can now award attorney fees in cases where negligent surveying or platting causes physical or economic damage.
The bill recodifies surveyors’ right of entry, eliminating the requirement that surveyors make “reasonable efforts” to notify adjacent landowners before stepping onto property.
Nuisance Protections and the Neighborhood Impact
HB 926 grants nuisance immunity for racing facilities that secured permits and vested rights before neighbors built or purchased nearby. A new subdivision built next to a permitted racing facility may have little recourse against noise or traffic complaints.
Utilities, Contracts, and Housing Infrastructure
The bill extends the maximum length of energy and power purchase contracts from 30 years to 50 years when involving joint projects or agencies. Stable, long-term utility contracts support the infrastructure backbone that new housing depends on. Longer horizons could encourage investment in power supply, which indirectly supports residential growth—though it may also lock communities into older agreements with less flexibility for innovation.