2026-09-10 · Kentucky · Regulation · Pending — not yet law

What is proposed. Kentucky's Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction has proposed amendments to the two regulations that price elevator inspection and elevator permits. Both were filed in August 2026 and appear on the Legislative Research Commission's list of proposed regulations; 815 KAR 4:010 carries the note “(Amended at ARRS Committee),” meaning it has already been through the Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee. Neither is yet in effect.¹

Nothing about this is aimed at community associations. It lands on them anyway, because in Kentucky an elevator-served condominium building pays these fees as a common expense, every year, for every unit of conveying equipment it owns.

The annual inspection fees

815 KAR 4:010 sets the annual inspection fee for the issuance of a certificate of operation. Current fee first, proposed fee second:

• Stair lift, chairlift, platform lift or fixed guideway system: $100 → $125
• Dumbwaiter: $110 → $135
• Limited Use, Limited Access (LULA): $125 → $150
• Moving sidewalk: $125 → $150
• Passenger elevator: $125 → $150
• Hydraulic elevator: $125 → $150
• Special purpose (private residential or vertical reciprocating conveyor): $125 → $150
• Escalator: $145 → $170
• Freight elevator: $225 → $250
• Traction elevator: $125 → $150 for the initial ten storeys, plus $10 → $25 for each additional ten storeys or portion thereof

And a new line that is not a fee increase but a new charge: re-inspections would require “[a]dditional payment of original inspection fee for each re-inspection.”

The permit fees

815 KAR 4:025 would move permit pricing off a horsepower basis and onto flat rates: “Passenger and freight elevators: Base fee of $400, plus $25 for each floor above the eighth floor”; escalators and moving sidewalks $400; fixed guideway $150.

Permits are what an association pays when it modernises, replaces or alters equipment — the capital event, not the annual one.

1. Proposed 815 KAR 4:010, Annual inspection of elevators, chairlifts, fixed guideway systems, and platform lifts (amended at ARRS Committee) ↩
2. 815 KAR 4:010 as currently in effect — the fee schedule the amendment would replace ↩
3. Proposed 815 KAR 4:025 — elevator permit fees restructured onto flat rates ↩
4. Kentucky Legislative Research Commission — list of proposed administrative regulations ↩
5. KRS 381.9197, Association records — Financial report ↩