Chapter 42 does not put the submittal requirements in one list. They accumulate, and which layers apply depends on your plat class.
Sec. 42-40 sets the basics every subdivision plat needs. Sec. 42-41 adds seventeen graphic and descriptive items required of every plat regardless of class. Sec. 42-42, 42-43 and 42-44 then add class-specific requirements — Class I and II together, Class III split between preliminary and final. Sec. 42-45 is different in kind: it applies after approval, listing what you present to have the plat recorded.
That last layer is the one that surprises people, because approval is not the finish line and two of its four items are documents that can go stale.
| Layer | Applies to | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Application form, materials, contiguous-land affidavit, filing fee | Every subdivision plat | 42-40(a) |
| Current title report | A replat not subject to Sec. 42-49 notice | 42-40(b) |
| Solid waste collection plan, approved by the director of solid waste | Single-family subdivision inside the city | 42-40(d) |
| City attorney review, at the applicant’s cost | Plats subject to Sec. 42-49 notice | 42-40(e) |
| Seventeen graphic and descriptive items | Every plat, every class | 42-41 |
| Film, fixed scales, full survey data, title report | Class I and Class II | 42-42 |
| Approximate dimensions, boundary bearings, encumbrance affidavit | Class III preliminary | 42-43 |
| Everything from preliminary, plus conditions of approval reflected | Class III final | 42-44 |
| Original drawing, updated title report, map return agreement, tax certification | At recordation, after approval | 42-45 |
Sec. 42-40 through Sec. 42-45. An existing conditions survey is additionally required for a Class II or preliminary Class III plat where Sec. 42-56 calls for one — a section this page does not cover.
Sec. 42-40(a)(3) requires an affidavit of the owner — or the owner’s authorized agent with duty to inquire — regarding all contiguous land under common ownership or control. Not the land inside the plat boundary: the contiguous holdings around it.
The phrase "duty to inquire" is doing work. An agent signing this cannot simply repeat what the client told them; the section puts an affirmative obligation to find out on whoever swears it.
A preliminary Class III plat carries a second affidavit on top. Sec. 42-43(4) requires the owner or the same duty-bound agent to identify all encumbrances on the property inside the plat boundaries.
The application to plat a single-family subdivision inside the city must be accompanied by a solid waste collection plan, as defined in this chapter, which plan shall be subject to the approval of the director of solid waste. An approved plan is a prerequisite to plat approval. The plan must be noted on the plat by a note placed on the face of the plat indicating whether the development is eligible or ineligible for solid waste collection provided by the city, as applicable.
Sec. 42-40(d) is easy to miss because it has nothing to do with lot geometry. A single-family subdivision inside the city must submit a solid waste collection plan, and it is approved by the director of solid waste — not the planning director who handles everything else in this article. The section then says flatly that an approved plan is a prerequisite to plat approval.
The result is permanent and public. One of two prescribed notes goes on the face of the plat, declaring the lots either eligible or ineligible for city collection. Both forms end with the city reserving the right to amend the level of service it provides. The ineligible form goes further, placing the obligation to provide collection on the owners of property in the subdivision as their sole responsibility.
For a developer that is a disclosure buyers will read on the recorded plat, and for a homeowner it answers a question that is otherwise hard to get a straight answer to.
Sec. 42-41’s seventeen items apply to every plat of every class. Most are ordinary drafting conventions — north arrow, north to the top of the sheet, numeric and graphic scale, vicinity map, boundaries drawn in heavy lines, the date drawn, who prepared it. Four are worth calling out.
The name must be original. Sec. 42-41(1) bars a name that duplicates any subdivision or development of record in the city or its ETJ, and requires conformance with the naming standards the director publishes on the department website.
Numbering is prescribed. Sec. 42-41(16) requires blocks and lots to carry consecutive numbers, and Sec. 42-41(17) requires reserves to be identified by alphabetical letter — reserves are lettered, lots are numbered.
The plat has to describe its neighbours. Sec. 42-41(15) requires identifying what lies outside the boundary: adjacent subdivision names, churches, schools, parks, bayous and drainage ways, acreage, and all existing streets, easements, pipelines and other restricted uses.
Building lines are shown, not implied. Sec. 42-41(5) requires the location of all building lines the chapter requires to appear on the drawing.
An undetermined reserve is not left blank. Sec. 42-42(4) requires a Class I or Class II plat to identify and note the intended use of every lot and reserve, and where a reserve’s use has not been determined it must be identified as unrestricted and so noted on the plat. Sec. 42-44(5) imposes the same on a final Class III plat. Silence is not an option the section offers.
Sec. 42-45 applies after a Class I, Class II or final Class III plat has been approved, and it asks for four things before the plat can be recorded.
The original drawing, on permanent translucent material or positive photographic film, lines and lettering and signatures in black ink or image, each signer’s name lettered beneath their signature — and it must evidence compliance with all conditions of final plat approval. Conditions attached at approval have to be visible in the instrument you record.
An updated title report. Not the one you filed: Sec. 42-45(2) asks for a current update reflecting any change since the last report, and expressly requires it to state that there has been no change where that is the case.
An executed recorded map return agreement.
Tax certification. All current city, county and school district taxes paid, with no delinquency, provided either through the title report or as certificates from the city, county and school district. Three taxing authorities, not one — and a delinquency anywhere among them stops recordation.
A vacating plat adds a fifth item under Sec. 42-45(5): the original vacation instrument.
This is how the code reads; confirm with the city — or ask a builder who's actually pulled this permit in Houston. The authoritative text is the Houston Code of Ordinances; permitting questions go to Houston Permitting Center.