Yes. Relocating a sink means moving drain and supply lines, and plumbing work is specifically excluded from Florida's new $7,500 permit exemption. Swapping a sink in place, in the same hole, reusing the existing connections, generally is not permit work.
The line is whether the plumbing moves
Replacing a sink and faucet where they already are, connecting to the drain and supply that are already there, is a fixture swap. Moving the sink to the island, to the window, or even eighteen inches down the counter means new drain routing, new venting, and possibly cutting the slab. That is plumbing work and it gets a permit and an inspection.
Why the new $7,500 rule does not help here
Florida's HB 803 took effect on 1 July 2026 and exempts a lot of single-family residential work under $7,500 from needing a building permit. A great many homeowners have read the headline and assumed it covers everything cheap.
It does not. The exemption specifically excludes electrical, plumbing, mechanical, gas and structural work, and it excludes any property that sits partly or entirely in a flood hazard area — which is a large share of Pinellas County. Moving a sink is plumbing, so it is outside the exemption no matter how little it costs.
Two more things people get wrong about that law: you have to submit a written exemption request and get approval before starting, it is not automatic; and splitting one big job into several small ones to stay under the threshold is expressly prohibited.
What moving a sink actually involves on a slab
Most Pinellas houses sit on a concrete slab, so the drain runs in or under it. Relocating it means cutting concrete, re-routing the drain with correct fall, tying into the vent, inspection, then patching the slab. That is why "just move the sink to the island" is one of the most underestimated requests in kitchen remodeling — it is a week and several thousand dollars, not an afternoon.
Sometimes there is a cheaper route. If the new location is close to the existing stack, or the house has a crawl space rather than a slab, the job changes completely. Worth asking before ruling it out.
Why you want the permit anyway
Unpermitted plumbing shows up at resale, during an insurance claim after a leak, and during any future permitted work when an inspector notices something that was never signed off. The cost of the permit is small. The cost of opening a finished kitchen because a drain was never inspected is not.
Confirm locally
Pinellas County, the City of St. Petersburg, Clearwater and the beach municipalities each administer this slightly differently, and HB 803 is new enough that guidance is still settling. Call your building department before you commit to a layout. It is a ten minute phone call that can change the design.