Custom home builder in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) requires building plans for a new building to be filed and approved before a permit is issued. Other City agencies can need to clear the project first. New buildings also get a Green Building review, and the Los Angeles Green Building Code is based on CALGreen.

For single-family homes, the City regulates massing through height, residential floor area and setbacks. City Planning calls its single-family size and bulk rules the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance and the Baseline Hillside Ordinance. What they allow depends on your zone and lot, so ask City Planning before you draw.

The Baseline Hillside Ordinance, as adopted in 2011, requires grading plans and reports to be submitted with the building plans. In the Palisades rebuild area, the City says a house in a geologically sensitive area needs geology and soils reports, submitted to the LADBS Grading Section. On other hillside lots, ask LADBS whether a report is required. On a street below the City's hillside standard, a new one-family home can require dedicating part of the street width before the permit is issued. Some hillside projects also need extra City Planning approval, for example for more grading than the standard allows.

The Los Angeles Fire Department sets the boundaries of the City's Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone under state law. New buildings in locally designated High and Very High zones follow the state's wildland-urban interface building standards, which are written to resist flames and burning embers. The State Fire Marshal says the required vegetation management must be in place before final approval of the building permit. The Los Angeles Fire Department says its Zone 0 requirements, for the first five feet around a structure, apply in new construction immediately.

City Planning handles Coastal Development Permits, and its filing form asks whether the site is in the Single or Dual Jurisdiction Coastal Zone, which you can look up in ZIMAS. The City's Coastal Exemption cannot be used for demolishing or removing a whole primary residence, so ask City Planning whether a rebuild on your coastal lot needs a Coastal Development Permit.

Los Angeles no longer requires new buildings to be all-electric. City Ordinance 188716 repealed the All-Electric Building Ordinance, with an effective date of October 13, 2025. The California Energy Code for permit applications filed on or after January 1, 2026 encourages heat pumps and does not mandate a fuel type.

In unincorporated areas, Building Code plan checks are processed at the local Building and Safety district office or online through EPIC-LA. The plan check engineer also gives you a list of the other agencies whose approval you need before the permit is issued. A new house falls under Title 30, the Los Angeles County Residential Building Code.

LA County Planning (Regional Planning) is the planning department for all areas outside a city. Its Z-NET tool shows a parcel's zoning and confirms that it is your planning department.

Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Malibu and Pasadena are cities of their own, so a lot there answers to that city rather than to the City of Los Angeles or the unincorporated County. Check with the city or county where your lot sits.

The City opened a One-Stop Rebuilding Center at 1828 Sawtelle Blvd in West Los Angeles, with City departments on site for Palisades residents.

Under Emergency Executive Order 1, a rebuild on a site with a structure that was substantially damaged or destroyed receives expedited initial permit review. Like-for-like rebuilds, in substantially the same location and not exceeding 110 percent of the previous footprint and height, qualify for the streamlined path.

Zoning-compliant single-family rebuilds in the Coastal Zone qualify under Emergency Executive Order 8. The City says eligible rebuilds are waived from CEQA, Specific Plan and Coastal Act requirements.

The City says plan check and permit fees are currently suspended for owners who held the property on or before January 7, 2025.

Licensed architects, and since February 2026 civil engineers, may take responsibility for verifying code compliance without a full LADBS plan check. Geologically sensitive areas do not qualify. This is a pilot, and approvals from other City departments still apply. Ask your architect or engineer whether this fits your project.

A City pilot lets owners use pre-reviewed designs. Every pre-approved standard plan still requires final review by LADBS.

The Palisades has been a designated Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone since 1999. The City says any stricter planning rules that existed before the fire continue to exist.

The County runs a One-Stop Permit Center at 464 W Woodbury Rd, Suite 210, in Altadena, where Fire, Regional Planning, Public Health and Public Works Building and Safety staff are available by appointment. The County says walk-ins are welcome and consultation appointments can be scheduled.

In June 2025 the Board of Supervisors approved deferring and refunding permit fees for qualifying owners rebuilding single-family homes in unincorporated areas. The owner must have both owned and lived on the property before January 7, 2025. The County says the fees will not be collected from qualifying owners. The County's page lists which fees are covered and which are not.

The County says like-for-like replacement structures do not need to meet current Zoning Code requirements, and they must meet current Building, Fire and Health and Safety codes. A like-for-like replacement must be the same size, in the same location and for the same use. In the Eaton Fire area it may be approved with modifications that do not increase floor area, size, height or footprint by more than 10 percent or 200 square feet, whichever is greater. In the Palisades Fire area the limit is 10 percent.

Executive Order N-29-25 temporarily suspends the Energy Code's solar and battery storage requirements for wildfire rebuilds from the January 2025 Los Angeles area fires. They must be solar-ready. This applies to these rebuilds only, and the order's terms can change.