Los Angeles, CA

Backyard project rules in Los Angeles

Los Angeles uses property-specific zoning and overlay information, so a citywide rule of thumb is not enough. Start with ZIMAS, identify which zoning code applies to the parcel, then route the project through the relevant planning and building review.

Written by DueRivaEditorial review: 2026-09-28Review standard

Local workflow

Start with the parcel, not the project photo

1. Identify the parcel and governing zoning

Los Angeles City Planning directs property research through ZIMAS. Record the zone, overlays and planning case information before interpreting a setback or height rule.

2. Separate zoning review from building review

Planning describes zoning review as part of the permit process. A project can satisfy a construction detail and still conflict with parcel zoning—or the reverse.

3. Bring a dimensioned concept

Use an address, parcel map, project footprint, heights and distances to property lines. Ask about hillside, coastal, historic or other overlays shown for the property.

Questions to take to the department

Which zoning code and overlays apply to this parcel?
Does the project require zoning review, building review, or both?
Which dimension controls height and setbacks on a sloped lot?
Is a published information bulletin current for this project and code cycle?

Eleven projects, in Los Angeles’s own words

Fence

No permit: A masonry or concrete fence up to 3 feet 6 inches, and any other fence up to 10 feet unless it is a swimming pool barrier. Zoning still caps a fence in a required front yard at 3 feet 6 inches in the R zones and 6 feet in the A zones, RA included, and at the sides and rear at 8 feet on an RW lot or a lot 40 feet wide or more outside a Hillside Area, or 6 feet on a narrower or hillside lot; a Zoning Administrator can authorize 8 feet.
Permit: A masonry or concrete fence over 3 feet 6 inches. A block wall up to 6 feet, built to the city's standard and kept out of the front yard, can get an express permit without plan check.
Valuation: Masonry fence or wall, per square foot of wall$10
Concrete fence or wall, per square foot of wall$14
LADBS sets the fee from the project's valuation, at these rates for a wall. LADBS valuation table, effective August 17, 2015.

Deck

No permit: A deck no more than 30 inches above grade and not over a basement or story below: the code exempts platforms of that height, with no limit on their area.
Permit: A deck higher than that, or one built over a room below, is outside the exemption and is permitted like any other structure.
Fees: LADBS bases the fee on what the deck is valued at.

Shed

No permit: A one-story detached shed, playhouse or similar building no bigger than 120 square feet, outside Fire District No. 1, with no heating, plumbing or electrical work and placed where zoning allows: the building code does not apply to it.
Permit: A bigger shed, or one that is wired, plumbed or heated, comes back under the code, and building it takes a permit.
Fees: Where it needs a permit, LADBS works out the fee from what the shed is worth.

Patio

Ask the city: The code names no patio. The line a slab would have to fit covers platforms, walks and driveways no higher than 30 inches, with no basement or story beneath them, and LADBS decides whether it does. It also decides whether a freestanding roofed cover up to 120 square feet is one of the similar uses its line for small sheds takes in.
Permit: Fixed to the house, a cover is exempt only as a canopy or awning reaching no more than 4 feet from the wall, outside Fire District No. 1. A bigger one, or a freestanding roofed cover over 120 square feet, needs a permit, and LADBS values it per square foot when it sets the fee.
Valuation: Patio cover, per square foot$16
Patio enclosure, per square foot$22
LADBS sets the fee from the project's valuation. LADBS valuation table, effective August 17, 2015.

Driveway

No permit: The code names driveways among the work that needs no permit, as long as the driveway sits within 30 inches of grade with no basement or room under it.
Permit: A new driveway that needs a curb cut to the public street needs driveway apron approval from the Bureau of Engineering.
Fees: LADBS sets its building permit fees from the project's valuation.

Pergola

No permit: A pergola up to 400 square feet that stands outside any fire district and is not supported by or attached to any building: the building code does not apply to it.
Permit: Fixed to the house, larger, or inside a fire district, a pergola falls under the code, which asks for a permit before any structure it covers is built.
Fees: When one is needed, the pergola's valuation decides what LADBS charges for it.

Retaining Wall

No permit: A wall up to 4 feet from the bottom of its footing to its top, supporting no surcharge or sloping earth and impounding no flammable liquids: the building code does not apply to it. That never holds on a slope steeper than 1 in 5.
Permit: Taller, loaded, holding back a slope or on steep ground, it needs a building permit. The soil moved to build it can need a grading permit of its own: only a shallow cut, under 2 feet deep or leaving no cut slope over 5 feet steeper than 1 in 2, or a fill under 1 foot on ground flatter than 1 in 10 is exempt, and neither past 50 cubic yards or once the work changes how water drains.
Valuation: Masonry retaining wall, per square foot of wall$10
Concrete retaining wall, per square foot of wall$14
LADBS values a retaining wall at the same rates as a fence wall when it sets the fee. LADBS valuation table, effective August 17, 2015.

Pool

No permit: A pool no deeper than 24 inches with no more than 250 square feet of water surface.
Permit: Anything bigger needs a building permit, and California then requires at least two of seven drowning-prevention features at a single-family home, from an enclosure at least 60 inches high to a safety cover or exit alarms, checked before final approval.
Fees: LADBS works out the permit fee from the pool's valuation.

Gazebo

Ask the city: The code names no gazebo. Its nearest line takes one-story detached structures used as tool and storage sheds, playhouses and similar uses out of the code up to 120 square feet of floor area, outside Fire District No. 1, with no heating, plumbing or electrical installation and placed where zoning allows. LADBS decides whether a gazebo is a similar use.
Permit: Larger than 120 square feet, or with any wiring, plumbing or heating installed, a gazebo is under the code and needs a permit. Only an open-roofed pergola gets a bigger line: 400 square feet outside any fire district, with no building supporting it.
Fees: LADBS sets a gazebo's permit fee from its valuation.

Garage

Ask the city: The code has no garage line. A garage of 120 square feet or less would have to pass as one of the similar uses in its line for sheds and playhouses, outside Fire District No. 1 and without heating, plumbing or electrical installation, and that call is LADBS's.
Permit: A garage over 120 square feet needs a permit. Zoning then puts a detached garage on the rear half of the lot, unless the code allows it in the front yard of a sloping lot, at least 10 feet from the house in most layouts and 10 feet from an alley's center line.
Fees: LADBS sets a garage's permit fee from its valuation.

ADU

Permit: Always, though without a hearing: the city must act on a complete application within 60 days. Its ordinance allows a detached ADU of up to 1,200 square feet and two stories, generally not between the house and the front street, and an attached one of up to half the house, with side and rear setbacks of no more than 4 feet for a new unit. On a lot in both a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone and a Hillside Area, it allows one only with sprinklers, a parking space and a 20-foot roadway, outside two community plan areas.
Fees: LADBS sets the permit fee from the project's valuation, and state law bars impact fees on an ADU of 750 square feet or less.