How to check if your garage was permitted before you convert it to an ADU in Los Angeles

Why does it matter whether my garage was permitted before I convert it?

It matters because the city asks for the paperwork, and because the paperwork tells you what you actually own. The LADBS ADU plan check correction sheet asks for a copy of the certificates of occupancy and building permits, with plot plan, showing the legal existing uses of all existing buildings on the lot ¹³. The LADBS ADU bulletin says that if the building was permitted, those records are provided at plan check to verify the permitted use of the structure ⁸.

The payoff for an old garage is setbacks. California law says no setback can be required for an existing accessory structure that is converted to an ADU (accessory dwelling unit) ⁵, and the state’s ADU handbook confirms that converting a detached garage is allowed ⁶. That is why a garage sitting a couple of feet off the back fence can become a backyard house where a new building could not go.

Here is the part most people have not heard. As of August 2026, the LADBS bulletin covers the conversion of an existing permitted or unpermitted building under the same rules ⁷, and both have to meet the current building code ⁹. A permit on file does not exempt the garage from today’s code. What it gives you is proof of what was legally built, which is the first thing plan check wants to see.

Where do I look up my garage’s permits online?

Use LADBS PRISM (Permit & Records Information Search Module) at prism.dbs.lacity.gov. It shows scanned LADBS records, including building permits, plans and certificates of occupancy, and it searches by address, parcel, legal description, assessor number or document number ².

This order works:

1. Search by address, typed as a street number and name, for example 200 N SPRING ².
2. If several addresses come back, PRISM lists them above the results. Click yours ².
3. Switch to table view and use the column filters to narrow by document type ².
4. Open every building permit and read the work description and the plot plan, not just the title.
5. Then run the Permit and Inspection Report, which LADBS describes as the place to look up permits and related inspections, code enforcement and parcel profile details ⁴. It is the quicker check for recent permits and open code cases.

LADBS lists building permits from 1905 to the present, certificates of occupancy from 1940, plot plans, approved building plans and violation files among the records in its online system ¹.

What documents am I looking for?

You are looking for any permit that shows the garage, the plot plan that places it on the lot, and the certificate of occupancy. Read the work description of every permit, including the original house permit, because what matters is whether the garage appears on a permit at all, whatever the permit is called.

• Building permits. The work description should name the garage and ideally its size and whether it is attached or detached.
• Plot plan. It shows where the garage sits relative to the property lines. LADBS lists plot plans among its online records ¹, and plan check asks for permits with plot plan ¹³.
• Certificate of occupancy. LADBS’s online certificates start in 1940 ¹, so a house built before then will not have one online, even if its permit is there.
• Violation files. The online records include range files for violations ¹. An old order to comply on the garage is something you want to know about now, not at plan check.

Then compare the paper to the building. If the permit shows a 20 by 20 garage and yours is 20 by 28, only the first 20 feet are on record.

What if the search turns up nothing?

A blank address search is not proof the garage was never permitted. Search again by assessor number, entered as Book-Page-Parcel with leading zeros, and by legal description, which PRISM searches by tract, block, lot and arb ². Those searches look at the same lot from a different angle and can catch records the address search misses.

If it is still not online, ask the LADBS Records Section. It produces only documents that are not available as a PDF in the online system, and you can request them by emailing a Records Research Request Form to Records.LADBS@lacity.org or, by appointment, at the Van Nuys office at 6262 Van Nuys Blvd., 2nd Floor, Room 251 ³.

Do this before you pay someone to tell you.

Can I still convert a garage that was never permitted?

Usually yes. The LADBS bulletin P/BC 2026-150 is written for the conversion of an existing permitted or unpermitted building to an ADU ⁷. For those conversions it says compliance with the current building code is required, and that if a setback cannot be provided, the exterior walls and openings must be shown to meet current requirements ⁹.

What that means on a garage near the fence:

• Exterior walls less than 5 feet from a property line on a conversion without fire sprinklers must be 1-hour fire-resistance rated. The bulletin says this can be done with 5/8-inch Type X gypsum board on the whole inside of the wall up to the roof line ¹⁰.
• City Planning’s ADU memo says the city can require unpermitted structures to be corrected only when they are affected by the ADU and present a threat to public health and safety ¹⁶. A garage that is becoming the home itself is the thing being affected, so expect plan check to review the whole structure.
• With no permit on file, nothing verifies the garage’s legal size or use for you. Whether state setback relief applies to a structure the city has no record of is a question to put to LADBS plan check before you pay for plans.

There is a separate amnesty path, AB 2533, for a different case. LADBS describes it as a program to permit previously unpermitted ADUs built before January 1, 2020 ¹¹, and the unit has to meet the state’s definition of an ADU ¹². A garage that was already turned into a full apartment before 2020 may fit. A garage that is still a garage does not.

What else on the LADBS ADU checklist can stop a garage conversion?

The LADBS ADU plan check correction sheet lists what plan check comes back with, and three items touch an existing garage. You can check all three before you pay for plans:

• Records. A copy of the certificates of occupancy and building permits, with plot plan, for all existing buildings on the lot ¹³.
• Lot cut date. You get it from Public Works Land Records. Lots divided after June 1, 1946 must meet the zone’s lot area and width requirements, and lots divided after July 29, 1962 must obtain a Certificate of Compliance from City Planning ¹⁴.
• DWP easement. Written approval from DWP is needed for any work, including conversion to an ADU, in or within 10 feet of a DWP easement ¹⁵.

The copy of the sheet LADBS links is marked revised August 2021, so confirm the current items with LADBS. Pulling the permit history, the lot cut date and the easement question together before design is the kind of thing a lot check settles.

Quick answers

Sources

1. Property Records: Available Records, LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-08
2. Help & Frequently Asked Questions, LADBS PRISM, LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-08
3. Property Records: LADBS Records Section, LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-08
4. Property Records: Permit and Inspection Report, LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-08
5. Government Code section 66314(d)(7), State of California (text via California.Public.Law). Facts checked 2026-10-08
6. Accessory Dwelling Unit Handbook (March 2026), California Department of Housing and Community Development. Facts checked 2026-10-08
7. Information Bulletin P/BC 2026-150, Accessory and Junior Accessory Dwelling Units (revised 08-13-2026): Scope, LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-08
8. Information Bulletin P/BC 2026-150: Records Research, LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-08
9. Information Bulletin P/BC 2026-150: Setbacks for Existing Buildings, LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-08
10. Information Bulletin P/BC 2026-150: Fire-Resistance Rated Construction, LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-08
11. Information Bulletin P/BC 2026-161, Streamlined Permitting of Unpermitted Dwelling Unit as ADU/JADU Under AB 2533, LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-08
12. Information Bulletin P/BC 2026-161: Application, LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-08
13. ADU Plan Check Correction Sheet (PC/STR/Corr.Lst.20A1, Rev. 8/03/2021): Zoning, General, item 1, LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-08
14. ADU Plan Check Correction Sheet: Clearances, item B.2, LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-08
15. ADU Plan Check Correction Sheet: Clearances, item B.8, LADBS. Facts checked 2026-10-08
16. ZA Memorandum No. 143, Revision 1 (August 1, 2025), Q.25, Los Angeles Department of City Planning, Office of Zoning Administration. Facts checked 2026-10-08

Greenlight is not a contractor, architect or engineer, and this is not legal advice. Rules change; every fact here shows the date we last checked it.