Permits & licenses in Los Angeles.

Inside the Los Angeles city line the building permit, the plan review and the inspection belong to the city. California writes one code for the whole state — Title 24, the California Building Standards Code, republished by the Building Standards Commission every three years — and state law hands its enforcement to local government: the city's department inside the line, the county's on the unincorporated land outside it. Hospitals answer to HCAI and public schools to the Division of the State Architect, not to either building counter.

• A permit from LADBS is required for any private property construction in the city; work without plan review goes through PermitLA, plan check runs electronically through ePlanLA, and the Board of Building and Safety Commissioners holds the Charter power to approve slight modifications of the building ordinances case by case.
• Permit issuance waits on the clearances in the LADBS Building Permit Clearance Handbook — City Planning, the Bureau of Engineering, and the Los Angeles Fire Department, whose Fire Development Services runs fire life safety plan check and whose Hydrants and Access Unit reviews hydrant placement and site access through the FIMS Customer Portal.
• In the coastal zone the Department of City Planning issues the City's coastal development permit — the City has approved or denied them ahead of a certified Local Coastal Program under Public Resources Code § 30600(b) and LAMC § 12.20.2 — and development between the sea and the first public road, or within 300 feet of the beach or the mean high tide line, needs a second permit from the California Coastal Commission; LADBS holds the building permit until City Planning's coastal clearance posts.
• Unincorporated Los Angeles County permits through the Building and Safety Division of Los Angeles County Public Works, on EPIC-LA; the same division keeps city offices for the incorporated cities that contract with it.