California’s Permitting Overhaul: Deadlines, Private Review, and Local Accountability

Scope. This guide covers the statutory clocks that apply to California housing permits after the land use approval: building permits and plan check under Government Code section 65913.3, private residential plan review under AB 253, inspection timing, and ADU timing. It also maps how those clocks relate to the Permit Streamlining Act, state agencies and special districts, the commercial private-review routes, and the online permitting mandates. It does not comprehensively address fees, contractor licensing, zoning eligibility, coastal development permits, or wildfire rebuild programs. Statutory references reflect bills chaptered in the 2026 regular session; legislative sources and the published ADU opinion are linked below.

At a glance

Housing building permits (AB 2234)

A written completeness determination within 15 business days of receipt. Plan check finished within 30 business days for 25 or fewer units, or 60 business days for 26 or more, ending in an approved permit or one full set of comments with a comprehensive request for revisions. A city or county that misses a time limit violates the Housing Accountability Act. The permit is not deemed approved.

Gov. Code § 65913.3(b), (c), (f); § 65589.5(h)(6)(C)

AB 1621, from January 1, 2027

No more than two plan checks for a building permit; after two, the agency may deny and the applicant may ask to submit again. Outside review pauses the clock only when federal or state law requires an independent public agency's review. Appeals go to the governing body and are decided within 30 or 45 business days. An inspector may not demand a departure from approved plans without written findings.

Gov. Code § 65913.3(c), (d)(5), (e), as amended by AB 1621 (Ch. 780, Stats. 2026)

Private plan check (AB 253)

New residential-only buildings of one to ten units with no occupied floor above 40 feet, and additions that add units up to ten. If the agency's estimate exceeds 30 business days, or 30 business days pass without a compliance determination, the applicant may hire a licensed architect or engineer certified as a plans examiner. Deemed approval requires a compliant affidavit and no timely permit issuance or noncompliance notice within 10 business days of report receipt.

Health & Saf. Code § 17960.3 (AB 253, Ch. 487, Stats. 2025)

Inspections

Qualifying small residential projects have a 10-business-day inspection deadline after the completion notice; a miss violates the Housing Accountability Act. Eligibility differs from AB 253 (Section 06). Fees charged under § 17951 are refundable if inspection does not occur within 60 days of that notice. Remote and asynchronous inspection requirements begin in 2027 and 2028.

Health & Saf. Code §§ 17970.3, 17951(d), 17970.9; Gov. Code § 51297.52

ADUs and JADUs

Completeness within 15 business days, including resubmittals, or the application is deemed complete. An ADU on a lot with an existing dwelling is approved or denied within 60 days of a complete application, or it is deemed approved. Thirty days for a detached ADU built from a plan the agency preapproved in the current code cycle.

Gov. Code §§ 66317, 66335 (SB 543, 2025); § 65852.27

Entitlements and other agencies

Permit Streamlining Act completeness in 30 calendar days, 60 days to act on a ministerial housing approval, and deemed approval when a decision deadline passes. Special districts answer housing applications within 30 or 60 business days. A state agency that misses a postentitlement deadline has its permit deemed approved.

Gov. Code §§ 65943, 65950, 65956, 65913.3.1, 65913.3(g)

Understanding California's plan check clock

California adopted this housing plan check framework in 2022. AB 2234 (Chapter 651, Statutes of 2022) added Government Code section 65913.3, which put postentitlement phase permits (the building, grading, demolition, and minor offsite permits a housing project needs after its land use approval) on business-day clocks for completeness and plan check, and made a missed time limit a violation of the Housing Accountability Act.

The 2025 and 2026 sessions built on that clock: private plan check for small residential buildings (AB 253), a ten-business-day inspection deadline (AB 1308), the same clocks for state agencies (AB 301), ADU completeness deadlines (SB 543), and, from January 1, 2027, a two-plan-check limit with narrower pauses (AB 1621) and a 30-business-day list of required improvements (SB 1014). Section 12 has the full timeline.

Each application needs a documented deadline, each correction round needs a complete record, and each pause needs a lawful basis. The consequence of a miss depends on the statute: a Housing Accountability Act violation, access to private review, deemed approval, or court enforcement. Permit issuance also contributes to reported RHNA progress (Section 08).

The point in one sentence. Every plan check round has to be complete, every pause has to be lawful, and the file has to prove both.

01 Which California permit deadline applies?

Classify each approval separately, because each one runs on its own clock. A single project can have an entitlement application, a building permit, an ADU permit, and water or sewer district approvals in different stages at the same time, counted in different kinds of days, with different consequences for a miss.

These are statutory periods, not project schedules. Intake, applicant revisions, lawful pauses, other approvals, construction, and inspections all add elapsed time. Keep business days and calendar days distinct in the permit record and in anything the public sees.

Sections 02 through 09 explain eligibility, exceptions, and consequences for each housing clock, with links to the statute; Sections 10 and 11 summarize the commercial routes and the online mandates, which have companion guides of their own. Section 05 is the one to read first if a deadline has already been missed.

02 AB 2234: the housing plan check clock (Gov. Code § 65913.3)

A city or county has 15 business days to decide whether a housing building permit application is complete and 30 or 60 business days after that to finish plan check, and a miss is a Housing Accountability Act violation. AB 2234 (Chapter 651, Statutes of 2022) created that framework in Government Code section 65913.3, and AB 301 (Chapter 488, Statutes of 2025) extended it to state agencies.

Which permits are on the clock

A postentitlement phase permit is any nondiscretionary permit or review the local agency requires after the entitlement to begin construction of a development intended to be at least two-thirds residential: building permits and every interdepartmental review a building permit needs, including plan check and inspection; permits for minor or standard offsite improvements; demolition permits; and minor or standard grading permits. It also includes every building permit issued under Title 24 or a local building code, whether discretionary or not. It does not include planning entitlements covered by the Permit Streamlining Act, or permits issued by the Coastal Commission, a special district, or a utility the local agency does not own (Gov. Code § 65913.3(k)(3)).

A housing development project includes a single dwelling unit (Gov. Code § 65905.5(b)(3)(C)), so new single-family homes are on the clock, as are qualifying mixed-use buildings. Do not decide coverage from the name of the department that issues the permit or assume every permit on a mixed-use site follows the same route.

Completeness: 15 business days

The agency must give written notice of its completeness determination within 15 business days of receiving the application. An incomplete notice must list the missing items and say how to supply them, and it may list only items on the agency's posted application list. When the applicant resubmits, the agency has another 15 business days, limited to checking whether the listed items were cured. If the agency misses either deadline and the application states that it is for a postentitlement phase permit, the application is deemed complete (Gov. Code § 65913.3(b)).

Completeness is not code compliance. A complete plan set can still need corrections, and the record should say which determination the agency is making and under what authority, rather than carrying an informal status such as "in review" for both.

The posted list matters because it defines completeness. Every local agency had to post, by January 1, 2024, its lists of required information and a complete, approved example application and permit set for at least five housing types: an ADU, a duplex, a multifamily building, a mixed-use building, and a townhome. A revised list does not apply to a permit already pending (Gov. Code § 65913.3(a)). Los Angeles, for example, publishes its lists and sample sets on a single AB 2234 page.

Plan check: 30 or 60 business days

After completeness, the agency must finish its review within 30 business days for a project with 25 or fewer units, or 60 business days for 26 or more, and either return the approved permit application or return in writing a full set of comments with a comprehensive request for revisions. It must transmit that determination immediately by email and, where it has an online portal, post it there (Gov. Code § 65913.3(c)(1), (2)).

That standard puts the burden on coordination. Building, fire, planning, and public works reviewers need one deadline and one consolidated letter; a partial letter does not satisfy a requirement for a full set of comments. If the agency denies the application as noncompliant and the applicant resubmits, the resubmittal runs on the timelines of a new application (Gov. Code § 65913.3(d)(4)). Not every email or supplemental sheet restarts the statutory period; record the legal event and the subdivision that supports any restart.

Once the agency determines that a permit complies, it may not subject that permit to appeals or additional hearings (Gov. Code § 65913.3(c)(3)).

Pauses and extensions need a documented basis

The time limits do not apply if, within the time limit, the agency makes written findings on substantial evidence that the permit might have a specific, adverse impact on public health or safety and that more time is necessary. The statute defines that impact as a significant, quantifiable, direct, and unavoidable impact under objective written standards in effect when the application was deemed complete (Gov. Code § 65913.3(c)(4)). Workload is not that finding.

The applicant and agency may agree to an extension, but the agency may not require one as a condition of accepting or processing the application unless the agreement allows concurrent processing of related approvals or environmental review (Gov. Code § 65913.3(j)). Through December 31, 2026, review by any outside entity the agency requires pauses the clock, with notice to the applicant within three business days of the pause and of the resumption (Gov. Code § 65913.3(c)(5)). AB 1621 narrows that rule from January 1, 2027 (Section 03).

In practice. Make intake capture the facts that choose the clock: unit count, residential share, building height, ADU status, and AB 253 eligibility. Limit the completeness letter to the posted list. Put the completeness date, the deadline, and the day type on the first page of the file.

Sources: Gov. Code § 65913.3 (current text); AB 2234, chaptered; AB 301, chaptered; Gov. Code § 65905.5; Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, AB 2234.

03 AB 1621: two plan checks, narrower pauses, and faster appeals (January 1, 2027)

Beginning January 1, 2027, a city, county, or state agency may require no more than two plan check and specification reviews for a housing building permit, may pause the clock only for a review that federal or state law requires another independent public agency to perform, must decide appeals at the governing body within 30 or 45 business days, and may not demand a departure from approved plans at inspection without written findings. AB 1621 (Chapter 780, Statutes of 2026, approved September 29, 2026) makes those changes inside the existing 15, 30, and 60 business-day framework; it preserves the core review periods.

Two limits on the two-review rule deserve emphasis. It caps what the agency may require or request, not what the applicant may submit: an applicant whose plans still do not comply after two reviews may ask for more. And it does not force approval of a noncompliant building; the agency's remedy after two reviews is denial, with the appeal and resubmittal rights that follow. The statute does not expressly explain how to count rounds when disciplines review in parallel or scope changes mid-review. Consolidate departmental comments and document review rounds and scope changes; do not assume each discipline gets a separate review allowance.

AB 1621 also states that the interdepartmental reviews a building permit needs include plan checking and building inspection, and declares that statement to be existing law rather than a change (§ 65913.3(k)(3)(A)(i)(I); AB 1621, § 3).

Example: a 30-unit building in 2027. The plan check period is 60 business days. On business day 20, the agency sends the application to a state agency whose review federal law requires before the city may act, and emails the tolling notice within three business days. The state agency returns the application 35 business days later. The city's clock resumes with 40 business days remaining, and the resumption notice goes out within three business days. The outside review did not create a new 60-day period. This example assumes no public health or safety finding and no agreed extension.

In practice. Build the comment letter as one consolidated record with a round number, and route nothing to the applicant outside it. Keep a tolling log that names the statute requiring each pause, the reviewing agency, the dates, and the two notices.

Source: AB 1621, Chapter 780, Statutes of 2026, amending Gov. Code §§ 65589.5 and 65913.3.

SB 1014: list every required improvement within 30 business days

Also from January 1, 2027, a city or county must give the applicant an itemized list of every onsite and offsite improvement it will require before or in connection with a postentitlement phase permit, within 30 business days of deeming the application complete, including for larger projects whose plan check period is 60 business days (Gov. Code § 65941.3(c)(1), added by SB 1014, Chapter 806, Statutes of 2026).

An improvement left off the list cannot be required later except in three cases: a finding on substantial evidence that it is necessary to mitigate or avoid a specific, adverse impact on public health or safety; a change the applicant requests to the permitted work, where the improvement is reasonably related to the expanded scope; or CEQA mitigation for a discretionary building permit (Gov. Code § 65941.3(c)(2)). A minor revision is not an invitation to add unrelated conditions.

Earlier in the process, an applicant who files a preliminary application or a complete entitlement application may request a nonbinding preliminary estimate of required improvements, due within 30 business days, and may ask other public agencies and utilities for their own lists on the same timeline (Gov. Code § 65941.3(b)). Keep those informational estimates distinct from the binding permit-stage list.

In practice. Bring public works and engineering into plan check on day one, because their conditions now have to be listed inside the same 30 business days.

Source: SB 1014, Chapter 806, Statutes of 2026, adding Gov. Code § 65941.3.

04 AB 253: private plan check for small residential buildings

Since October 10, 2025, an applicant for a building permit for a residential-only building of one to ten units may hire a private plan checker when the city or county estimates more than 30 business days for plan check, or has not determined compliance within 30 business days of completeness. The agency then has 10 business days to act on the private reviewer's report, and if it does nothing and the report says the plans comply, the permit is deemed approved. AB 253 (Chapter 487, Statutes of 2025), an urgency statute, added Health and Safety Code section 17960.3, which sunsets January 1, 2036.

Eligibility

The route covers two kinds of residential building permit: new construction of a building with one to ten dwelling units, only residential units, and no floor used for human occupancy more than 40 feet above ground level; and an addition to or remodel of an existing building of the same description, made to add residential units, with no more than ten units in the building as proposed (Health & Saf. Code § 17960.3(g)(4)). A mixed-use building is out. So is a remodel that adds no units.

The sequence

1. Completeness, then an estimate. When the application is deemed complete under section 65913.3, the city or county must give the applicant an estimated timeframe for determining whether the plans comply (§ 17960.3(a)(1)).
2. A trigger. Either the estimate exceeds 30 business days, or 30 business days pass after completeness without a determination that the application complies (§ 17960.3(a)). The second test turns on a compliance determination, not on whether the agency has sent some response.
3. Notice within five business days. The applicant must notify the agency of its intent to retain a private provider within five business days after the estimate, or after the 30 business days run out (§ 17960.3(b)).
4. A qualified, independent provider. The provider must be a California-licensed professional engineer or architect who is currently certified as a residential plans examiner by the International Code Council, as a plans examiner by IAPMO, or by another association the agency recognizes for its own residential plans examiners, and who has no financial interest in the permit or in preparing the plans (§ 17960.3(g)(3)). The applicant pays.
5. A sworn report. The applicant submits a report with the provider's affidavit, under penalty of perjury, stating that the plans do or do not comply and that the provider performed the plan check, along with any needed modifications and any additional information the agency requires (§ 17960.3(c)(1), (2)).
6. Ten business days. The agency must either issue the permit or notify the applicant in writing that the plans do not comply and what would make them comply (§ 17960.3(c)(3)). If it does neither within 10 business days and the affidavit states that the plans comply, the plans are deemed compliant and the permit is deemed approved (§ 17960.3(c)(4)). Corrected plans run on the same 10-business-day timeline (§ 17960.3(d)).

Three consequences follow. The agency is deemed in compliance with section 65913.3 for that building permit, so the private route also settles the agency's plan check obligation on that permit (§ 17960.3(c)(5)). The applicant must indemnify the agency for property damage or personal injury arising from construction under privately checked plans, and the agency and its employees are not liable for issuing or denying the permit (§ 17960.3(c)(6), (7)). And nothing changes for inspections or the project's other approvals. A city or county may also run its own self-certification program on different terms, so long as it does not conflict with the statute (§ 17960.3(e)).

Example: an eight-unit building. The application is deemed complete on a Monday, and the agency's estimate says plan check will take 45 business days. The applicant does not have to wait 30 business days; it may give notice within five business days of the estimate, hire a certified provider, and submit the sworn report. If the report says the plans comply and the agency has not issued the permit or sent a noncompliance notice by the tenth business day after receiving it, the permit is deemed approved.

Related changes and reporting

AB 253 also requires every city and county that charges residential building permit fees to post the fee schedule online (Health & Saf. Code § 17951(a)(2)), and makes contract plan check permissive rather than mandatory when an agency runs long (§ 17960.1). Beginning April 1, 2027, the annual progress report under Government Code section 65400 must state the number of residential building permits reviewed by the agency, the number reviewed by private providers, and the full-time equivalent staff primarily doing plan review and primarily doing permit issuance, reported separately (§ 17960.3(f)).

San Diego's Development Services Department has published an AB 253 page with an eligibility checklist and an affidavit form, a useful public example of how one large city has implemented the statute.

In practice. Treat the estimate as a legal document: date it, state it in business days, and keep it with the file. Calendar the applicant's five-day notice window and the agency's ten-day response window, and decide now who signs the response.

Sources: AB 253, Chapter 487, Statutes of 2025; Health & Saf. Code § 17960.3; § 17951; § 17960.1; City of San Diego, AB 253.

05 What happens when a California permit deadline is missed

It depends on the statute. A missed completeness deadline deems the application complete; a missed plan check deadline exposes a city or county to the Housing Accountability Act; a qualifying AB 253, ADU, or Permit Streamlining Act miss can deem the permit approved; and a missed special district response has no automatic consequence at all. A permit system that collapses these into one status will get the law wrong.

Court orders and fines are not late fees

When a city or county violates the Housing Accountability Act, the applicant, a would-be resident, or a housing organization may sue. If the court finds the violation, it must order compliance within 60 days, may order approval of the project if the agency acted in bad faith, and must award the plaintiff's attorney's fees and costs except in narrow circumstances. Only if the agency then fails to comply with the court's order does the court impose fines, at a minimum of $10,000 per housing unit, paid into a housing trust fund (Gov. Code § 65589.5(k)). Nothing is assessed automatically on the day a plan check runs late, but the exposure begins that day.

Separate from the HAA remedies, ADU delays may support a damages claim under Government Code section 815.6 (Section 07).

In practice. Escalate a missed deadline the day it happens, preserve the record, and get project-specific legal advice. An applicant should establish the statutory basis for any deemed approval before treating silence as permission to build.

Sources: Gov. Code § 65589.5; Gov. Code § 65956; the statutes linked in each section.

06 Inspections: AB 1308's 10-business-day rule, the 60-day fee refund, SB 222, and AB 1738

AB 1308 requires inspection within 10 business days of receiving notice that permitted work is complete. It covers new residential-only buildings of one to ten units and additions to residential-only buildings of one to nine units that add units up to ten total, with no occupied floor above 40 feet. A miss violates the Housing Accountability Act; it does not approve the work or substitute a private inspection. Unlike AB 253, its existing-building provision addresses additions, not remodels (Health & Saf. Code § 17970.3; AB 1308, Chapter 509, Statutes of 2025, effective January 1, 2026).

For every permit with fees under Health and Safety Code section 17951, an older rule also applies: if the enforcement agency does not inspect within 60 days of receiving notice that the work is complete, the permittee is entitled to a refund of the permit fees, and the permit or an accompanying document must say so (§ 17951(d)). The 60 days run from the completion notice, not from the missed 10-business-day deadline.

Two 2026 statutes change how residential inspections are delivered:

• SB 222 (Chapter 738, Statutes of 2026): asynchronous heat pump inspections from July 1, 2027. Every city and county must offer inspections of residential heat pump water heater and heat pump HVAC installations that do not require the contractor and the inspector to be present at the same time, or may offer remote inspections instead. The inspector may still call for a follow-up with the contractor present (Gov. Code § 51297.52). Permit fees are generally capped at $150 for water heaters and $200 for HVAC, subject to cost findings and the third-party technology-fee exclusion. Automated permitting for eligible swapouts is due July 1, 2028 (Section 11). The chapter excludes new residential construction. Cities under 5,000 and counties under 150,000, including cities in them, are exempt from the caps and automated permitting, but not the inspection rule (§§ 51297.55, 51297.57, 51297.59).
• AB 1738 (Chapter 271, Statutes of 2026): remote inspections by 2028. A homeowner, or a contractor with the homeowner's written consent, may request a remote inspection for heat pump water heaters, heat pump HVAC systems (at the inspector's discretion), reroofs, photovoltaic systems of 15 kW AC or less, energy storage systems, and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in one- and two-family homes. The inspector may end a remote inspection and require an in-person one. Cities of 50,000 or fewer must comply by July 1, 2028; other covered agencies by January 1, 2028. Cities under 5,000 and counties under 150,000, with every city in them, are exempt (Health & Saf. Code § 17970.9).

In practice. Log the date each notice of completion arrives, because two different clocks start on it. Specify which inspections will be offered remotely or asynchronously, and write the inspector's discretion into the procedure rather than leaving it to the field.

Sources: AB 1308; Health & Saf. Code § 17970.3; § 17951; SB 222; AB 1738.

07 ADU and JADU permit timelines: SB 543 and the 30-day preapproved plan route

An ADU or JADU application must be found complete or incomplete within 15 business days, or it is deemed complete; an ADU on a lot with an existing dwelling must be approved or denied within 60 days of a complete application, or it is deemed approved; and a detached ADU built from a plan the agency preapproved in the current code cycle must be decided in 30 days. The completeness rules came from SB 543 (Chapter 520, Statutes of 2025), effective January 1, 2026.

Completeness and the 60-day decision

The permitting agency must decide completeness and give written notice within 15 business days of receipt. An incomplete notice must list the missing items and explain how to cure them; on resubmittal the agency may not ask for anything that was not on that list, and it has another 15 business days. Miss either deadline and the application is deemed complete (Gov. Code § 66317(a)(2); § 66335(a)(2) for JADUs).

Once the application is complete, the agency must approve or deny an ADU within 60 days where the lot has an existing single-family or multifamily dwelling, and if it has not acted by day 60 the application is deemed approved. When the ADU is filed with an application for a new dwelling, the agency may hold the ADU decision until it acts on the new dwelling. A denial must come with a full set of written comments listing the deficient items and how to fix them (Gov. Code § 66317(a)(3), (b)).

JADUs follow section 66335's parallel 60-day decision rule for a lot with an existing single-family dwelling. That section contains no express deemed-approval clause. SB 543 removed JADUs from section 66317 effective January 1, 2026; do not assume its ADU remedy also applies to a JADU. Both statutes give the applicant an appeal of an incompleteness or denial determination, decided in writing within 60 business days; that appeal period is not the 60-calendar-day decision period.

Can California ADU permit delays lead to damages?

ADU permitting delays can also lead to damages litigation. In Shi v. City of Palos Verdes Estates (October 23, 2026, B350195), the Court of Appeal allowed a homeowner's claim under Government Code section 815.6 to proceed. It held that section 66317's mandatory approval duty protects applicants against delay-related harm. The ruling reversed dismissal; it did not decide liability or award damages. A claimant must establish the required breach, causation, and loss, and section 815.6 preserves a reasonable-diligence defense. Agencies should track ADU deadlines and avoid discretionary requirements inconsistent with ministerial review.

Preapproved plans

Every local agency had to have a program for preapproving ADU plans by January 1, 2025, and must post the preapproved plans and the designers' contact information online. It must approve or deny a detached ADU application within 30 days of a complete application if the application uses a plan the agency preapproved within the current triennial California Building Standards Code cycle, or a plan identical to one used in a detached ADU application the agency approved within the current cycle (Gov. Code § 65852.27(a), (b)). An agency may admit plans preapproved by other California agencies into its program, but they do not qualify on their own (§ 65852.27(a)(5)). An approval under an earlier code cycle does not, by itself, satisfy the current-cycle requirement. The 30-day rule states no deemed approval; look to section 66317 for the remedy.

Utilities and special districts are on the ADU clock

The ADU law defines "permitting agency" as any entity involved in reviewing an ADU or JADU permit for which there is no substitute, including utilities and special districts (Gov. Code § 66313). The 15-business-day completeness rule therefore reaches a water district's ADU service application, which the general special district rule in Section 09 does not.

Example: a detached ADU behind an existing house. Day 0 is receipt. The agency finds the application complete on business day 12. The 60-calendar-day decision period starts then, and the ADU is deemed approved if the agency has not acted by day 60. If the applicant used a qualifying preapproved plan, the decision is due in 30 days instead. One clock runs in business days, the other in calendar days; the portal should show both.

Sources: SB 543, chaptered; Gov. Code § 66317; § 66335; § 65852.27; HCD ADU Handbook, updated March 2026.

08 Entitlement deadlines: the Permit Streamlining Act after AB 130 and SB 158

The Permit Streamlining Act governs the land use approval that comes before a building permit: 30 calendar days to determine completeness, 60 days to act on a ministerial housing approval or on most projects with a negative declaration or CEQA exemption, 90 days for a housing project with an EIR, and deemed approval when the agency misses the decision deadline. Since AB 130 (Chapter 22, Statutes of 2025), a housing development project that needs an entitlement is a development project under the Act whether the approval is discretionary or ministerial, and postentitlement permits under section 65913.3 are excluded (Gov. Code § 65928).

Completeness: 30 calendar days

The agency must determine in writing whether the application is complete within 30 calendar days of receipt, with an exhaustive list of missing items limited to its submittal checklist. A resubmittal starts a new 30-day period limited to the listed items. If the agency misses the deadline and the application states that it is an application for a development permit, it is deemed complete. An applicant may appeal an incompleteness finding, and the agency must decide the appeal in writing within 60 calendar days or the application is deemed complete (Gov. Code § 65943).

Decision periods

The last row reflects SB 158 (Chapter 650, Statutes of 2025, effective October 11, 2025); describing it as 30 days after tribal consultation alone is incomplete. The 60-day affordable housing row is not available because a project includes some affordable units; section 65950(a)(3) sets specific affordability and financing conditions.

If the agency misses the applicable decision period, the failure to act is deemed approval of the permit application (Gov. Code § 65956(b)). AB 130 removed the former requirement that the applicant give public notice before deemed approval took effect, while preserving the agency's own notice and hearing duties. For a housing development project, the same miss is a disapproval under the Housing Accountability Act (§ 65589.5(h)(6)(B)). Decision periods may be extended once by mutual written agreement, for up to 90 days from the extension date; other extensions or waivers are barred except as provided in Gov. Code §§ 65957 and 65950.1.

Responsible agencies have their own periods. For housing projects described in section 65950(a)(2) and (3), AB 1007 (Chapter 502, Statutes of 2025) cut the responsible agency's period to 45 days after the later of the lead agency's approval or acceptance of a complete application, with 90 days for the Coastal Commission, the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and the state and regional water boards acting on waste discharge or federal water quality approvals. Other projects keep the 180-day rule (Gov. Code § 65952).

Choose the pathway before setting the clock

SB 35 and SB 423, AB 2011, SB 79, the ADU law, and the other streamlining statutes each carry their own eligibility tests and processing rules, and an SB 330 preliminary application can preserve applicable standards, subject to statutory conditions, without being a complete application. A CEQA exemption settles environmental review; it does not establish zoning eligibility or issue a building permit. Record the claimed pathway and its supporting facts at intake, and link the entitlement record to the building permits that follow so plan checkers can find the conditions of approval.

How RHNA relates to California permit timelines

California's Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) assigns each city and county a share of regional housing need by income category. The housing element must plan to accommodate that need. RHNA does not set an individual permit's review deadline.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) tracks progress primarily through housing units with issued building permits. Those units are reported by income category in the housing element Annual Progress Report (APR), due April 1 for the preceding calendar year. A pending plan check is not an issued permit; report permit issuance in the year it occurs.

HCD uses permit progress, APR reporting, and housing-element compliance to determine where SB 35/SB 423 streamlined ministerial approval applies. Each project must also meet its statutory eligibility tests. Check HCD's current determination for the jurisdiction, and connect planning and building records so reported progress matches actual permit issuance.

Sources: SB 158; AB 130; Gov. Code § 65943; § 65950; § 65956; § 65957; AB 1007; HCD, Portions of the Permit Streamlining Act (April 2026).

09 State agencies (AB 301), special districts (AB 281), and utilities

A state agency that issues a postentitlement permit for housing runs on the same 15, 30, and 60 business-day clocks as a city, and its permit is deemed approved if it misses one. A special district must answer a housing application within 30 or 60 business days, but nothing is deemed approved if it does not. Permits from utilities the local agency does not own are excluded from section 65913.3; separate ADU statutes can reach utilities.

State agencies. AB 301 (Chapter 488, Statutes of 2025, effective October 10, 2025) extended section 65913.3 to any postentitlement review by a state agency that is necessary to begin construction of a development at least two-thirds residential. State agencies had until January 1, 2026 to post their lists and examples. A state agency that misses a time limit has the permit deemed approved and related reviews deemed complete, and from 2027 the same consequence follows a violation of subdivisions (b) through (e). Excluded: Coastal Commission permits, permits issued under delegated Clean Water Act or Safe Drinking Water Act authority, and permits authorizing discharges of waste to state waters (Gov. Code § 65913.3(g), (k)(3)).

Special districts. Under AB 281 (Chapter 735, Statutes of 2023), a special district that receives a housing development project's application for service, or for an approval a postentitlement permit needs, must give written notice of the next steps, including any additional information it needs, within 30 business days for 25 or fewer units or 60 business days for 26 or more, and must respond to each later submission on the same timeline. The statute does not limit the district's comments and does not require approval or service within any period (Gov. Code § 65913.3.1).

Utilities. A permit required and issued by a utility the local agency does not own and operate is not a postentitlement phase permit (Gov. Code § 65913.3(k)(3)(C)). For ADUs and JADUs, however, the ADU law's definition of permitting agency reaches utilities and special districts, so their ADU service reviews are on the 15-business-day completeness clock (Section 07).

In practice. Track district and state agency responses in the same record as the city permit, with their own dates. Never show a district's response deadline to an applicant as a connection date.

Sources: AB 301; AB 281; Gov. Code § 65913.3.1; § 66313.

10 Commercial tenant improvements: AB 671, AB 1693, and AB 2418

California provides separate certification and private plan check routes for qualifying restaurant, retail, and office tenant improvements, each with its own eligibility and start date. Eligible restaurant plans have conditional deemed approval after 20 business days from a complete certification application, with all fees and documents submitted (AB 671, Gov. Code §§ 66345 to 66345.4, since January 1, 2026). Retail tenant improvements get the same certification route from January 1, 2027, with the same 20 and 10 business-day decision periods but no deemed approval (AB 1693, Gov. Code §§ 66350 to 66350.6). Tenant improvements in Group B buildings of one to three stories with an occupant load of 49 or fewer get a private plan check route from January 1, 2027 until January 1, 2032, but only after the agency has tried to arrange its own contract plan checker (AB 2418, Health & Saf. Code § 19837). AB 2418 also requires nonresidential fee schedules online and inspection within 10 business days of the completion notice for buildings or structures in the specified nonresidential occupancy groups (§§ 19838, 19839).

The eligibility tests, sequences, audits, and remedies differ at every step. For restaurant, retail, and office projects, our California commercial tenant improvement guide compares eligibility, review steps, audits, and the consequences of missed deadlines.

In practice. Give commercial tenant improvements their own intake screen: occupancy group, occupant load, stories, height, and restaurant, retail, or office use. Keep the AB 253 checklist for residential applications only.

11 Online permitting mandates and the residential code pause

Five statutes require some part of California permitting to be online, each with its own population test and deadline. Every agency must publish its housing application lists, completeness criteria, and approval names online (SB 489, Gov. Code § 65940(d), effective January 1, 2026). Agencies in counties of 250,000 or more must let applicants apply for, complete, and track postentitlement permits online, with a January 1, 2028 base deadline for the later group, subject to extensions (Gov. Code § 65913.3.5). Cities of 150,000 or more, and counties with 150,000 or more unincorporated residents, must offer a centralized housing application portal by January 1, 2028, extendable to 2030 with a fee finding and a procurement under way (AB 920, Gov. Code § 65940.3). Covered jurisdictions must already offer real-time residential solar permitting (SB 379, Gov. Code § 65850.52) and must do the same for heat pump swapouts by July 1, 2028 (SB 222, Gov. Code § 51297.55).

Separately, AB 130 limits new residential building standards from October 1, 2025 through June 1, 2031. Local exceptions include qualifying existing amendments, emergency standards, and home hardening. State exceptions also allow updated model codes in triennial editions and federal accessibility alignment (Health & Saf. Code § 17958; § 18930(g)). The pause did not displace the 2025 California Building Standards Code, effective January 1, 2026, or freeze that edition through 2031. Qualifying local administrative changes during an intervening period may modernize permitting platforms and software (BSC Bulletin 25-03). For the detailed population tests, deadlines, and extension provisions, see our California online permitting requirements guide.

In practice. Record in one memo which test the jurisdiction meets under each statute, using that statute's population measure and date. An exemption from one mandate says nothing about the others.

12 Key dates, 2025 to 2036

A bill's session year is not its effective date: regular statutes take effect January 1 of the following year, and urgency statutes take effect when chaptered. One bill that did not become law, AB 1997, which would have changed Permit Streamlining Act timelines, was vetoed September 30, 2026.

13 California permit compliance checklist for building departments

Use this checklist when implementing a statutory change, auditing active permits, or updating department procedures. Intake, correction letters, pauses, and reporting should all draw from the same permit record.

Classify applications and audit the record. Tag every housing-related permit type as entitlement, postentitlement phase permit, ADU or JADU, AB 253-eligible building, commercial certification route, or other. Confirm the posted lists and the five example sets are current. Audit a representative set of comment letters and count the rounds, the comments first raised in a later round, and the completeness items that were not on the list. List every outside reviewer and the statute, if any, that requires its review. Identify the permits at risk of a miss and give each one an owner.

Standardize intake, notices, and counting rules. Make intake capture the facts that choose the clock. Use one consolidated comment letter with a round number. Write the AB 253 procedure for the estimate, the notice, the report, and the 10-business-day response. Settle with counsel the business-day calendar, receipt-time cutoffs for electronic submittals, how notice dates are proved, how rounds are counted when disciplines review in parallel, and transition rules for applications pending when amendments take effect. Bring engineering and public works into plan check so the SB 1014 list can go out within 30 business days.

Test procedures with real permit files. Run representative applications through the process: a single-family home, an eight-unit residential building, a 40-unit mixed-use project, a detached ADU on a preapproved plan, and a project that needs a water district's review. For each, ask whether intake captured the facts that choose the clock, whether the right clock, pause, and notices appeared, and whether the file would explain every uncounted day six months later. Train staff on the difference between deemed complete, private review eligibility, deemed approved, and a Housing Accountability Act violation.

Maintain data for annual housing reporting. Reconcile permitted housing units by income category and reporting year with the permit record. Beginning with the April 1, 2027 report, include AB 253's private-review permit counts and staffing data. Use HCD's current APR form and instructions; track applications, entitlements, permits, and completions separately (Section 08).

Track online permitting and inspection deadlines. AB 920's portal, section 65913.3.5 online permitting, AB 1738's remote inspections, and SB 222's automated heat pump permitting each have their own population test and deadline. Assign each applicable requirement an owner and document any lawful extension (Sections 06 and 11).

The minimum record for each housing permit

Every department that handles the permit should be able to see this record. A dashboard date is only as good as the application, notice, or finding behind it.

14 Where AI-assisted plan review fits

AI can perform substantive plan analysis and propose compliance findings. Agencies remain responsible for completeness and compliance decisions, supported findings, and lawful pauses. Software should make the evidence and decisions traceable, with automated issuance available under the statutory routes that allow it.

SB 379 set 2023 and 2024 deadlines for covered jurisdictions to offer automated residential solar permitting; SB 222 sets July 1, 2028 for eligible heat pump swapouts. For ordinary housing plan check, AB 1621 limits agency-required reviews from January 1, 2027, increasing the importance of complete, coordinated corrections.

That is where AI-assisted review earns its place: comparing plan sheets with the applicable code provisions, finding inconsistencies across disciplines, organizing corrections so the first letter is complete, and checking whether a resubmittal resolves every earlier comment without reopening settled ones. A reviewer still inspects the plan evidence, verifies the cited requirement, and accepts, revises, or rejects each proposed finding.

A useful system keeps the record these statutes require: the sheet and detail, the code section and edition, the reviewer's decision, the plan version, the round number, and the correction history. It keeps business-day and calendar-day counters separate on the holiday calendar the agency adopted, and it records each pause with its statutory basis and notice dates. Deadline calculations come from explicit rules and recorded events; an AI-generated narrative should never decide whether a legal pause exists or change a permit's status on its own.

To evaluate any such system, including SwiftGov, use representative local plan sets and measure review time, unsupported findings, missed issues, resubmittal accuracy, and the completeness of the resulting record against the department's current process.

See how SwiftGov supports application intake and plan review, then discuss how it could fit your agency’s codes, staff, and existing systems.

Ten common misreadings

1. "Every California permit is due in 30 days." The period depends on the approval, the trigger, the unit count, and the statute. Section 01 lists eleven different clocks.
2. "Deemed complete means approved." Completeness starts plan check. It says nothing about code compliance.
3. "A late plan check means the permit is approved." For a city or county, a late housing plan check is a Housing Accountability Act violation, not a deemed approval. Deemed approval applies to state agencies, AB 253 reports, ADU decisions, and Permit Streamlining Act decisions.
4. "AB 1621 means approval after two plan checks." After two reviews the agency may deny a noncompliant application, and the applicant may ask to submit again.
5. "Sending the plans to an outside reviewer pauses the clock." From 2027, only a review that federal or state law requires an independent public agency to perform pauses it.
6. "AB 253 covers every residential remodel." The existing-building route requires added units, ten units or fewer, and no occupied floor above 40 feet.
7. "Any private plan check affidavit produces approval in ten days." Deemed approval requires an affidavit that states the plans comply and an agency that neither issues the permit nor sends a noncompliance notice.
8. "A completeness letter can ask for anything." For a housing building permit, an incomplete notice may list only items on the agency's posted list. For an ADU or JADU, the resubmittal review may not add items omitted from the first notice.
9. "Restaurant, retail, and office private review work the same way." Only the restaurant route has deemed approval, and the office route starts with the agency's own contract plan checker.
10. "Online permitting means one statewide portal deadline." Five statutes impose different duties on different classes of jurisdiction.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a building permit take in California?

State law sets no total. For a housing building permit, a city or county has 15 business days to determine completeness and then 30 business days (25 or fewer units) or 60 business days (26 or more) to finish plan check and either approve the permit or return one full set of comments (Gov. Code § 65913.3). Applicant revisions, lawful pauses, other approvals, and inspections add time beyond those periods.

What is AB 2234?

AB 2234 (Chapter 651, Statutes of 2022) added Government Code section 65913.3, which requires cities and counties to post their application requirements, determine completeness of a housing building permit application within 15 business days, and finish plan check within 30 or 60 business days. A city or county that misses a time limit violates the Housing Accountability Act.

What does AB 1621 change, and when?

From January 1, 2027, AB 1621 limits a city, county, or state agency to two plan checks for a housing building permit, allows the clock to pause only for a review that federal or state law requires an independent public agency to perform, sends appeals to the governing body with decisions due in 30 or 45 business days, and requires written findings before an inspector may demand a departure from approved plans. A local agency that violates any of those rules violates the Housing Accountability Act.

Does AB 2234 apply to a single-family home?

Yes. A housing development project includes a proposal to construct a single dwelling unit (Gov. Code § 65905.5(b)(3)(C)), so a building permit for a new house is on the 15 and 30 business-day clocks.

Can I hire my own plan checker if the city is slow?

For a residential-only building of one to ten units with no occupied floor above 40 feet, yes. Under AB 253, if the city or county estimates more than 30 business days for plan check, or has not determined compliance within 30 business days of completeness, the applicant may give notice within five business days and hire a licensed architect or engineer certified as a plans examiner. The agency has 10 business days to act on the sworn report, and if it does nothing and the report says the plans comply, the permit is deemed approved (Health & Saf. Code § 17960.3). Commercial projects use different routes (Section 10 and our commercial tenant improvement guide).

What happens if a California city misses a plan check deadline?

For a housing building permit, the city or county violates the Housing Accountability Act, which treats the miss as a disapproval of the project. A court can order compliance within 60 days and award attorney's fees, and can fine the agency at least $10,000 per unit if it then ignores the order (Gov. Code § 65589.5(k)). The permit itself is not deemed approved. Other deadlines carry other consequences (Section 05).

Are California ADU permits automatically approved after 60 days?

An ADU application on a lot with an existing single-family or multifamily dwelling is deemed approved if the agency has not approved or denied it within 60 days of a complete application, with the clock tolled for any delay the applicant requests (Gov. Code § 66317(a)(3)). The 60 days start at completeness, which the agency must determine within 15 business days. JADUs follow section 66335's 60-day decision rule, which does not contain the ADU statute's express deemed-approval provision.

Does the two-plan-check limit apply to grading, demolition, and other permits?

No. AB 1621's limit applies to plan check and specification reviews for a building permit. It does not cap the submittals an agency may request for other postentitlement permits (Gov. Code § 65913.3(c)(1)(C)(iv), as amended).

Does a CEQA exemption let construction begin?

No. An exemption settles environmental review. The project still needs its land use approval, its building permit, and any other required approvals before construction can lawfully begin.

Do faster permits help a city meet its RHNA?

Timely permit issuance can improve reported RHNA progress because HCD tracks permitted housing units by income category. Faster review alone does not change a RHNA allocation or establish housing-element compliance. See Section 08 for reporting and streamlining connections.

Which California cities and counties must offer online permitting?

It depends on the statute. Every agency must publish its housing application requirements online (SB 489). Agencies in counties of 250,000 or more must offer online postentitlement permitting (Gov. Code § 65913.3.5), with a January 1, 2028 base deadline for the later group, subject to extensions. Cities of 150,000 or more, and counties with 150,000 or more unincorporated residents, must offer a centralized housing application portal by January 1, 2028 (AB 920). Automated solar permitting is already required outside the smallest jurisdictions, and automated heat pump permitting follows by July 1, 2028. Our companion guide on California online permitting mandates has each statute's test and deadline.

Which workflow requirements apply from January 1, 2027?

AB 1621 limits agency-required building-permit reviews and narrows the tolling rule; SB 1014 requires an improvement list within 30 business days of completeness. Departments need consolidated review rounds, documented pauses, and an improvement list issued on time (Sections 03 and 13).

Conclusion

California housing permits follow different clocks at each approval stage, with different remedies when an agency misses its obligations. AB 2234 set the clock. AB 253, AB 1308, and AB 301 carried it into private review, inspections, and state agencies. AB 1621 limits the rounds and narrows the pauses beginning January 1, 2027.

For cities and counties, the work is practical: classify every application at intake, post the list that defines completeness, send one complete comment letter per round, record every pause with its basis and its notices, list required improvements early, keep the approved plans as the inspector's reference, and report from the record. Keep each deadline tied to its governing statute and each decision tied to the supporting record.

Discuss your permitting workflow with SwiftGov

Related guides: California commercial tenant improvement permits · California online permitting mandates · Florida permitting reset guide · Washington permit timelines guide

About this guide. This guide covers selected California permitting statutes and case law, with research current through October 28, 2026. Source links appear in each section. It does not establish any project's eligibility, deadline, or right to proceed, and it is not legal advice. Confirm the current text and local procedures, and consult counsel, before relying on it for a specific permit.