Los Angeles Building Permit Timelines & Delays
Los Angeles has some of the best-documented permitting delays in the country, because researchers have linked the city's own permit records to actual project timelines. A 2024 UCLA Anderson study tracked every multifamily project permitted by the LA Department of Building & Safety between 2010 and 2022 and found approval alone averaged 652 days — about 1.8 years — with total development averaging 3.9 years from first application to certificate of occupancy.
Los Angeles permitting, the figures
The key published figures for this jurisdiction — each cited to its official source.
What the data shows
LA multifamily projects averaged 652 days (1.8 years) in approval and 1,413 days (3.9 years) of total development from first application to certificate of occupancy, 2010–2022 (Gabriel & Kung, UCLA Anderson, 2024).
One in four LA multifamily developments took 4.8 years or more, and measurable project characteristics explained only about 26% of the variation in timeline — underscoring deep uncertainty (Gabriel & Kung, UCLA Anderson, 2024).
Projects requiring a CEQA Environmental Impact Report saw approval times 504 days longer on average, while requiring any entitlement added roughly 197 days versus a by-right project (Gabriel & Kung, UCLA Anderson, 2024).
LADBS describes plan-check turnaround as variable by current workload rather than a fixed timeframe, and a single permit can require clearances from as many as a dozen separate agencies (LADBS; LA permitting overviews).
Most delay accumulates before technical review
The data points to the same lever everywhere: most delay accumulates before technical review, in completeness and resubmittal cycles. Permittable's Permit Review Diagnostic checks your plans against applicable codes and common reviewer issues before you submit — so your package is more likely to clear on the first pass.
Los Angeles permitting: FAQ
How long does it take to get a project approved in Los Angeles?
A 2024 UCLA Anderson study of every multifamily project permitted by LADBS from 2010–2022 found approval alone averaged 652 days (1.8 years), and total time from first application to certificate of occupancy averaged 1,413 days (3.9 years) (Gabriel & Kung, UCLA Anderson, 2024). One in four projects took 4.8 years or more.
Why are LA permits slower than just a plan check?
An LA building permit is the output of a multi-agency clearance that can involve up to a dozen departments — Planning, Fire, Bureau of Engineering, LADWP, Sanitation, Transportation — each reviewing a different aspect of the project (LA permitting overviews). LADBS itself notes plan-check turnaround varies week to week with the current backlog (LADBS, Regular Plan Check).
How much does CEQA review add in Los Angeles?
The UCLA study found projects requiring a full CEQA Environmental Impact Report had approval times 504 days longer on average (Gabriel & Kung, UCLA Anderson, 2024). EIRs are relatively rare, but they impose by far the largest single delay; requiring any entitlement at all added about 197 days versus a by-right project.
Do discretionary approvals really matter?
Yes. Projects needing City Planning Commission approval ran 193 days longer in approval plus 125 days longer in construction, and the study estimated that making entitlement-requiring projects by-right would have saved roughly 48,000 unit-years of development time (Gabriel & Kung, UCLA Anderson, 2024).
Sources
All figures on this page are drawn from Development Approval Timelines and New Housing Supply: Evidence from Los Angeles — Gabriel & Kung, UCLA Anderson School of Management (2024). Study of the universe of multifamily projects permitted by LA's Department of Building & Safety, 2010–2022, measuring approval and total development time; supplemented by LADBS plan-review pages. www.anderson.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/document/2024-06/2024-10wp-sg-ec.pdf. Specific tables, reports, and pages are cited inline with each figure above.
The strongest figures here come from a single administrative-data study (Gabriel & Kung, UCLA Anderson, 2024) covering multifamily projects permitted 2010–2022, so they may not reflect single-family/ADU timelines or post-2022 process changes. Current LADBS plan-check turnaround is officially described only as variable by workload, so specific week-counts are omitted.