If your house burned in the January 2025 Palisades or Eaton fire, you can usually rebuild what was there plus about 10 percent without meeting today’s zoning, and often without paying permit fees up front. The catch is that “110%” means different things to different agencies. The City of Los Angeles measures footprint and height, not square footage. Unincorporated Los Angeles County, including Altadena, measures floor area, size, height and footprint, and in the Eaton fire area allows 10 percent or 200 square feet, whichever is greater. The County Assessor measures square footage for property tax, and HOAs are bound by a 2025 law that measures livable area and height. Design to the strictest test that applies, and watch the calendar: the two-year minimum for additional living expenses runs out around 7 January 2027 for most claims.
Green Design and Build is a licensed residential general contractor (CSLB #1110975) based in Van Nuys, building new homes, additions and ADUs across Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties and western Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Fire rebuilds after the 2025 Los Angeles fires are one of our services; that page covers how we run a rebuild and the fire-zone construction standards. This guide covers the rules around the construction.
This is general information, not legal, tax or insurance advice. We checked each rule below against the issuing agency’s documents or the statute text on 10 October 2026. The emergency orders have been amended repeatedly since January 2025, and the rules differ between the City of Los Angeles, unincorporated Los Angeles County (Altadena), Pasadena and Malibu. Confirm anything you rely on with your permit center, the Assessor, your insurer or your own adviser.
Start with one question: who issues your permit?
The Palisades fire burned across the City of Los Angeles, the City of Malibu and unincorporated county land; the Eaton fire across unincorporated Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre. Each has its own building department and its own rebuild rules, and the County’s like-for-like rebuild page sends City of Los Angeles, Pasadena, Malibu and Sierra Madre residents to their city’s resources. A Pacific Palisades rebuild and an Altadena rebuild run under different rulebooks even when the houses are the same size.
| City of Los Angeles (Pacific Palisades) | Unincorporated LA County (Altadena and county areas of the Palisades fire) | Pasadena, Malibu, Sierra Madre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main rebuild path | Executive Order 1 (like-for-like); Executive Order 8 in the Coastal Zone | Like-for-like under the County Zoning Code | Set by each city |
| Self-certification | Licensed architects can self-certify (Executive Order 6); not in geologically sensitive areas | Self-Certification Program, guide effective 23 March 2026; not on hillsides or in flood zones | Check with the city |
| Permit fees | Suspended for owners who held the property at the time of the fire (Executive Order 7) | Deferred for owners who lived on the property before 7 January 2025 | Check with the city |
| Where to start | One-Stop Rebuilding Centers, 1828 Sawtelle Blvd. and 16925 Marquez Ave. | County One-Stop Permit Centers, listed on recovery.lacounty.gov | The city’s building department |
The 110% rule, measured four ways
Most confusion comes from treating “110%” as one rule. It is at least four, written by different bodies for different purposes, and a design can pass one while failing another.
| Who sets it | What it measures | The limit | If you go over |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of LA, Emergency Executive Order 1 | Footprint and height of the prior building, in substantially the same location | 110% of each; floor area has no separate 110% cap | Not eligible for EO1; current zoning applies (or Executive Order 8 in the Coastal Zone) |
| LA County like-for-like (zoning) | Floor area, size, height or footprint | +10% in the Palisades fire area; +10% or 200 sq ft, whichever is greater, in the Eaton fire area | Not like-for-like, so current zoning applies, including the Altadena Community Standards District |
| LA County Assessor (property tax) | Square footage, plus comparable value, size, utility and function | Up to 110% of the original square footage | The part beyond a “substantially equivalent” rebuild gets a new base-year value |
| SB 625 (HOA review) | Interior livable square footage and height | 110% of each (or the HOA’s allowed height, if greater) | The HOA’s ordinary review rules apply |
Two worked examples
A one-story Altadena house with 1,800 square feet on an 1,800-square-foot footprint. Ten percent is 180 square feet, so the 200-square-foot allowance wins and the like-for-like limit is 2,000 square feet. The Assessor’s 110% standard is 1,980, so the last 20 square feet of a full-size rebuild could be assessed as new construction even though the permit is like-for-like.
A two-story Palisades house with a 1,400-square-foot footprint and 2,600 square feet of floor area. EO1 allows a 1,540-square-foot footprint and 10 percent more height, with no separate floor-area cap, so a smarter plan might add space. The Assessor’s line is 2,860 square feet (110% of 2,600). The permit and the tax bill are separate questions.
So establish the old numbers before anyone draws: the Assessor’s record, old permits and plans, a survey and photographs. We check a rebuild plan against every test that applies to the lot, and our 3D design and rendering service shows the massing before the permit set is drawn.
What the City’s like-for-like order lets you keep and add
According to City Planning’s Palisades Rebuild FAQs (dated 30 January 2026), under Executive Order 1:
- Nonconforming conditions carry over. Setbacks, height, floor area, parking or a use that would not meet today’s zoning can be rebuilt.
- The house can shift slightly if it stays in substantially the same location; anything outside the prior footprint must meet current zoning.
- Supporting work is included. Retaining walls and driveways can be rebuilt, which matters on canyon lots where retaining walls hold the site together.
- You can add a basement or an ADU even if the old property had neither.
- No Coastal, Environmental or Mello Act review applies.
The City’s rebuilding page adds that EO1 reviews are to be completed within 30 days and that LADBS inspects the day after an inspection is requested.
Going past 110%: Executive Order 8 in the Coastal Zone
Executive Order 8 applies only to single-family houses in the Coastal Zone that comply with current zoning, and it exempts them from Coastal review even if they exceed 110% of what stood before. Conditions include staying at least 10 feet from a canyon bluff or 25 feet from a coastal bluff, no significant impact on biological resources, no lot consolidation, subdivision or lot line adjustment, the same number of units (ADUs excepted), and standard R1 height limits on non-hillside R1 lots. City Planning says EO8 can turn a Coastal review it puts at 18 to 24 months into a few days or a couple of months. Outside the Coastal Zone EO8 is not available, so a City house that exceeds the EO1 envelope must meet current zoning.
ADUs and lot splits
In the City, an attached or detached ADU “can be built along with or before the single-family house,” ADUs do not count against residential floor area, and a detached ADU clear of the bluff setbacks above can be built by right without a Coastal Development Permit or City Planning review. Building the ADU first can let a household move back onto the lot sooner, which is worth weighing against the living-expense timeline. See what an ADU is under California law and ADU permits in Los Angeles.
The Mayor’s Executive Order 9 suspends SB 9 in the Palisades burn area, so the lot-split and multi-unit options that state law would otherwise allow on a single-family lot are not available there. In Altadena, ask Regional Planning about current options before designing around a split.
Self-certification: faster, but not review-free
Self-certification lets a qualified design professional certify that the plans meet the building code, so the permit is issued without the building department’s own technical plan review.
City of Los Angeles (Executive Order 6)
Qualified California-licensed architects can certify that designs for fire-damaged structures meet City codes. The City is plain about the trade-off: “LADBS will not review or approve the plans for compliance with applicable codes.” Other City departments’ approvals are still required, and geologically sensitive areas do not qualify.
Unincorporated Los Angeles County
The County’s Building Plan Self-Certification Guide, effective 23 March 2026, requires one self-certified professional to be responsible for all the plans.
- Who can certify: a professional registered in California and in good standing for at least five years, with at least three years of responsibility for LA County Building Code compliance and errors-and-omissions insurance of at least $500,000 per claim and $1,000,000 in aggregate.
- What qualifies: replacing a single-family home, garage, ADU or other residential accessory structure lost or damaged in the Palisades or Eaton fire, in unincorporated areas under Public Works’ jurisdiction, within the California Residential Code’s three-story scope.
- What is excluded: hillsides and other geologically sensitive areas, Special Flood Hazard Areas, three or more attached units, non-residential work, site grading, 3D-printed construction and non-approved alternate materials or methods. Fault-zone lots need a geology clearance, and reusing an existing foundation needs a County-approved form.
- Still required: Regional Planning, Public Health and Fire Department approvals.
- Audits: at least 20% of projects are randomly audited; a professional who makes material errors can be removed from the program and reported to their licensing board.
Self-certification removes one review queue. It does not shorten engineering, soils reports, utility work or construction, and the house must still meet every code. Ask any architect you interview whether they qualify before you build a schedule around it. Treat the old foundation with the same caution: the City notes foundations can be damaged during debris removal, and our foundation repair cost guide explains what an engineer looks for.
Permit fees: suspended in the City, deferred in the County
City of Los Angeles. The Mayor’s Emergency Executive Order 7 (25 April 2025) directed City departments to suspend collection of permit fees for single-family homes and duplexes damaged or destroyed in the January 2025 fires. The City’s rebuilding page says plan check and permit fees are currently suspended only for those who owned the property at the time of the fire, and projects using the City’s pre-approved standard plans also get suspended fees. Our LADBS permit cost guide explains what those fees normally cover.
Unincorporated Los Angeles County. Under fee relief the Board of Supervisors approved on 17 June 2025, the County’s fee deferrals and refunds page says:
- You qualify if you both owned and lived on the property before 7 January 2025. Trust beneficiaries who lived there qualify; LLCs and corporations do not. Only a primary residence is eligible.
- Garages, ADUs and pools proposed with the rebuilt home are included; rentals and multi-family projects are not.
- Zoning, building plan review, soils and geology review, building permit and inspection, fire plan review and inspection, and public health fees are deferred. Utility, school district, survey and designer or builder costs are not.
- There is no deadline, and owners who already paid can request a refund.
Property taxes: keeping your Proposition 13 base
Revenue and Taxation Code section 70(c) says a timely reconstruction after “misfortune or calamity” that is “substantially equivalent” to the property before the damage is not new construction, so it keeps the old assessed value. Reconstruction beyond that is new construction, and only the portion that exceeds substantially equivalent gets a new base-year value.
The statute doesn’t define “substantially equivalent.” The Los Angeles County Assessor’s 22 December 2025 notice to the Board of Supervisors sets the standard for the 2025 wildfires: the rebuild must be comparable in fair market value and similar in size, utility and function, and may qualify if it does not exceed 110 percent of the original square footage. Two consequences: the tax test is separate from the permit test, and value matters as well as size, so a far more expensive house of the same size is not automatically safe. Get the Assessor’s record of your old square footage early and raise any error before the design is final.
If you decide not to rebuild, section 69.6 (Proposition 19) lets a wildfire or natural-disaster victim transfer the taxable value of their principal residence to a replacement home bought or built as their principal residence within two years of selling the original, subject to the section’s conditions and limits. Talk to the Assessor or a tax adviser before you sell.
Insurance deadlines: the January 2027 mark
Additional living expenses. Insurance Code section 2060(b)(1) requires that, for a covered loss tied to a declared state of emergency, ALE coverage last at least 24 months from the inception of the loss, subject to other policy provisions such as dollar limits. The insurer must extend it by up to 12 months, to 36 in total, if you act in good faith and with reasonable diligence and are delayed by things beyond your control; the statute names permit delays, material shortages and a lack of available contractors. Further six-month extensions are required for good cause. Both fires broke out on 7 January 2025, so for most claims the 24-month minimum ends around 7 January 2027.
Full replacement cost. Section 2051.5(b)(1)(B) bars an insurer from giving you less than 36 months, from the first actual cash value payment, to collect full replacement cost after a state-of-emergency loss, subject to the policy limit, with six-month extensions for good cause.
Keep dated copies of every permit application, plan-check comment and approval, correspondence with utilities and the HOA, and your contractor’s written schedule with each update. A licensed contractor’s itemized estimate gives your adjuster numbers to compare rather than impressions. Ask your adjuster, a licensed public adjuster or an attorney what your own policy pays; a builder’s contribution is a real cost and a schedule that shows where time went.
Solar panels, the Energy Code and fire safety
The 2025 California Energy Code took effect on 1 January 2026, with solar and battery storage requirements for new construction. Executive Order N-29-25, signed by Governor Newsom on 7 July 2025, gives rebuilds a narrow exemption from installing solar panels and battery storage while keeping the “Solar Ready” requirement. The California Energy Commission confirms that the order temporarily suspends the 2025 update for repair or replacement of homes substantially damaged or destroyed by the 2025 Los Angeles area wildfires, and that these projects “are not required to comply with the solar and battery energy storage requirements but must be solar-ready”: roof space, a conduit pathway and electrical capacity for a future array.
The exemption is about energy, not fire. The Governor’s order describes its building-code relief as excluding fire-safety standards, and a house rebuilt in a High or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone is still built to the state’s wildfire construction standards. Our fire rebuild contractor page lists them element by element, and the design decisions that matter in a rebuild covers what to build in while the walls are open.
HOA communities: what SB 625 changed
SB 625, signed on 10 October 2025, added two sections to the Civil Code:
- Section 4752 makes any HOA covenant or rule void to the extent it prohibits, or has the effect of prohibiting, a “substantially similar reconstruction” of a home damaged or destroyed in a disaster. That means a rebuild that meets the local building code, keeps interior livable square footage within 110% of the original, stays within 110% of the original height (or the HOA’s allowed height, if greater), and either keeps the same location and exterior dimensions or stays at least four feet from the side and rear lot lines.
- Section 4766 sets the clock: the HOA’s review body must tell you in writing within 30 calendar days whether your application is complete, and complete its review within 45 days once it is. If it finds the application noncompliant, it must explain how to fix it and offer an appeal.
A homeowner who wins in court enforcing either section is awarded reasonable attorney’s fees.
A rebuild checklist for late 2026
- Confirm your jurisdiction: City of Los Angeles, unincorporated County, Pasadena, Malibu or Sierra Madre.
- Document the old house: footprint, height and square footage from the Assessor record, permits, plans, a survey and photographs.
- Choose your path (like-for-like, EO8 or a new design under current zoning) and check it against the property-tax test and any HOA rules.
- Check the site: hillside, flood zone, fault zone and bluff distances decide whether self-certification is available and what engineering you need.
- Apply for fee relief through the City or County process that fits your ownership.
- Put the ALE dates on your calendar and document every delay outside your control.
- Verify your builder with our guide to checking a contractor’s license in California and hiring a general contractor without getting scammed.
- Agree a payment schedule within California’s limits, explained in our contractor payment schedule guide.
What drives the cost of a rebuild
We do not publish a per-square-foot price for fire rebuilds; the variables are too large for one figure to be honest. Our guide to what it costs to build a house in Los Angeles sets out published budgeting ranges for ground-up construction. On a rebuild, the biggest swing factors are the foundation and site work (soils reports, retaining walls on slopes), the fire-zone envelope, where the design lands against each 110% test, utility reconnections, finishes, and labor and material demand while many houses are rebuilt at once. If there is a gap between the claim and the cost, see our financing options.
How we approach a rebuild
A rebuild is a new house, so we run it like any new home construction project: one team responsible for zoning, design, engineering, plan check, the trades and inspections, with electrical, plumbing and other regulated trades performed by licensed specialty contractors we schedule and supervise. Our design-build process walks through each stage. The photo at the top of this page is our whole-home rebuild in Woodland Hills; it was not a fire rebuild, but it involved new foundations, new framing and a full interior.
Palisades and Eaton Fire Rebuild FAQs
Does the 110% rule mean I can add 10% more square footage?
Not in the City of Los Angeles, where Executive Order 1 measures footprint and height and square footage is not part of the test. In unincorporated Los Angeles County the allowance applies to floor area, size, height or footprint: 10% in the Palisades fire area, and 10% or 200 square feet, whichever is greater, in the Eaton fire area.
Can I add a second story under the like-for-like rules?
Usually not, because both the City and the County limit height to about 10% above the old house, which leaves no room for a new story on a one-story home. A house that grows beyond the like-for-like limits has to meet current zoning, or in the City’s Coastal Zone, the conditions of Executive Order 8.
Will rebuilding raise my property taxes?
A timely rebuild that is substantially equivalent to the old house keeps its assessed value under Revenue and Taxation Code section 70(c). The Los Angeles County Assessor treats rebuilds up to 110% of the original square footage, with comparable value, size, utility and function, as substantially equivalent; only the portion beyond that gets a new base-year value.
What is self-certification, and can my architect use it?
It lets a qualified professional certify that the plans meet code so the permit is issued without technical plan review. In the City, licensed architects can use it outside geologically sensitive areas. In the County, the professional needs five years of good-standing California registration, three years of County code experience and specified insurance, and hillside and flood-zone lots are excluded.
Do I have to pay permit fees to rebuild?
In the City of Los Angeles, plan check and permit fees are suspended for owners who held the property at the time of the fire. In unincorporated Los Angeles County, building, planning, fire and health fees are deferred for owners who lived on the property before 7 January 2025. School, utility and design costs are not covered.
When does my additional living expense coverage run out?
Insurance Code section 2060 requires at least 24 months from the start of the loss, which for most of these claims ends around 7 January 2027. Insurers must extend it by up to 12 months if you are acting diligently and are delayed by things outside your control, and further six-month extensions are available for good cause. Your policy’s dollar limits still apply.
Can I build an ADU before rebuilding the main house?
In the City of Los Angeles, yes. City Planning says an attached or detached ADU can be built along with or before the single-family house, and ADUs do not count against residential floor area. Elsewhere, confirm the sequence with your local planning department.
Do I have to install solar panels on a rebuilt house?
No. Under Executive Order N-29-25, homes rebuilt after the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires do not have to install solar panels or battery storage, but they must be solar-ready, with space and wiring for a future system. Fire-safety construction standards still apply.
Talk to us about your lot
Send us the address, the old plans or Assessor record if you have them, and where you are with your insurer. We will walk the lot, confirm which agency and rebuild path apply, and give you a written, itemized proposal before you commit to anything. Call (800) 348-3050, 8am to 6pm every day; we reply within one business day.