Angelenos are filing en masse to build granny flats before new city-wide restrictions go into effect.
More than 50 applications to build granny flats were filed with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety since the start of 2017. That’s more than the annual average for the last decade, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.
The L.A. City Council is expected to vote on new regulations that would limit the size of granny flats and could prevent them being built at hillside properties.
City residents have long converted garages and other parts of their houses into rental units or granny flats, often illegally. The new state ordinance offers a path to legalization but comes with caveats. The new regulations could limit the size to 640 square feet, or 50 percent of the total floor area of the main residence on a lot up to 1,200 square feet.
“We’re trying to rush as quickly as we can to get them permitted so that they can use these assets and not lose the money they’re spending on architectural structural services,” Venice architect Isabelle Duvivier told the Business Journal. [LABJ] — Cathaleen Chen