Roofing Permits in Los Angeles: LADBS, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Vernon and Huntington Park

Key Takeaways

• A reroof needs a permit. Every department in this guide treats replacing a roof as permitted work. The contractor normally pulls it.
• Your address decides the department. A home in Hollywood or Mid-Wilshire goes to LADBS; one a few blocks west may be in West Hollywood or Beverly Hills.
• Fire rating and cool roofs vary. Beverly Hills asks for Class A roofs; the City of LA asks for Class A in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones and a rated cool roof on most larger home reroofs.
• A tile reset is treated differently in LA. LADBS lists lifting tiles, new underlayment and resetting the same tiles as an express permit with no cool roof requirement.
• Ask to see the permit. Before the tear-off, the permit should be issued and the inspections planned.

Which Building Department Issues Your Roofing Permit

Los Angeles is a patchwork. Hollywood, Mid-Wilshire, Koreatown, Boyle Heights and most of what people call “LA” are inside the City of Los Angeles, so the roofing permit comes from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS). West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Vernon and Huntington Park are separate cities with their own departments, and unincorporated areas such as East Los Angeles are handled by LA County Building and Safety.

If you’re not sure which city you’re in, your property tax bill or the city named on the LA County assessor’s record settles it. A mailing address that says “Los Angeles” doesn’t always mean the City of Los Angeles.

City of Los Angeles (LADBS)

LADBS publishes a list of work it issues as an express permit, with no plan check, in its express permits bulletin (P/GI 2020-003). Express permits are issued at its Metro, Van Nuys, West Los Angeles, San Pedro and South Los Angeles counters. For roofs, the list includes:

• A reroof over solid sheathing with a Class A or B roof covering weighing less than 6 pounds per square foot, over existing or new sheathing.
• Class A roofing in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. In those zones, Class B is not enough.
• A cool roof on larger home reroofs. When more than half of a home’s roof is replaced, the bulletin calls for a cool roof product labeled and certified by the Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC). Non-residential buildings may need a cool roof under California’s Title 24 energy code.
• A tile reset. Removing the existing tiles, applying new underlayment and resetting the same tiles is on the express list, and the bulletin says cool roof compliance is not required for it.

Work that falls outside those lines, such as a heavier roof covering or changes to the framing, isn’t on the express list and goes through plan review first. The City of Los Angeles also has its own cool roof ordinance for homes, which is why a compliant color matters when you pick shingles; our cool roof guide explains how the ratings work.

West Hollywood

West Hollywood runs its own Building & Safety division at City Hall, 8300 Santa Monica Boulevard. Its published Building & Safety documents include a “No Plan Check Required” list of the work it permits without plan review, along with the daily inspection schedule and the city’s construction hours calendar.

Two things come up on almost every West Hollywood job: the condo and apartment buildings mean coordinating access with residents or an HOA, and the construction hours limit when roofers can work. Our West Hollywood office is a few minutes away, which helps with both.

Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills spells out its roofing permit on its Roofing page and its roofing permit application. A permit is required for any roof change, and the city asks for:

• A completed roofing permit application.
• Photos of the existing roof and building.
• The roofing material’s ICC-ES evaluation report number, and the roof installed as that report describes.
• A Cool Roof Rating Label for the new roofing.
• A Class A, non-wood roof. The city requires Class A roofing.

The application also says the existing roof deck is subject to pre-inspection, and any work that encroaches on City property, such as a dumpster or a lift on the street, needs a separate public right-of-way permit with proof of insurance before work starts.

Vernon

Vernon’s Building Division lists reroofing among the work that needs a permit on its When do I need a permit? page, and it asks owners to contact the Building Department before any work. Applications go through the city’s online permit portal, and its permit submission requirements call for the application, plans showing the location and extent of the work with the address labeled, and a plan check fee based on the value of the work. Some simpler projects can be issued over the counter.

Almost every roof in Vernon is a large, low-slope roof on a warehouse, plant or food-processing building, so California’s Title 24 cool roof rules for non-residential roofs usually come into the choice of membrane. Our Vernon office is in the city, and we plan the work around keeping the building running.

Huntington Park

Huntington Park handles a reroof as a Re-Roof Approval, processed first by the Planning Division in its Community Development Department at 6550 Miles Avenue. Its re-roof approval application (January 2026) asks for:

• The completed application, with the property owner’s and the contractor’s details, including the state license number and city business license number.
• A site plan showing the area of work.
• Material specifications, including the color and type of material, and the product’s CRRC (cool roof) number.
• Photos of the existing roof.
• What kind of reroof it is: the same material, a new material, a tear-off and reroof, or new plywood and roof, and whether skylights are proposed.

The form notes that the Building and Safety Division may ask for more, depending on the project. Huntington Park is one of the cities around our Vernon office, along with Maywood, Bell, Bell Gardens, South Gate and Commerce, each with its own city hall.

What to Check Before Any Roofer Starts

Whichever city you’re in, the same checks protect you:

• Who pulls the permit? It should be the licensed contractor, in their name. Check the license on the CSLB website.
• Is it issued before the tear-off? Ask to see the permit number before the old roof comes off.
• Does the scope name the product? The roofing, its fire rating and, where the city asks, its cool roof rating should be in the written scope.
• Who meets the inspector? The roofer should schedule the inspections and the final, so the permit gets closed out.
• Is the permit closed at the end? An open permit can come up when you sell or refinance.

Let Us Handle the Permit

Start with a free roof evaluation. A roofer looks at your roof, and the written scope and price you get list the permit, the product and the inspections, whichever city you’re in.

Part of our roof replacement guide.