Between 2020 and November 2026, LADBS issued 1,410 ADU permits in the Reseda neighborhood council area. That is first among the 236 areas in our data. The area sits in council district 3, and none of its permits were flagged as hillside lots in the data.
Permits per year
| Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permits | 156 | 205 | 250 | 211 | 214 | 268 | 106 |
Annual counts climbed from 156 in 2020 to 268 in 2025, the high point so far. Because 2026 is a partial year, its 106 permits are not a full-year figure.
Breakdown by ADU type
| Type | Permits | Median size | Median declared valuation | Median per sq ft | Days to permit | Days permit to CofO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New detached or new construction | 329 | 1,032 sq ft | $121,000 | $112 | 191 | 366 |
| Garage or space conversion | 782 | 490 sq ft | $49,000 | $90 | 104 | 295 |
| JADU | 245 | 385 sq ft | $35,000 | $94 | 89 | 260 |
| All ADU permits | 1,410 | 575 sq ft | $60,000 | $102 | 120 | 307 |
All times are in days. Conversions make up 55 percent of the area's permits, new construction 23 percent and JADUs 17 percent.
What this tells a Reseda owner
More than half of the permits here are conversions of existing space, such as garages. If that is the route you are weighing, garage conversion versus JADU versus a new unit lays out the differences. New detached units are a smaller group (329 permits) but they are far larger, at a median of 1,032 square feet against 490 for conversions, and they carry a declared valuation of $121,000 against $49,000.
Every one of these permits went through LADBS. The steps, from plan check to inspections, are in the Los Angeles ADU permit process.
Compared with the whole city
Citywide, the median ADU permit shows $60,000 declared and 558 square feet. Reseda's medians are $60,000 and 575 square feet. Citywide, a permit takes a median of 154 days from submission to issue and 368 more days to reach a certificate of occupancy. In Reseda those figures are 120 and 307.
For new construction specifically, the city median is $120,000 and 813 square feet, versus $121,000 and 1,032 square feet here. The city median for new units to get a permit is 213 days; Reseda's is 191.
A note on reading medians
A median is the middle permit, so a few very large or very small projects do not pull it around. Reseda's 548 conversions and 223 new units with a CofO are what the day counts after issue are based on. Out of 1,410 permits, 967 have reached a CofO so far, which is about 69 percent. Recent permits have not had time to finish, so that share will keep changing.
Where the numbers come from
We counted ADU permits using the permit's ADU flags and its description text, and dropped supplemental permits. Valuation is what the applicant declared on the permit; it is not the full cost of the project, since design, fees, utilities and finishes are often extra. Day counts are medians, measured from submission to issue and from issue to certificate of occupancy (CofO), and include only permits that reached that step. The 2026 data covers part of the year. Source: LADBS Building Permits Issued 2020 to Present, data.lacity.org dataset pi9x-tg5x (City of Los Angeles only), our analysis, November 2026.
Next steps
Work out a budget with the ADU cost guide, set expectations with how long an ADU takes, and before signing anything read how to check an ADU builder's CSLB license.
