Filing the LADBS Owner-Builder Declaration Form: Exemptions and Liabilities

The LADBS Owner-Builder Declaration form is the signed statement a Los Angeles property owner submits with a building permit application when no licensed general contractor is listed, affirming under penalty of perjury that the owner qualifies for an exemption from California’s contractor licensing law. The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety publishes the form as a PDF packet that bundles the declaration itself, a Workers’ Compensation Declaration, and an Owner’s Acknowledgment and Verification of Information.¹ You download it, complete all three parts, and upload it with your permit application through ePlanLA.

When You Have to Sign It

California Health and Safety Code Section 19825 requires every city or county issuing a building permit to collect either a valid contractor’s license number or a signed declaration claiming an exemption from licensing.² If your permit application does not name a licensed general contractor, LADBS will not issue the permit until you sign this form.

The exemption itself comes from Business and Professions Code Section 7044. The Contractors’ State License Law does not apply to a property owner who builds or improves their own property through personal effort or through employees paid only wages, provided the improvements are not intended or offered for sale. A separate branch of the same exemption covers owners who hire only licensed contractors for each trade in the project.³ The form asks you to pick which one applies.

What to Have Ready

Pull these together before you open the PDF:

The project address exactly as it appears on your permit application. LADBS staff fill in the application number.¹
Proof of ownership. HSC 19825 requires documentation sufficient to identify you as the property owner and verify your signature; a recorded deed or current property tax bill typically satisfies this.²
Workers’ compensation policy details if you plan to hire anyone other than licensed contractors: carrier name, policy number, expiration date.
A City of Los Angeles Angeleno account for submitting online through ePlanLA.⁴
A notarized authorization letter if someone else will sign on your behalf. Without it, an agent’s signature won’t be accepted.¹

Filling Out the Declaration

Pick the Right Exemption Box

The first page lists the grounds you can claim. Check the one that matches what you’ll actually do:

You, or employees paid only wages, will do all or part of the work, and the structure is not intended for sale. If you check “portions of the work,” any remaining portions must be done by licensed contractors for the trades involved.²
You will contract exclusively with licensed contractors for the entire project. You’re managing it, not doing the work yourself.
Another exemption applies, with a write-in line. Most residential owner-builders use one of the first two.

The box you pick controls what you have to disclose next. Checking “personal labor or employees” and then hiring unlicensed day laborers triggers employer obligations you may not have planned for.

Complete the Workers’ Compensation Section

California Labor Code Section 3700 requires every employer to secure workers’ compensation coverage.⁵ The form offers two paths:

If you will not hire anyone, check the box certifying that you will not employ any person in a manner that would subject you to California’s workers’ comp laws.
If you will hire workers, enter your carrier name, policy number, and expiration date. LADBS won’t issue the permit without one or the other.

The form warns that if you hire anyone other than licensed contractors and the total project value, labor and materials combined, reaches $500 or more, you may be treated as an employer under state and federal law.¹ A weekend of paid help plus materials can cross that threshold easily.

Sign the Owner’s Acknowledgment

The last section is a ten-item acknowledgment you initial and sign. You are confirming, among other things, that you are the responsible party of record on the permit, that you are legally and financially responsible for all construction activity at the project address, and that if you hire employees you will register with state and federal agencies, withhold payroll taxes, carry workers’ comp, and contribute to unemployment insurance.¹

One item specifically warns against a common scam in which an unlicensed operator asks the owner to pull an owner-builder permit while the unlicensed person actually does the work. Signing in that situation puts the legal exposure on you.¹

Submitting the Form

LADBS handles permitting through its ePlanLA portal at eplanla.lacity.org. Log in with your Angeleno account and upload the completed declaration as part of your permit application package; the system accepts PDFs.⁴

You can also apply in person at any LADBS Development Services Center. The department has offices in Metro (Downtown), Van Nuys, West Los Angeles, South Los Angeles, and San Pedro.⁶ In-person service requires an appointment through the city’s scheduling system.⁴

Processing is tied to overall permit review. Small and medium residential projects eligible for over-the-counter review move quickly; projects that require plan check take longer. If LADBS finds errors or missing information in your declaration, expect a correction notice before the permit is approved.

What You Are Taking On By Signing

Employer Duties If You Hire

Checking the employees box triggers real payroll obligations. The IRS requires employers to withhold income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes from wages and to pay the matching employer share. California layers its own withholding, unemployment insurance, and disability insurance requirements on top. Whether a worker you bring on counts as an employee or an independent contractor turns on how much control you exercise over the work; telling someone when to show up, what tools to use, and how to frame a wall points toward employee status regardless of what you call the arrangement.⁷

Insurance Your Homeowner’s Policy Won’t Cover

A standard homeowner’s policy generally does not cover construction activity. If a worker is injured on your property and you have no workers’ comp coverage, you are personally liable for medical bills and lost wages. If fire or storm damages a partially built addition, a homeowner’s policy may deny the claim because the structure was under active construction. Builder’s risk insurance, sometimes called course-of-construction insurance, covers the structure and on-site materials against damage from fire, theft, and similar events during the build.

The One-Year Sale Rule

If you sell or offer to sell the property within one year of completing construction, California law creates a rebuttable presumption that you built the improvement for sale, meaning you were acting as an unlicensed contractor. You would then have to prove in court that the sale was unrelated to the construction. Sell five or more structures within one year of completing them and the presumption becomes conclusive, with no evidence allowed to rebut it. The one-year, two-structure ceiling in Section 7044 also limits the related homeowner-improvement exemption to two structures in any three-year period for an owner who has lived in the home at least twelve months.³

Penalties for Misusing the Permit

Pulling an owner-builder permit while an unlicensed person actually does the work exposes both of you to criminal charges under Business and Professions Code Section 7028. A first conviction carries a fine of up to $5,000, up to six months in county jail, or both, with escalating minimums for repeat convictions.⁸ Hiring workers without securing workers’ compensation coverage is a misdemeanor under Labor Code Section 3700.5, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of at least $10,000 or double the premium you should have paid, whichever is more.⁹ Filing the declaration without a valid exemption basis can also trigger a civil penalty of up to $500, enough to hold up your permit and flag the application for closer review.²

1
City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. Notice to Property Owner for Owner-Builder Permits
2
California Legislative Information. California Code HSC 19825 – Local Building Permits
3
California Legislative Information. California Code BPC 7044 – Contractors State License Law Exemptions
4
Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. LADBS Home Page
5
California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 3700 – Compensation Insurance and Security
6
Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. South LA – LADBS Locations and Offices
7
Internal Revenue Service. Independent Contractor (Self-Employed) or Employee?
8
California Legislative Information. California Code Business and Professions Code BPC 7028
9
California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code LAB 3700.5