Burbank, where the city writes its own rules.

Burbank is a separate city, not a district of Los Angeles, and nearly everything that costs a buyer or seller money here follows from that. It runs its own electricity and water utility, issues its own building permits, writes its own hillside rules, and requires its own certificate before a sale can close. Rules that apply a mile away in Toluca Lake or North Hollywood often do not apply here, and the reverse.

Selling: the one thing the city actually requires

Start with the good news. Burbank has no presale inspection. There is no equivalent of the City of Los Angeles 9A residential building report, and no city inspector walks the property before escrow closes.

What Burbank does require is the Retrofit on Resale certificate, codified at Burbank Municipal Code 5-3-1501 through 5-3-1504, adopted as Ordinance No. 3786 on 20 July 2010 and amended on 13 December 2022 to match the current plumbing code. It applies to every residential, commercial and industrial building the city serves.

The standards for any sale closing after 13 December 2022:

Fixture	Maximum
Toilets	1.28 gallons per flush
Showerheads	1.8 gallons per minute
Bathroom faucet aerators	1.2 gpm
Kitchen faucet aerators	1.8 gpm

The seller is responsible, the certificate is a condition of escrow, and it needs both the seller's and the buyer's signature. Agents on both sides have to notify their clients in writing before close. Processing is free, and Burbank Water and Power gives away compliant showerheads and aerators, so this is a paperwork item rather than a cost item, provided nobody discovers it three days before closing.

There is no point-of-sale sewer lateral requirement. Burbank runs a voluntary programme instead, SLURP, which rebates $150 against sewer service charges for a cleaning and video inspection on single-family homes and duplexes.

For how this compares with the cities next door, where the requirements are much heavier, see what retrofits are required before you can sell in Los Angeles. And on closing costs, Burbank charges no city transfer tax, which on a $1,200,000 sale is the difference between $1,320 and $6,720: the arithmetic.

The utility is the city

Burbank Water and Power is municipally owned. The city bought into the business in 1913, issuing $20,000 of bonds for electric capacity and $50,000 for water, and the department took its current name in 2001 (history).

Practically: billing, outage reporting and service transfer at sale all go through BWP rather than LADWP or Southern California Edison, and an ADU project needs separate electric and water review from BWP on top of the building permit.

Soft-story: the deadlines are running now

Burbank adopted a mandatory seismic retrofit ordinance on 10 December 2024, codified at BMC 9-1-16-400.1 through 400.14, with a compliance order date of 10 January 2025.

It covers wood-framed multi-storey residential buildings designed under codes predating 1 January 1978 with a soft, weak or open-front ground floor. About 675 buildings were identified. Single-family homes and duplexes are exempt, which is the first question most owners ask.

The schedule: screening form 12 January 2026, engineered plans 11 January 2027, approved plans 10 January 2028, permit and start of construction 10 January 2029, completion 10 January 2030. Finishing early is rewarded with a 100 percent building permit fee refund for full compliance by 10 July 2026, falling to 50 percent by 10 January 2028.

Money is available. The California Residential Mitigation Program Earthquake Multi-Unit Retrofit grant pays up to $49,600 per building and up to 70 percent of eligible costs for buildings of five to ten units, with registration open 19 August to 30 September 2026 (city page). Owners may pass through up to half the cost to tenants, capped at $51 per unit per month for no more than 120 months.

For a buyer, the practical point is that an unfinished retrofit on a small apartment building is an inherited deadline with a recorded consequence, because non-compliance gets a certificate filed with the county recorder. The full timeline and grant detail.

ADUs: the limits people find out about late

Accessory dwelling units sit at BMC 10-1-620.1 through 620.7, and Burbank runs a Preapproved ADU Program under AB 1332, aiming to issue a permit within 30 days (programme page).

Three limits matter more than the headline size caps of 850 square feet for a studio or one bedroom and 1,000 for two bedrooms:

• In a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone the maximum is 800 square feet, with no exceptions.
• In the Rancho, new ADU construction is not permitted at all.
• Garage conversions are not accepted into the preapproved programme, which only takes new construction.

The preapproved library is still small: the city's own BPAP 24001, a 432 square foot studio, plus an LADBS-accepted plan at 360 square feet. Review runs 30 business days first pass and 15 on recheck, and impact fees begin above 750 square feet. Where you can actually build.

The Rancho, and the horses

The equestrian district is zoned R-1-H, governed by BMC 10-1-605. Keeping a horse there without a permit from the Animal Shelter Superintendent is unlawful, and that permit follows approval by the Community Development Director.

Density is set by lot area: one horse per 3,000 square feet in a non-commercial stable, one per 500 in a commercial one. Every lot with a horse needs an actual stable. Stables and corrals belong in the rear 35 feet of the lot, at least three feet off the rear and side lines, with openings ten feet clear. Note also that SB 9 second units are not available in R-1-H. How the zoning works.

Hillside lots have their own geometry

Above Glenoaks the hillside development standards in BMC 10-1-606 take over. The hillside area is bounded by the city lines with Glendale and Los Angeles, Sunset Canyon Drive, Walnut Avenue, Bel Aire Drive, Cambridge Drive, Kenneth Road and Scott Road.

Height is limited to 30 feet above natural grade, and separately to 18 feet above the edge of pavement on a downslope lot, 23 feet at the rear setback line on an upslope lot, and 14 feet within 25 feet of the front lot line. Building is prohibited within 100 vertical feet of a major ridge axis and 50 feet of a minor one. A Hillside Development Permit can reduce the allowable floor area further as a condition.

Fire, and what is not yet settled

The hillside sections sit in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. Burbank Fire enforces brush clearance under Government Code 51182 on an annual cycle: letters in May, clearance due June, inspections from July. Within 100 feet the requirements are specific, and from 100 to 200 feet a fuel modification zone applies, with native brush reduced by half (programme).

One thing is genuinely unresolved. The State Fire Marshal issued updated Local Responsibility Area maps for Los Angeles County on 24 March 2025, and Government Code 51179 gives a city 120 days to adopt them by ordinance. As of 28 August 2026 we could not confirm from a primary source that Burbank has completed that adoption, and California does not publish a register of local adoptions. Treat the zone status of a specific address as something to confirm with the city, not to assume from a map date.

What is actually landmarked

Burbank has a preservation ordinance at BMC 10-1-925 through 935 and a Heritage Commission, but the designated list is short. As of the city register dated 22 May 2026 there are four National Register listings, Burbank City Hall, the Post Office, the Portal of the Folded Wings and the Mariposa Street Equestrian Bridge; two on the California Register, Bob's Big Boy and the Mariposa bridge; and eleven Burbank Historic Resources, of which four carry recorded Mills Act contracts.

Worth knowing: the code provides for historic districts, but none appear on that register. So a Magnolia Park bungalow is usually old rather than protected, and the constraints on it are ordinary permit constraints. How the neighbourhood was built.

The airport

Hollywood Burbank Airport is run by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, not by LAWA, which is why its noise programme is not the Van Nuys programme. A Part 150 study is under way: the FAA accepted the updated Noise Exposure Maps on 20 November 2025, covering existing 2025 and forecast 2030 conditions, with the noise compatibility programme expected in 2027. The metric is CNEL and the incompatibility threshold is 65 dB.

The FAA states plainly that accepting the maps does not determine which specific properties fall inside the contours. That is worth remembering when a listing claims a house is or is not affected. What to check before you write an offer.

Working here

Burbank is Alla Novytska's home market. Her brokerage, JohnHart Real Estate, is at 215 N Victory Blvd, and she works with input from a licensed California general contractor alongside her real estate licence, which matters in a city where most of the stock is seventy to a hundred years old and the real question is what has been done to a house rather than how it photographs.

If you are buying, the buyers page sets out the sequence. If you are selling, the sellers page covers what has to be in place before escrow can close, and a written valuation prices the lot and the structure separately.

Common questions about Burbank

Does Burbank require an inspection before you can sell a house?

No. Unlike the City of Los Angeles and its 9A report, Burbank has no presale inspection or residential building report. What it does require is a water conservation retrofit certificate, and that is self-certified rather than inspected. The certificate is a condition of escrow, it needs both the seller's and the buyer's signature, and there is no fee.

Does Burbank charge its own transfer tax?

No. Only the county documentary transfer tax applies, at 55 cents per 500 dollars of value. Just five cities in Los Angeles County levy a transfer tax of their own: Culver City, Los Angeles, Pomona, Redondo Beach and Santa Monica. Burbank is not one of them, which is real money at closing.

Is my Burbank building covered by the soft-story retrofit ordinance?

Only if it is a wood-framed multi-storey residential building designed under codes before 1 January 1978 with a soft, weak or open-front ground floor. Single-family houses and duplexes are exempt. The city identified roughly 675 buildings. The screening form was due 12 January 2026 and full completion is due 10 January 2030.

Can I build an ADU anywhere in Burbank?

No. Size caps run to 850 square feet for a studio or one bedroom and 1,000 for two bedrooms, but in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone the ceiling is 800 square feet with no exceptions, and in the Rancho district new ADU construction is not permitted at all.

From the journal

Splitting a Burbank Lot Under SB 9: What the City Requires

The Burbank Rancho Review Board: what it reviews, and what it never sees

How a Home Gets Designated a Historic Resource in Burbank

Short-Term Rentals in Burbank: What the Zoning Code Actually Says

Burbank Floor Area Ratio: How Big a House the Lot Allows

Перше житло в Каліфорнії: які іпотечні програми відкриті без грінкарти

Selling a House With Solar in Burbank: What the Sale Ends

Burbank vs Los Angeles ADU Rules: What Changes at the City Line

Do I Need a Permit to Remove a Tree in Burbank?

Burbank Residential Parking Permit Zones: What Buyers Should Check

Burbank Retrofit Upon Resale: The Water Certificate Seller and Buyer Both Sign

Burbank Hillside Development Permit: What Triggers It, What It Costs, and What a Buyer Should Check

Selling a Tenant-Occupied House in Burbank: What the Tenant Protection Ordinance Requires

Is Toluca Lake in Burbank or Los Angeles? What Changes at the City Line

Burbank Water and Power vs LADWP: What Changes When You Buy Across the City Line

Building an ADU in Burbank: What Actually Gets Reassessed

The Preliminary Change of Ownership Report, Explained for California Buyers

What Is a 30-Day Escrow, and When Do You Need 45 Days?

When is the deadline to appeal a property tax assessment in Los Angeles County?

Who Pays the Transfer Tax When You Sell a House in Los Angeles County?

What Does a Preliminary Title Report Actually Cover in California?

What Is a Natural Hazard Disclosure Report in California?

What Are Burbank's ADU Rules, and Where Can You Actually Build One?

Can I Inherit My Parents' House in Los Angeles and Keep Their Property Taxes?

Can You Keep a Horse in Burbank? R-1-H Zoning in the Rancho, Explained

Burbank Soft-Story Retrofit: Deadlines, Grants, and What Buyers Should Check

What Is The Burbank Housing Market Doing In August 2026?

What Should You Check Before Buying a Home Near Hollywood Burbank Airport?

Magnolia Park, Burbank: How the Neighborhood Was Built, and What Its Houses Hide

Buying or selling in Burbank

The buying page sets out how an offer, the contingency periods and the closing costs work in this part of Los Angeles County. The selling page covers pricing, preparation and the disclosures a California seller owes. Current listings are updated as they come to market.