LA's GPMS Rose to 10% on June 9. ADU Building Permits Still Pay 7%.

Sources: Ordinance 188,899 (Los Angeles City Council File 09-0969-S4) and LAMC Section 98.0418. Corrected September 2026: an earlier version of this article said the 10% rate applies to LADBS building permits. It applies to City Planning fees; the building permit surcharge is still 7%.

If you are permitting an ADU in Los Angeles, you may have read that the General Plan Maintenance Surcharge (GPMS) rose from 7% to 10% on June 9, 2026. That is true for one set of fees, and not for the one most ADU owners pay. Ordinance 188,899, adopted under Council File 09-0969-S4 and effective June 9, 2026, amends LAMC Section 19.16 and Section 15.7.3 of the new Zoning Code. Those sections put the surcharge on City Planning permit, plan check, license, and application fees. The surcharge LADBS adds to a building permit comes from a different section, LAMC 98.0418(b), which the ordinance did not touch and which still reads 7%.

What the GPMS is and where it appears on your permit invoice

The General Plan Maintenance Surcharge is not a permit fee in itself. It is a percentage added on top of other fees, and the City's code carries it in three places. For LADBS building permits, Section 98.0418(b) adds the greater of 7% of the building permit fees or $1.00, plus a $5.00 administrative fee, leaving other surcharges, the Fire Hydrant Fee, and the Arts Development Fee out of the base. For City Planning fees, Sections 19.16 and 15.7.3 add the surcharge to each Planning permit, plan check, license, or application fee, and that is the rate Ordinance 188,899 raised to 10%. The money goes to City Planning's long-range planning fund. GPMS does not fund the inspector who comes to your site. It funds the planning staff who maintain the land use policies that determine whether your ADU is permitted at all.

On an LADBS permit, the line reads "Planning Gen Plan Maint Surcharge." On the sample permit LADBS publishes, that line is 7% of the building permit fees, next to a separate 6% "Planning Surcharge" that Section 98.0418(a) sets for City Planning's automated systems. Neither rate changed on June 9, and LADBS has not posted a GPMS notice. You can read the ordinance and its staff reports in the LA City Clerk's Council File Management System by searching 09-0969-S4.

What it costs. GPMS is calculated on the base building permit fees, then added as a separate line. On $10,000 in base permit fees, the surcharge is $700. A simple garage conversion with $4,000 in base fees pays about $280. A ground-up detached ADU with $18,000 in base permit fees pays about $1,260. These are illustrative figures; actual fees depend on your specific project scope through the LADBS plan review and permitting process.

Why this matters if you are a first-time ADU client in Los Angeles

First-time ADU clients usually receive a permit fee estimate early in the design process, often from their architect or from the LADBS fee estimator tool. That number gets built into project budgets, financing calculations, and contingency planning. If your estimate carried the GPMS at 7% on LADBS building permit fees, the June 9 ordinance gives you no reason to change it. If someone raised it to 10% on the strength of the headlines, including an earlier version of this article, ask them to take it back down.

Where the 10% rate can reach an ADU is a City Planning fee. Most ADUs go through LADBS without a Planning case, but a lot in a specific plan area, a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone, or another overlay can need a Planning review or clearance before the building permit issues, and that Planning fee now carries the 10% surcharge. The dollar effect is small because those fees are small: on a $1,000 Planning fee, the change is $30.

There is also no June 9 deadline to beat on an ADU building permit. Whether a fee is paid when you submit plans or when the permit issues, the building permit GPMS is 7%, so a slipped counter appointment does not change it.

What this looks like across ADU project types

The 7% GPMS applies to all LADBS building permits, not only ADUs. For homeowners specifically permitting accessory dwelling units, here is where it shows up by project category:

Detached new construction ADU. Typically the highest-fee category. On $20,000 in total base building permit fees, the 7% surcharge is about $1,400.

Garage conversion or attached JADU. Lower base fees, proportionally lower GPMS. A project in the $6,000 to $10,000 base fee range pays roughly $420 to $700.

Projects using a pre-approved standard plan. The GPMS applies regardless of whether you used an LADBS Standard Plan Program design or a custom drawing set. The surcharge is on the permit fees, not on the design fee you paid your architect.

Projects that also need a City Planning approval. Two lines, two rates: the Planning clearance fee carries the 10% GPMS, and the building permit fees that follow carry 7%.

Context and what to watch next

Council File 09-0969-S4 is City Planning's comprehensive fee update. A consultant's fee study found City Planning spends about $18.8 million a year on long-range planning work eligible for GPMS funding, while the surcharge brings in about $7 million, and Planning recommended raising it from 7% to 10%; the City Administrative Officer suggested 15%. The increase was left out of the main fee ordinance (Ord. 188,796, effective February 23, 2026) by mistake, so the Council adopted it on its own as Ordinance 188,899 on March 25, 2026, effective June 9. The rate has moved before: Ordinance 182,310 raised it to 5% in 2012, amending the Planning section and the building permit section together. This time only the Planning sections changed.

For homeowners who have not started permitting yet, the budgeting rule is simple: carry the GPMS at 7% on LADBS building permit fees and at 10% on any City Planning fee your lot needs. The change to watch for is an amendment to Section 98.0418; that is the one that would reach building permits. The bigger variables in your permit cost are still project scope, systems, and whether your site needs a geotechnical report.

To run an updated permit fee estimate for your specific project type and jurisdiction, A-du's permit fee calculator incorporates current LADBS fee schedules and can give you a starting number before your first call to the permit counter.