Montebello, CA Accessory Structures: Garage Conversions (2026)

Montebello Municipal Code Section 17.10.250 created a garage conversion enforcement deferment program for owners of R-A or R-1 zoned property whose garage or detached structure had already been converted into living quarters in violation of the zoning code. Rather than face immediate code enforcement, an owner who applied by October 31, 1988 and paid a forty-five dollar application fee, subsection A(1), could obtain a certificate of deferment that let the illegal living space remain until the property changed hands. The city inspected the converted garage or structure and issued a deferment inspection report, subsection A(2), and any corrections needed to protect occupant health and safety had to be finished by the deadline in that report, with follow-up inspections billed at twenty-five dollars each, subsection A(3).

Once a certificate of deferment is recorded with the Los Angeles County recorder's office, subsection A(4), the deferred status runs with the property, but subsection B requires the owner to obtain a certificate of occupancy before any transfer of title, which voids the certificate of deferment. A certificate of occupancy issues only after the garage or structure is reconverted to comply with the zoning code and the city inspects the reconversion for a standard fee, subsection B(1). An owner who sells the property without first obtaining that certificate of occupancy commits a misdemeanor under subsection B(2).

The city manager or a designee can exempt a nonmarket title transfer, such as an inheritance, from the reconversion and certificate-of-occupancy requirement, subsection B(3). Because the October 1988 application window has long closed, any conversion discovered today without a recorded deferment certificate is subject to immediate code enforcement under subsection A(5), with no deferment option available.