Victorville, CA Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Section 16-5.01.020 of the Municipal Code adopts the 2025 California Building Standards Administrative Code (Title 24, Part 1), the 2025 California Building Code (Title 24, Part 2) and the 2025 California Residential Code (Title 24, Part 2.5), including their Chapter 1, Division 2 administrative provisions, as the City's administrative building code; a true copy is kept on file in the Building Department for public inspection. Those adopted codes make a building permit mandatory before most construction, alteration, repair, or occupancy-changing work begins, and only the exemptions the City locally amended into Section 16-5.01.070 excuse an owner from that requirement, covering low fences and walls, short retaining walls, and shallow pools and water features.

Once filed, a permit application expires under Section 16-5.01.100 if no permit issues within 180 days, though the Building Official may grant one 180-day extension on written request showing circumstances beyond the applicant's control. After issuance, Section 16-5.01.110 voids a permit if no new work occurs within twelve months of issuance, or if no inspection is requested within that period; resuming after expiration requires a new permit at half the original fee if the scope hasn't changed and the lapse is under a year, or full repermitting after a year. Section 16-5.01.120 further requires a certificate of occupancy application, with its own processing fee, for every use of every structure before it may be occupied.