Monterey Park, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Auto Repair on Residential Property (2026)

Section 21.08.040(C) draws a bright line for automotive work: it opens by stating that permitted home occupations may not in any event be deemed to include a list of specific businesses, and auto repair sits first on that list, followed separately by auto, boat and trailer painting and appliance repairs. Because that language sits inside the same section that creates the home occupation permit, no application, condition, or City Planner approval can turn a residential auto repair operation into a lawful home occupation; the use is barred outright rather than merely limited.

The code treats a narrower, non-commercial situation differently: Section 21.08.040(A) allows a resident to work on their own vehicle in a residential zone under the Auto Dismantling, Repairing, Assembling limitation, but only if the work stays out of public view, happens inside an enclosed building or an area screened by a six-foot view-obscuring wall, is never performed for commercial purposes, involves a vehicle the resident owns, limits work to one vehicle in disassembly at a time per household, and does not disturb neighbors' quiet enjoyment of their property.

That distinction matters for anyone running a for-profit repair shop from a house: fixing your own car under those six conditions is a permitted accessory use, but taking in customers' vehicles for pay is the auto repair business the home occupation section flatly excludes, with no path to a permit.