The April 2026 deadline is the final compliance date for Priority 2 buildings under LA Ordinance 183893 — meaning buildings with fewer than 16 units that have not yet completed their seismic retrofit.

Priority 2 includes the majority of the 13,500 soft story buildings identified by LADBS. Priority 1 buildings (16+ units, or 3+ stories with ground-floor commercial) had a compliance deadline of April 2024, which has already passed. If you own a Priority 2 building and have not begun the retrofit process, you are now inside the final compliance window — and the full engineering, permit, and construction sequence typically takes 4 to 9 months.

Your building is subject to Ordinance 183893 if it meets all four criteria: wood-frame construction of two or more stories, built under codes enacted before January 1, 1978, contains ground-floor parking or similar open wall space, and has four or more residential units.

LADBS mailed an Order to Comply to every identified building owner between May 2016 and November 2017. If you own one of the 13,500 identified buildings and haven’t seen your Order, it may have been sent to a prior owner or a different mailing address. You can verify your building’s status at ladbs.org or by calling the LADBS Soft-Story Retrofit Unit at (213) 202-9924. We run a free compliance review at discovery.

A soft story retrofit in Los Angeles typically takes 4 to 9 months end to end, from engineering kickoff to final LADBS sign-off.

The process breaks down approximately as: engineering and design (4–8 weeks), LADBS plan check (4–10 weeks, including corrections), permit issuance (1–2 weeks), construction (6–16 weeks), and final inspection (1–2 weeks). The largest single timeline variable is plan check turnaround — corrections cycles can add 2–4 weeks each, and LADBS soft story plan check frequently involves one or two corrections rounds. We sequence submittals to minimize those.

Soft story retrofits in Los Angeles typically cost $60,000 to $200,000 per building, with most Priority 2 projects falling between $80,000 and $150,000.

Cost varies with the number of parking openings, building size, soil conditions, and retrofit solution. Per-unit cost typically runs $10,000 to $30,000. Steel moment frames — the most common solution — run $30,000 to $60,000 per frame. Plywood shear walls run $20,000 to $40,000 per wall line. Buildings with challenging geometry, multiple openings, or complex soil conditions fall toward the upper end of the range.

Ordinance 183893 covers wood-frame soft story buildings. Ordinance 184081 covers non-ductile concrete buildings. They were enacted together in 2015–2016 but target different building types with different compliance paths and deadlines.

Ordinance 183893 covers approximately 13,500 pre-1978 wood-frame apartment buildings with tuck-under parking. Ordinance 184081 covers approximately 1,500 pre-1977 non-ductile concrete buildings, which are substantially more expensive to retrofit — typically $200,000 to $1M+, compared to $60K–$200K for soft story. We handle both, but the engineering, construction, and timeline are distinct.

Steel moment frames are the most common soft story retrofit solution in Los Angeles, especially for buildings with ground-floor parking. A moment frame is a U-shaped or portal steel frame installed in the existing parking opening.

Moment frames resist lateral seismic forces while preserving parking width. They require new concrete footings and structural connections into the existing wood framing above. On smaller buildings with fewer openings, plywood shear walls are sometimes sufficient alone — but for most Priority 2 buildings with one or two parking openings, a moment frame system is the right engineering solution. The structural engineer makes the final call based on the building’s specific geometry and loads.

No — the City of LA Ordinance 183893 only applies to buildings within the City of Los Angeles. Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood each run their own separate soft story retrofit ordinances with different criteria, deadlines, and plan-check processes.

Beverly Hills has a municipal retrofit program run through the Beverly Hills Building Department. Santa Monica has a mandatory program managed by the Santa Monica Building Division, often with stricter requirements than the City of LA. West Hollywood runs its own program as well. We build retrofits in all three jurisdictions — each with its own specific requirements. If your building is in any of these cities, do not submit plans to LADBS.