Introduction
Long Beach has a rich history, having experienced several housing booms over the past 120 years. While the charming architecture of early 1900s buildings is beloved by many residents, parking can often pose a challenge due to the absence of on-site parking requirements for these older properties. To address this issue, the city established the Garage Resale Program to encourage residents to utilize their garages for parking, ultimately reducing the number of cars parked on the streets.
What is the Long Beach Garage Resale Program?
The city of Long Beach has designated “parking impacted areas” in neighborhoods where street parking is scarce. Anytime a property located in a parking impacted area sells, the property owner is required to complete the city’s garage resale program. If the property has garages, the owner is required to submit an application for inspection, pay the inspection fee, and allow a city inspector to look inside the garages to make sure there is room to park a car. If a property doesn’t have a garage the owner is still required to go through the Garage Resale Program, however they will apply for a garage exemption certificate. This program is only required for residential property.
What’s the fee for the Garage Resale Program?
The fee schedule for the program can be found here. As of April, 2023, The fee is $105 for 1 & 2 unit properties. The fee increases $11 for each additional unit beyond 2 units. For example, the inspection cost for a 4 unit building would be $105 + ($11 x 2) = $127.
For properties that have a common parking facility or no parking the fee is $20. The fee is also $20 if the property is selling for the first time.
What is the inspection like?
The city inspector is primarily looking to make sure that there is room to park a car in the garage. In my experience, the inspector will not inspect beyond the garage or request to enter any units. It will usually take less than 1 minute per garage for the inspector to complete his inspection.
Compared to pre sale inspections that some other cities require, the Long Beach Garage Inspection is very manageable. In the city of Los Angeles requires much more invasive 9A reports where all smoke detectors, water heaters, gas meters, etc. are checked. The city of Signal Hill has a presale inspection where all units are inspected and and un-permitted or substandard work is required to be corrected before escrow can close.
The Process:
- Check to see if your property is located in a parking impacted area. You can search for your property here. The areas on the map below are parking impacted areas.
- Call the Code Enforcement Bureau at (562) 570-2633 for an appointment.
- Complete an Application for Inspection of Required Off-Street Parking.
- Make a check payable to the City of Long Beach for the amount indicated on the Garage Resale Program Fee Schedule.
- Provide the completed application and check to the City Inspector at the time of your appointment. Do NOT mail or hand deliver applications or fees for this service.
Please note: A report can take up to five business days to process. Please schedule your appointment accordingly. Rescheduled appointments must be made 24 hours prior to the original appointment. Please note that failure to appear at the scheduled appointment time will result in the issuance of a “re-inspection fee” in the amount of $220.
Common Issues
The garage is being used for storage
This is probably the most common issue that comes up during a garage inspection. Once the garage is cleared out it can be reinspected. Sometimes inspectors will accept pictures of cleared garage instead of requiring a re-inspection.
The garage was converted into a living space without permits
Major code violations like this can be more difficult to overcome. According to the application: Any unlawful condition relating to the use and maintenance of the required off-street parking spaces will be cited by the inspector. Such condition(s) shall be brought into compliance within ninety (90) days of such citation, or within sixty (60) days of the close of escrow, whichever comes first.
