What Happened, in Plain English

Senate Bill 9, effective January 1, 2022, lets the owner of a single-family lot in California split that lot in two and put a duplex on each half – four units total in a place that used to hold one. Cities are required to approve qualifying applications ministerially, meaning without discretionary review.

After the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires, Governor Newsom (in July 2025) and LA Mayor Karen Bass (in a parallel LA City order) issued executive orders that let local governments block SB 9 inside “very high” fire hazard severity zones within the burn areas. Pasadena, Malibu, the City of LA, and LA County all invoked that authority and passed local moratoriums freezing SB 9 in their fire zones.

YIMBY Law sued – joined by homeowner-developer Andrew Slocum of Green Development Company – arguing that neither the Governor nor the Mayor had the authority to override a state statute passed by the legislature, no matter what the underlying emergency was. The lawsuit named all four jurisdictions plus state officials.

Two of the four have now settled. Pasadena repealed its ban on July 20, 2026 in a unanimous City Council vote. Malibu has agreed to repeal by September 29, 2026. Both cities also agreed to reopen every SB 9 application that was denied, paused, or discouraged during the moratorium period. Sonja Trauss, executive director of YIMBY Law, summarized it: “For people who are living, or hoping to live, or hoping to move back to Malibu and Pasadena, SB 9 is back.”

What This Means If You Own Property in Pasadena

SB 9 is fully back in Pasadena as of the July 20 repeal vote. Concretely, that means:

• You can file a new SB 9 lot split application right now if your lot meets the state’s baseline eligibility (single-family zoned, in an urbanized area, not on a hillside above certain slopes, not in a designated historic district, not subject to certain rent-control or recent tenancy protections, and not requiring demolition of more than 25 percent of exterior walls of a rental that has been occupied in the last three years).
• If you filed an SB 9 application during the ban and it was paused or denied, Pasadena is required to reopen it. You should not have to refile from scratch. Contact Pasadena Planning and reference the settlement.
• The fire-zone properties in the Eaton burn area are now eligible again, subject only to the state’s baseline SB 9 rules and Pasadena’s normal ministerial review process. Fire-rebuild permitting is a separate track that continues in parallel.
• Watch the Altadena situation. Most of Altadena is unincorporated LA County territory, not the City of Pasadena. LA County is still fighting the lawsuit, and pending state legislation (SB 1090) would extend the SB 9 ban to all of Altadena regardless of the litigation outcome. If your Altadena property crosses the Pasadena city line, exactly which side of the line matters.

What This Means If You Own Property in Malibu

Malibu’s repeal is not effective yet. Under the settlement, the City has until September 29, 2026 to formally repeal the ordinance. Between now and then, applications may still be paused. But the outcome is no longer in doubt:

• Start assembling your SB 9 application now. The moment the repeal is on the books, applications that are ready to submit will be first in line. Surveys, title work, and the preliminary lot-split plan can all be prepared in advance.
• If you have a paused or denied application from the moratorium period, the settlement requires Malibu to reopen it. You should be receiving a notice from Malibu Planning; if you have not, contact the department directly.
• Coastal Zone considerations still apply. Most of Malibu falls inside the Coastal Zone, which means an SB 9 project also needs a Coastal Development Permit or CDP exemption in addition to Malibu’s ministerial SB 9 review. This is unchanged by the settlement. The Coastal Commission process adds real time and complexity, and it is worth planning for from day one.
• Palisades burn-area properties inside the City of LA are separate. The bulk of the Pacific Palisades sits inside the City of Los Angeles, not the City of Malibu. LA is still fighting the lawsuit, and its ban remains in effect for now.

What Is Still Blocked

The lawsuit is not over. Two of the four defendant jurisdictions are still contesting it:

Because Pasadena settled and LA County has not, whether your Altadena-area property can pursue SB 9 depends on whether it is inside the City of Pasadena or inside unincorporated Altadena. The boundary is not always obvious from the street, and it changes the entire legal picture. Use our Zoning Lookup tool to confirm the jurisdiction on any specific address.

What LA-Area Homeowners Outside the Fire Zones Should Know

If your property is not inside a burn zone, none of this affects your SB 9 eligibility – the executive orders and the local moratoriums only applied within very high fire hazard severity zones inside the January 2025 burn areas. SB 9 has been continuously available for every other eligible lot in California since January 1, 2022.

What the settlement DOES signal, though, is that cities cannot use emergency authority to indefinitely suspend a state housing statute without legal exposure. That is a precedent every California city will now factor in the next time it considers a housing-law workaround. For homeowners in cities that have been aggressive about limiting SB 9 through indirect means (design standards, historical overlays, “objective standards” that in practice reject every application), the direction of travel favors owners.

Practical Next Steps for a Homeowner Considering SB 9

1. Confirm Your Lot Is Actually Eligible

SB 9 has hard eligibility rules. The lot must be single-family zoned, in an urbanized area or urban cluster, not on a steep slope (typically 15 percent or greater), not on prime farmland, not in a designated wetland or conservation easement, and not in certain historic districts. Recent tenancy and rent-control status also matter. Our free SB 9 Eligibility Checker runs all of these tests on any LA-area address in under a minute.

2. Pull the Permit and Zoning History

Before you spend a dollar on architects or surveyors, know what is already on file. Our Permit Lookup and Zoning Lookup tools pull the LADBS, Pasadena Planning, Malibu Planning, or LA County records for your address in one click.

3. Order a Boundary Survey Early

SB 9 requires a recorded parcel map for the lot split. That needs a licensed surveyor. Survey lead times in LA are running four to eight weeks. If you plan to file in Malibu the day the repeal is effective, the survey should already be ordered.

4. Budget for Utility Separation

Each SB 9 lot needs its own water, sewer, gas, and electrical service unless the units share those systems by design. Utility separation typically runs $8,000 to $25,000 per service depending on trench distance and meter placement. LADWP, Southern California Edison, and SoCalGas all have their own scheduling queues.

5. Get a Real Cost Estimate Before You Commit

The economics of an SB 9 split-and-build vary widely by neighborhood, lot geometry, and how much of the existing home you keep. Some lots pencil out; others do not. Before you spend on architects, get a construction consultant to run the numbers. Book a free 15-minute consultation and we will walk through your specific lot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• LAist – “Housing advocates sued over local duplex bans after the LA fires. Now, two cities are backing down”
• CalMatters – “Two cities burned in LA fires settle YIMBY lawsuit”
• YIMBY Law – Plaintiff organization
• California Legislature – SB 9 (Atkins, 2021)

Related Reading

• Free SB 9 Eligibility Checker – run your address against every SB 9 rule in under a minute.
• Free Zoning Lookup Tool – confirm which city or county controls a specific address.
• Free Permit Lookup Tool – pull the existing permit history for any LA-area address.
• ADU Eligibility Check – if SB 9 is not the right path for your lot, ADU rules almost always are.