Statutory claims below are from the leginfo text of Gov. Code §66317 and §66335, checked 1 November 2026. Both sections were amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 520 (SB 543), effective January 1, 2026.
California gives ADU applicants two clocks. Our timeline post covers how long the whole process realistically takes. This post covers what the statute itself says — and the fine print that decides whether the clocks help you.
Clock one: 15 business days to say whether your application is complete
Gov. Code §66317(a)(2)(A) requires the permitting agency to determine whether your application is complete and to give you written notice of that determination not later than 15 business days after it received the application. Business days, not calendar days.
If the application is incomplete, §66317(a)(2)(B) requires the agency to give you, with that written notice, a list of the incomplete items and a description of how the application can be made complete. Three consequences follow in the same subdivision, and they are the most useful part of the statute for an applicant:
- You can cure. §66317(a)(2)(C) lets you fix the listed items and resubmit.
- The list is exhaustive for that round. §66317(a)(2)(D) bars the agency from requiring an item that was not on the list when it reviews your cure. If it was not on the list, it cannot appear as a new demand on the resubmittal.
- Silence means complete. §66317(a)(2)(F) deems the application — or the resubmitted application — complete if the agency makes no timely completeness determination.
Practical point: keep the written notice and the date you received it. The 15-business-day clock runs from the agency’s receipt of your application, and the notice is the document that proves where you stand.
Clock two: 60 days to approve or deny a completed application
§66317(a)(3) requires the agency to approve or deny a completed application within 60 days from the date the agency receives the completed application, where there is an existing single-family or multifamily dwelling on the lot. The decision is ministerial: §66317(a)(1) says the application “shall be considered and approved ministerially without discretionary review or a hearing.”
Note what starts this clock: a completed application. An incomplete application has not started the 60 days yet — that is what the 15-business-day completeness clock is for. The two clocks are sequential, not parallel.
Three things that move the 60-day clock
1. A simultaneous new-dwelling application. If your ADU application is submitted together with an application for a new single-family or multifamily dwelling, §66317(a)(3) lets the agency delay deciding the ADU application until it decides the new-dwelling application. The ADU decision itself stays ministerial — no discretionary review or hearing is added by the delay.
2. A delay you ask for. §66317(a)(3) tolls the 60-day period — pauses it — for the period of a delay the applicant requests. If you ask the city to hold your application, the clock stops for that hold. Do not request a delay casually; it is the one tolling rule the statute states.
3. Nothing else in the subdivision. The statute does not say a corrections round restarts the 60-day clock. Corrections belong to the completeness mechanism: an incomplete application gets a list, you cure the listed items, and the agency cannot add unlisted items on the cure review. Once the application is complete, the 60 days run from that completion.
If the city misses the 60 days: deemed approved — for ADUs
§66317(a)(3) states it plainly: “If the local agency has not approved or denied the completed application within 60 days, the application shall be deemed approved.”
Two cautions. First, deemed approved is the legal status of the application, not a building permit in your inbox — issuance, fees, and inspections still follow. Second, it is leverage for a follow-up conversation before it is a lawsuit; our timeline post makes the same point about the relationship with your building department.
The JADU gap: same clocks, no deemed-approved backstop
Gov. Code §66335 gives junior ADUs parallel clocks: 15 business days for the completeness determination and written notice (§66335(a)(2)(A)), the same deficiency list and cure rules (§66335(a)(2)(B)–(F)), and a 60-day approve-or-deny rule (§66335(a)(3)). The differences that matter:
- No deemed-approved sentence. Unlike §66317(a)(3), §66335(a)(3) contains no sentence deeming the application approved if the agency misses the 60-day deadline. Its only “deemed” rule in this part is §66335(a)(2)(F): deemed completeness if the agency misses the completeness determination.
- Scope. §66335 covers an existing single-family dwelling only; §66317 covers single-family or multifamily dwellings.
- Structure. Simultaneous-review delay and tolling sit in separate paragraphs in §66335 — (a)(4) and (a)(5) — rather than inside (a)(3).
If you are permitting a JADU, the 15-day completeness protection is identical, but the 60-day backstop is not. Do not assume the ADU rule carries over.
Appeals run on their own clock
§66317(d)(2) requires the agency to give a final written appeal determination not later than 60 business days after receiving your written appeal. The fact that an appeal is permitted to both the planning commission and the governing body does not extend that 60-business-day appeal period. Note carefully: that non-extension sentence governs the appeal-determination period. The statute does not state that filing an appeal pauses or extends the 60-day approval clock, and this post does not claim otherwise. §66335(e)(1)–(2) sets up a parallel appeal process for JADUs.
A short checklist before you submit
- Get the completeness determination in writing, and keep the receipt date of your application. The 15 business days run from receipt.
- Answer only the listed items on a cure. If the city adds an unlisted item on the cure review, §66317(a)(2)(D) is the provision to cite.
- Calendar the 60 days from the date the application became complete, not from your first submittal.
- If you request a delay, know it tolls the clock.
- If you are permitting a JADU, remember the missing backstop: no deemed-approved sentence in §66335(a)(3).
Sources
- Gov. Code §66317, California Legislative Information, checked 1 November 2026: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=66317
- Gov. Code §66335, California Legislative Information, checked 1 November 2026: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=66335
- Both sections as amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 520 (SB 543), effective January 1, 2026.
Timelines vary by city and project. Verify the current ordinance and checklist with your city before submitting. Changes are logged in Corrections.