A burned lot on Carbon Beach, La Costa or along Rambla Pacifico is priced mostly on the recorded size and position of the house that stood there before the January 2025 Palisades Fire. Under Malibu's rebuild rules, that house sets how large the next one can be and where it can go on the fast permitting path. The City's financial relief for the person who lived there is written around that person, so it stays with them when the lot sells.
The fee waiver stays with the seller
Malibu waives City planning and building fees for eligible fire rebuilds. The City's fee waiver handout limits it to an applicant who was the legal owner, or held a controlling interest in the titleholding entity, on the date of the fire. That applicant also has to certify under penalty of perjury that the property was their primary residence when it burned. Someone who buys the lot afterward meets neither condition.
The handout also covers what happens when a property that already has a waiver changes hands partway through a rebuild:
"If the property is sold prior to the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy, waived fees are to be reimbursed by new owners if the property is sold within 90 days of the sale."
Under the same section, if those fees go unpaid, the development process stops until they are reimbursed. No Certificate of Occupancy issues until they are paid, and the City reserves the right to lien the property if the affidavit's terms are broken.
For properties held in an LLC, the paperwork is recorded where any buyer's title search will find it. The managing member and member record a notarized affidavit "as a covenant against the property," and the handout says that covenant "will run with the land and be binding on all successors in interest." The affidavit includes a promise that no membership interests will be transferred during the rebuild. If one is, the LLC owes the City every waived fee.
In practice, a lot with approved plans and a permit in hand can look like a finished head start. If the seller got that far on waived fees, part of what they saved can become the buyer's cost at closing or the buyer's delay at final inspection. One thing to settle early in escrow is whether a fee waiver affidavit was ever recorded on the parcel.
The 10% is measured in cubic feet
The buyer does keep the rebuild envelope, and the City measures it more tightly than many listings describe it.
Ordinance 524 was adopted March 12, 2025, and the California Coastal Commission certified it April 10, 2025. It lets fire-destroyed structures be rebuilt like-for-like with up to 10% more square footage, height or bulk. The City Council's October 15, 2025 zoning interpretation explains how that 10% actually works:
- Volume is the limit. "Bulk (volume) is the constraining factor." A replacement cannot exceed 110% of the prior structure's volume.
- The extra 10% gets spent once. If it goes to added square footage, the City's example says there may be nothing left for added height, and the reverse also applies.
- The footprint mostly stays put. The new structure has to sit within 50% of the old footprint and envelope. Moving it further requires a De Minimis Waiver or a Coastal Development Permit.
- Nothing moves seaward. The replacement may not extend farther seaward than the pre-fire structure.
- Style is open. The interpretation's own example says a craftsman house can come back as a modern one, as long as it stays within the 110% limits.
So on the fast track, two lots of the same size side by side on PCH can have very different futures. A modest cottage that burned allows a modest replacement. A large house allows a large one. The design can change completely, but the size is mostly fixed.
Why almost everyone takes the fast track
The City's rebuild dashboard, as reported by The Malibu Times on September 19, 2026, shows how strongly the incentives point one way.
| Palisades Fire burn area, City dashboard as of mid-September 2026 | Count |
|---|---|
| Single-family projects with planning approval | 238 |
| Single-family projects under planning review | 46 |
| Projects submitted for building plan check | 62 |
| Single-family rebuilds using like-for-like plus 10% | 236 |
| Single-family projects on a Coastal Development Permit for significant changes | 1 |
| Permits of all types issued in the burn area | 1,177 |
That is 236 projects on the like-for-like-plus-10% option and one on a Coastal Development Permit for significant changes. The Malibu Times also notes that the 1,177 permits cover debris removal, electrical, septic and other work, and should not be confused with the 100 construction permits issued specifically for single-family rebuilds.
The fast track has a working timeline now. On September 14, 2026, Malibu issued its 100th single-family rebuild construction permit and its first certificate of occupancy for a completed Palisades Fire rebuild. That home is in Big Rock, and its owners received their permit in October 2025 and finished construction in about 11 months, according to The Malibu Times. A buyer who wants a bigger house or a different siting is choosing the path only one other project in the dashboard is on, and that path runs through a Coastal Development Permit. The City's April 27, 2026 rebuild guide confirms that a project beyond the 10% allowance, or substantially relocated, needs one.
Proving how big the old house was
If the old house's volume sets the value, documenting that volume is part of buying the lot. The October 2025 interpretation treats a structure that physically stood immediately before the Palisades Fire as "lawfully erected." The exceptions are open construction-code violations, violations of laws the City cannot waive, and structures that never had a permit allowing them to exist in some form. Those exceptions are where an unpermitted addition or an old violation would show up.
The interpretation accepts several kinds of evidence. Malibu's records page explains where each one is kept:
- Los Angeles County Assessor building files, which the City says commonly include a site plan and square footage for each structure. Owners can request the City-held file by emailing [email protected] with the subject line "Request for Assessor Building Records," and a representative needs owner authorization.
- City OnBase records, covering construction permits, geology and environmental health files. Hard-copy planning records can be requested publicly.
- Public records requests, which should list the address and be marked fire-related. Staff say they will give a status update within 10 days and point applicants to the Coastal Commission's Ventura office for more property records.
- Aerial or GIS imagery, photographs and Coastal Commission records, which the interpretation also lists as evidence of lawful existence.
The interpretation measures bulk as cubic volume from the structure's exterior surface and requires a survey at Planning Verification to show compliance. A seller's description of the former house is a starting point. The Assessor file and permit history are the evidence.
After the 2018 Woolsey Fire, the City's transfer-of-ownership form stated that in-kind rebuild rights "run with the land" and that a new owner could use the Municipal Code benefits. That form covers Woolsey properties only, and I found no Palisades-specific City ruling on whether a post-fire buyer inherits like-for-like rights. The Municipal Code section is written around "any structure" and its location, height and deadlines, not around who owned it when it burned. Because of that gap, buyers commonly get parcel-specific written confirmation from the City before closing.
The clocks run longer than the rumor
Some buyers assume there is a two-year rebuild cliff around January 2027. That two-year window comes from the City's older Woolsey Fire materials. Under Malibu Municipal Code §17.60.020(C), the reconstruction application "must be initiated with the city within six years" of the damage, and the building permit must be obtained within eight. For a structure destroyed January 7, 2025, that means January 7, 2031 for the application and January 7, 2033 for the permit. The Planning Commission can grant extensions on a showing of unusual circumstances and undue hardship, capped at nine years total for applications and eleven for permits.
The fee waiver has its own, earlier schedule. As published by the City, waiver applications are due by 4 p.m. on June 30, 2028, required planning applications must be deemed complete by that same date, and building permits must be obtained by December 30, 2030. A seller holding a lot for the original owner's waiver is working against those dates. A buyer who will never qualify is working against the longer code dates.
What 2026 prices say about the envelope
The few reported Eastern Malibu deals from earlier this year show buyers pricing these factors in. These are individual transactions from the first half of 2026, not a current market average.
The Real Deal reported on April 17, 2026 that 3903 Carbon Canyon Road, a burned 3.25-acre estate site, sold for $6.5 million. The New York Post reported it as an all-cash sale after an $11.99 million ask the previous October, to a buyer planning a personal home. In February 2026, The Malibu Times reported a burned La Costa Beach parcel listed at $4.37 million, down from $4.95 million.
The largest buyer remains hard to pin down. The Real Deal reported on July 31, 2026 that the buyers had spent $111 million on 16 burned Malibu lots for prefab luxury homes. The New York Post's January 2026 account of the same 16 lots put the total at "well over $65 million." In that report, a City spokesperson said Malibu had received no building permit applications or formal proposals from the buyers. The two outlets' totals don't match, and that filing status dates from January.
A few direct questions
Can a new owner still use like-for-like plus 10%? The code and the Coastal Act exemption are written around the structure and the property, not the original owner. The City's Woolsey Fire form said rebuild rights ran with the land, but I found no Palisades-specific ruling, so parcel-level confirmation is standard.
Does the state's emergency relief depend on who owns the lot? Executive Order N-4-25 describes its CEQA and Coastal Act relief by reference to qualifying properties and replacement structures within same-location and 110% limits. It does not state an original-owner test.
Can a seller's permit-ready plans be reused? The plans can carry real value. Revisions are charged at the City's adopted fee schedule and are excluded from the waiver program. On any parcel that had a waiver, the reimbursement terms above apply.
Bill and Daniel Moss help buyers check a burned lot's records before an offer: the Assessor file, the permit history, any recorded fee-waiver affidavit and how much of the 10% is still available. If you are looking at a lot between Carbon Canyon and Las Flores, Daniel Moss can go through its records with you before you commit. Contact Us.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.