"Approved Plans shall not be transferred nor sold by a homeowner to a purchaser or transferee." That is section 2.8 of the Beverlywood Homes Association Rules and Regulations, effective May 24, 2021. In practice, a stamped set of drawings for a second story, a basement or a rear addition can lose its approval the day the house changes hands.
This catches buyers off guard more than any other rule here. Many buyers treat a seller's approved plans as part of what they are paying for, a project already through review and ready to permit. The Association's own rules say otherwise:
i. Applications previously submitted by a homeowner must be re-submitted for approval by any new owner or transferee with the appropriate design review fee; ii. The Association has the absolute discretion whether to re-approve, require modification, or reject any resubmitted Application; iii. Changes to building codes, HOA governing documents and/or HOA design review policy may be considered in the Association's decision.
What a set of approved plans is worth on closing day
Each of those three clauses changes how a buyer should value the plans.
Under the first clause, the buyer pays the fee again. The board may waive or reduce resubmittal fees under criteria listed in the same section, but that is up to the board, not something the buyer is owed.
Under the second, the project goes back before the same volunteer committees and board as if it had never been approved, and the outcome can be approval, a list of changes, or a denial.
The third clause lets the standards move as well. Plans approved under one version of the building code or the Association's design policy may be judged against a later one. That matters most for plans that have sat unbuilt for a while.
The Association's applications page also says work must be commissioned by the current owner. A seller's architect, drawings and approval letter are history once the deed records. Under the recorded CC&Rs, every lot owner becomes a member of the Association automatically, and a new owner has to notify the board in writing within five business days of the transfer.
The calendar a buyer starts over
Resubmitting means going through the full review cycle again. Here is the sequence the Association posts:
- Submit the package by the 15th of the month. If the 15th falls on a weekend, the deadline is the following Monday.
- The Design Review Committee, the Landscape Review Committee, or both, review it at their monthly meeting along with a design consultant.
- The committee either recommends the project to the Board of Directors or sends back a list of corrections and suggestions to address before resubmitting. A project the committees deny twice goes to the board for direction.
- The board reviews and votes at its next meeting. Approval, with or without conditions, clears the project to go to the City.
- Construction can begin only once both BHA final approval and City permits are in hand. The final City-stamped plan set goes to the management office within seven days, and any change after final approval goes back through committee and board.
Because review runs monthly, missing the deadline pushes a project back a full month. An incomplete file may be reviewed or held over to the following month, and the rules leave that decision to the board, the officers or the committees. The committees are made up of volunteer members of the community, and the Association encourages homeowners with a project up for board review to attend that meeting.
What the committee measures against
A resubmitted project is judged against the same recorded standards that shaped the original approval. In Beverlywood those standards come from two separate authorities, and passing one does not satisfy the other.
The BHA layer comes from the restated CC&Rs and the Rules and Regulations:
| Element | BHA standard |
|---|---|
| Height | No more than one story above the first floor; 40-foot maximum roof height, with a board exception under stated findings |
| Floor area | Capped at twice the lot's buildable area |
| Front setback | Set lot by lot in Schedule A of the CC&Rs |
| Side setback | Generally at least five feet |
| Street setback walls and fences | Not permitted; hedges capped at three feet; retaining walls limited to 18 inches |
| Fences elsewhere | Six-foot cap |
| Parkway trees | An approved removal generally requires a 60-inch-box replacement of an approved species |
Second stories are where discretion matters most. The rules say a proposed second story cannot be denied just because the houses on either side are one story. They also let the Association require first- or second-floor setbacks, balconies, porches or other changes to the massing. Plans approved for a seller therefore reflect whatever massing the committee accepted at the time, and a new review can ask for something different.
The submittal checklist, dated February 23, 2024, asks for surveys, photos and heights of neighboring homes, current and proposed floor area, elevations, roof heights, and the location and material of every fence and wall. The committee looks at the whole block, not just the lot.
The City layer sits on top of all this. Ordinance 184803 rezoned Beverlywood's R1-1 parcels to R1V2, one of Los Angeles' single-family variation zones. According to the City's ZI 2463, those zones change floor-area ratios, encroachment-plane origin, maximum mass height and lot coverage. The variation regulations took effect March 17, 2017. The exact envelope for any given address is in ZIMAS, and a buyer weighing an addition should look it up before relying on a seller's drawings.
The ADU line in the fee schedule, and the 2025 statute beside it
Resubmitting costs money as well as time. The Association's applications page lists these design review fees:
| Project type | Posted BHA fee |
|---|---|
| New addition, new structure including basement, ADU/JADU or major remodel | $1.25 per square foot, $1,500 minimum |
| Remodel with no added square footage | $750 |
| ADU or JADU with no added square footage | $1,000 |
| Architectural amendment after approval | $750 |
| Landscape and/or hardscape | $500 |
| Front and rear landscape for a new build | $500 on top of the design fee |
| Small project | $300 |
The Association's rules require review of all ADUs and JADUs. They state that City-preapproved ADU plans are not automatically approved by the BHA, prohibit ADU windows facing neighboring properties, and strongly discourage second-story ADUs.
State law has changed since those rules were adopted. California Civil Code section 714.3 voids covenants that effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict ADUs on single-family lots. As amended by AB 130, effective June 30, 2025, it says "reasonable restrictions" for that purpose "shall not include any fees or other financial requirements." The BHA fee page carries a November 2024 date, which predates that amendment.
The state's ADU Handbook, updated March 2026, goes further. It lists excessive review delay, neighbor-veto requirements and non-objective standards as examples of restrictions that may be impermissible. The handbook also describes detached ADU heights of 18 feet in qualifying cases and up to 25 feet for attached ADUs, under statutory conditions. The BHA's 2021 ADU summary states an 800-square-foot, 16-foot limit.
How those two sets of documents apply to a particular Beverlywood ADU is a legal question, not a real estate one. This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. A buyer planning an ADU should go over the statute, the HCD handbook and the Association's documents with their own attorney before relying on any of them.
The board that votes, elected today
Every resubmitted plan, every second-story massing decision and every fee waiver under section 2.8 ends with a vote of the BHA Board of Directors. The Association holds its semi-annual meeting and election today, Thursday, October 29, 2026, and six directors are up for two-year terms. Polls open at 3:30 p.m., general business starts at 5:30 p.m., and results are announced at 6:30 p.m. The meeting also runs on a virtual platform listed in the Association's revised notice dated August 27, 2026.
For a buyer under contract on a home with approved plans, the directors chosen tonight are the board that will see those plans next.
A few direct questions
Does a seller's BHA approval help at all? It shows that a design like this cleared review once, under the standards in place at the time. Under section 2.8, it does not bind the Association when a new owner resubmits.
Can the resubmittal fee be reduced? The board can waive or reduce design review fees for resubmittals under criteria listed in the rules. That decision belongs to the board.
Does a City permit replace BHA approval? No. The rules require both before work begins, and the two reviews apply different standards.
What is free? The posted schedule lists no fee for adding a tree to a parkway or front yard, painting from the pre-approved color palette, or installing BHA pre-approved artificial turf.
If you're considering a Beverlywood home that comes with plans, it helps to know before you set your offer price what those drawings will and won't carry over. Joel + Dorit Cooper can walk you through the Association's review process alongside the property itself. Schedule a Consultation.
