If you are considering selling your home in 2026, now is a good time to get your permits are in order. The process for obtaining permits in San Rafael is no longer as streamlined as it was in the past. Previously you could show up in the building department on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, a plan checker would look at your plans, make any revisions with a red pen, and you were good to go. You just needed to make any recommended changes and call for a final inspection. Now it’s not so simple.
Plan checks are no longer done in-house, they are sent to a firm down in San Diego to review. It seems like the response time can be several weeks or more. An agent I know applied for a bathroom remodel permit on 9/26/25, and it took 26 days before the plan checker got around to giving the okay. I can just imagine a festering pile of files on the plan checker’s desk, growing larger and more daunting by the day.
I recently closed escrow on 555 Wisteria Way. We had to get a permit for a nice little 75 sq ft shed that was added on, with a sink and lighting. My clients had a retired architect make a drawing of the shed, but that wasn’t good enough for the plan checker, who took his time responding.
Our plans were submitted on 8/4/25. On 8/25/25 a letter was attached to the permit online stating that they wanted engineering specs with a foundation plan, framing plan and structural calculations. I don’t know if that letter was ever even received or sent out, we I never received it. I was going online to check for the permit progress, and the permit always said, “Under Review.” Only after we accepted an offer on 9/8/25 did I think to drill down in the permit, where I discovered a letter attached to the file with the request for more information.
The contractor who built the shed was able to quickly get his architect and engineer on the situation, and on 9/10/25 we submitted everything the plan checker seemed to want. Two weeks later A letter was attached to the account from the plan checker, asking a series of questions and wanting revisions to the plans. Fortunately, I was drilling down daily into the “Under Review” and I saw the plan checkers response on 9/25/25 and was able to get it to the contractor.
On 10/1/25 we uploaded the revised plans, in addition to the answers to the questions. Finally, on 10/13/25 the plans were approved and on 10/15/25 we were able to finalize the permit and then close the escrow. The odyssey took nearly two and a half months, for a small shed. Each time we submitted plans, the seller had to pay about $450 dollars in plan check fees. That would be the insult on top of the injury.
I once had a client who called the permit process a ‘tax for leaving San Rafael’. San Rafael, unlike all the other cities in Marin, charges an actual a tax on home sales. They really know how to get you. If you are planning on leaving in 2026, there’s no better time to start working on your permits. If you need help with the process, or don’t know where to start, please feel free to reach out to me. I can’t guarantee we’ll get the permits done quickly, but they will get done, for the city’s price.
One final word on this matter, the county also takes its pound of flesh when you pull permits. They increase your property tax. Like I said, they know how to get you.