What are my Local Laws? (Los Angeles area)

City and county governments make “local laws” (called “ordinances” or “municipal laws”) on a variety of issues such as parking, rent control, noise restrictions, local taxes, pets, homeowner duties, and more. These are in addition to state and federal laws. For more on this, see Where do Laws Come From? on our Law Basics page.

If you live in a incorporated city (“municipality”), your local laws are mostly created by the city. But if you live in an unincorporated area within L.A. County, you are subject to the L.A. County Municipal Code. See more about this at What City am I in?

Law Soup LA provides information on some of the most important laws in some select cities (particularly the city of Los Angeles). But we can’t possibly cover every law in all 88 cities (+ unincorporated county) in Los Angeles County!

Below you can find and browse your city’s “municipal code” (aka “code of ordinances”), which is the collection of laws passed by your city council that are currently in force. For example, the Los Angeles City Municipal Code contains the currently effective laws passed by the Los Angeles City Council.

How do I know what city I am in?

Check out our page “What City am I in?” for more

What if I don’t see my city?

You may be thinking of your neighborhood as a city when in fact it’s not. For example, Studio City and Century City are not actually cities! They are part of the city of Los Angeles. See What City am I in?

Here are the municipal codes for most of the cities in and around LA County