Lot Line Adjustment in Long Beach, CA

Moving a Line Without Creating a Lot

A lot line adjustment shifts the boundary between existing adjoining parcels - land comes off one and is added to the other - without creating any additional parcels. California's Subdivision Map Act exempts adjustments between four or fewer adjoining parcels from the mapping it otherwise requires, provided the local agency approves them, and that agency's review is limited mainly to whether the reconfigured parcels comply with the general plan, any applicable specific or coastal plan, and zoning and building rules. Creating new parcels is a different process: a parcel map for four or fewer, a tract map for five or more.

Why Owners Do It

The most common reason here is to make the record match something already built - a block wall, a driveway or a garage that has sat over the line for decades. In Lakewood and Long Beach neighbors sometimes adjust a line to widen a side yard enough for a backyard ADU to meet its setbacks. On commercial land, owners in Carson and Signal Hill use adjustments to reshape parcels ahead of a sale or redevelopment.

What the Survey Provides

The application needs an exhibit showing the existing and proposed lines with new legal descriptions for each resulting parcel, and that starts with a boundary survey of every parcel involved. The exhibit also shows buildings near the new line so the city can confirm setbacks still work. Once approved, the adjustment takes effect through recorded documents - deeds, and sometimes a Record of Survey - so the new line appears in the public record. If monuments are set on the new line, California law generally requires that survey to be filed with the county surveyor.

Which County, Which City

For parcels in LA County the documents record with the county Registrar-Recorder, and LA County Public Works keeps the survey filings. Seal Beach and Los Alamitos fall under the Orange County Clerk-Recorder and Orange County Surveyor, and each city runs its own review. If either parcel carries a loan, the lender usually has to be involved, and title and ownership questions belong with a real estate attorney or title officer. Where a lender needs the result mapped to title standards, an ALTA/NSPS survey follows the adjustment.

How long does it take? The survey and exhibit are the quicker part. City review and recording set the overall timeline, and they vary by jurisdiction.

Frequently Asked Questions