Riverside County
Riverside County Building & Safety Dept. (TLMA)
In short
Riverside County Building & Safety Dept. (TLMA) issues 3 permits we publish for Riverside County, last verified 2026-09-27. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sign Permitonly if it applies to you | Riverside County Building & Safety Dept. (TLMA) | $455.64 fixed, Sign (BSN-BSIGN), form 284-035, rev. 12/2022 | one-time | 2026-09-27 |
| Commercial Building Permit — New Building / Tenant Improvement | Riverside County Building & Safety Dept. (TLMA) | $1,034.16–$11,567.28 base deposit fees (form 284-035, rev. 12/2022): Commercial New Building $11,567.28; Tenant Improvement $2,743.30; Change of Tenant — Non Construction $1,034.16 — each a deposit, with S.M.I./Processing/Micro-Film/LMS Surcharge/Green Building fees added on top at application | one-time per project; permit and any certificate of occupancy do not expire once finaled, though an unfinaled permit can lapse if work stalls | 2026-09-27 |
| Demolition Permitonly if it applies to you | Riverside County Building & Safety Dept. (TLMA) | $216.14 fixed (form 284-035, rev. 12/2022) | one-time | 2026-09-27 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
Sign Permit
Installing a commercial sign in the unincorporated area requires a $455.64 fixed Sign permit (fee code BSN-BSIGN) from Building & Safety — a construction permit fee under the December-2022 fee schedule (form 284-035), not a Planning Dept. or Ordinance 671 fee. It is separate from, and much smaller than, Ordinance 671's $7,500 'Outdoor Advertisement Display (Billboard)' fee, which covers large-scale billboards specifically rather than an ordinary storefront sign. This applies only in the unincorporated area, and comes from the same December-2022 schedule as the other Building & Safety fees on this page; confirm current figures with Building & Safety.
Commercial Building Permit — New Building / Tenant Improvement
New commercial construction in the unincorporated area requires an $11,567.28 base deposit fee; a tenant improvement to existing commercial space requires a $2,743.30 base deposit; and a change of tenant with no construction work requires a $1,034.16 base deposit. These are base fees only — Riverside County Building & Safety adds S.M.I., Processing, Micro-Film, LMS Surcharge, and Green Building fees on top at the time of application, so actual total cost is higher than the base figure. The fee schedule (form 284-035) is dated December 2022 and does not appear to be updated annually the way DEH's schedule is; it remains the current published schedule at building.rctlma.org, but confirm current figures with Building & Safety before budgeting a project, since nearly four years have passed since its last confirmed revision. This applies only in the unincorporated area — each of the 28 incorporated cities runs its own building department.
Demolition Permit
Demolishing a structure in the unincorporated area requires a $216.14 fixed permit fee from Building & Safety, per the December-2022 fee schedule (form 284-035) — the same December-2022 document used for the commercial building and sign permit fees on this page; confirm current figures with Building & Safety before budgeting. This applies only in the unincorporated area.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Riverside County
- Phone
- Not verified — use the website
- Website
- building.rctlma.org/
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Building & Safety Fee Schedule, form 284-035, rev. 12/2022 — base permit deposits/fixed fees including Commercial New Building, Tenant Improvement, Change of Tenant, Demolition and Sign (BSN-BSIGN)Riverside County Building & Safety Dept. · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27
Other offices serving Riverside County
- Riverside University Health System – Dept. of Environmental Health
- Riverside County Fire Department, Office of the County Fire Marshal (operated under contract with CAL FIRE)
- Riverside County Planning Department (TLMA)
- Riverside County Sheriff's Department, Specialty Business Licensing
- Riverside County Transportation Dept. / Stormwater Compliance Program (TLMA)
- Riverside County Dept. of Animal Services
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
Industry permit lists that include this agency
California jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.