How to Legally Work from Home in California | Home Occupation Permit | Zoning | Insurance

Thanks for your excellent and concise videos. I am starting a small business from home. And it's very helpful to find a trustworthy legal resource for working class folks, who cannot yet afford any legal fees. Please keep up the good work.

Best regards.

Very helpful info thanks

Thank you for great information. I do have a question? we opened a retail online business and the county of San Bernardino sent us information that our business should be published in the newspaper. It also says in the letter that the county cannot give you legal advice if we need to publish or not. So since we are NOT dealing with clients and it’s an online business is it necessary to pay the $45 fee to have it published on the newspaper or basically it doesn’t really matter and just pay for it?

Please I need a video about how to get wholesale permit.

It's necessary to start to buy goods without sales tax.

It feels so complicated to be able to get this. Like for instance I’m working on opening a business on selling cosmetics online. It’s all going to be e-commerce. Is it normal that they want to do a home inspection for the home occupation license? And do you know other than home occupation and business permit if there’s something else I’ll need to have to operate that?

Why is a home occupation permit even needed if you are not formally doing business in your home. For example, a landscaper who just has their tools advertises online only and no one comes to their home or apartment. Like a contractor.

I recently decided to start a handcraft leather goods business from home and found out that my city does not allow "handcraft" business activities per their home occupation permit clause. Would it be futile to negotiate with the city government about this? Great video and thank you very much for your time!

Im a renter, are the homeowners financially responsible for anything regarding my home business? I'm just consulting thats it

I live on a utility route, which is surrounded by businesses in an apartment. Not to worried :)

Thank you for sharing valuable information. My business is about 1 month old, working with herbs (no cannabis) and other environmentally friendly ingredients for home and body wellness (nothing I sell for ingestion). I submitted an application for business license and purchased an LLC (got the website and name too) on my way to obtain a DBA next. I found that there is so much more to learn- I’m in Antioch Ca. and beginning to feel like I should get a lawyer… I haven’t made any $ yet but want to be careful. Can you suggest additional literature to read or in touch with legal aid to help me learn how to move forward? Again, thank you for sharing your knowledge and your time reading my long comment

What kind of zone does Manufacturing Planned Development fall into cuz I want to rent office space to start my e-commerce business and use it as my virtual office address

My landlord never responded to my zoning permission application for an online business. I would only be doing computer work and drawing out of my home.

where would a mobile business fit in here? As a mobile business I think most counties and cities put mobile under home business. Any way around this or suggestions with this business situation? Or is it not really an issue? thanks!

I do handyman repairs just got my llc but I rent how do I get a home occupancy permit…

What if I work remotely, but not from my home. I work from anywhere I feel that day… a cafe, etc? Would I still need to register my home?

Hello 👋. I want to get a business license for my home illustration business (no clients coming, no employees). I took a look at the Home Occupation License for my city, and it has no signature space at all for a landlord to sign. Will I still need a landlord signature or will the city contact my landlord about it?

Hi, I don't know if you will see this comment since the video is 2yrs old, but I'm hoping you do. I'm trying to start a side gig doing portraits or headshots out of my home and is how I ran into this video. I emailed my city after watching this, Victorville CA, and ask which Business License I would need to apply for, my guess was Services. However they replied letting me know this "The type of business license you apply for will be based on the location you are listing on the business license, such as if you are planning to use your home address for the business license you would apply for a home based business license, however, please be advised customer are never permitted to come to the home, so when applying for the business license in the description you need to specify how you will service customers." So am I out of luck trying to have 1 customer a time in my home to do headshots? Any recommendations? Thanks in advance.

We live in this home. And the People before us use to have a home occupancy permit but they moved like a month ago. And the city comes to ask if they can inspect or talk to the owner of the company

Thank you for this video! But my landlord won’t sign…. I don’t even really need to work from home. I sell my digital art online and that’s not necessarily from home. Plus my business address is a virtual one that’s outside the city I live. 🥲 I just need my business license. What can I do?

I have my sellers permit & resale certificate ... I’m literally only selling my clothing online via Shopify from computer. Is it necessary to have a home occupation permit or any form of business license for strictly online sales? I’m located in Burbank, CA..

I feel like it’s not needed but I don’t wanna miss any steps or get in trouble. Any help would be greatly appreciated

I have a Virtual Executive Assistant business that I just started on the side of my regular 9-5 job and the city of Glendale, CA requires a home occupancy permit. Is this something I should really apply for given that my business is entirely virtual and nobody is coming to my home to do any business. They have really frustrating requirements like landlord signature (He's okay with it) but they also need floor plans which I don't have and my landlord doesn't have them easily accessible. I did email the city but am waiting to hear back. Is this something I should just not pursue and hopefully not get in trouble?

I’m filing out a reseller application and it ask for 3 addresses..business physical..additional physical and mailing..I’m working from home but have a virtual address…which address do I put on business physical and additional physical …thanks

Question. I live in an unincorporated area in Santa Ana, CA. From my research, to apply for a business license, I would have to apply at the Orange County Sheriff Dept. not Santa Ana. Is that correct? Do you think applying at the county level is less strict?

would i need "home occupancy permit" if i'm selling print on demand clothes, printing them at home but selling online, so no customers coming in the home but technically running a business from home. and i'm hoping to write off that space in taxes in future too

I appreciate you!!!!

Hey Elizabeth,
When it comes to getting a Home Occupation Permit in San Diego, do i need one for a visual web design studio? like designing websites and stuff? if so, Who should i call regarding that information? Also do you know how much this permit will cost?

Awesome knowledge

Hello, I am trying to make custodial Ira for my children’s aged 5 and 8. My husband owns corporate dental office but I found out that even with family owned business, children under aged 14 cannot work in this area. My husband brings paper work from dental office and works at home so I am trying to setup home office and ask my children to clean home office and shred papers so they have earned income to make custodial ira. In order to do that, should my husband apply home occupation permit and another business license as sole proprietorship? and pay not from dental office but from his own money? Thank you in advance for your time!