Malibu Moves to Ticket Cars in Private Parking Lots
Shopping center owners could invite the city's parking officers onto their property under a new ordinance.
Holly Bieler · August 26, 2026
Malibu's parking enforcement officers could soon be writing tickets in private shopping center lots, under an ordinance the City Council took up last night.
The ordinance would allow the city to enforce parking rules on private property at the owner's request. Today, the city's officers can only ticket on public streets and in city lots, and the sheriff's department has largely stopped responding to complaints about private lots for lack of resources, staff said.
Several private property owners have already approached the city asking for help, according to staff, and at least a couple of local shopping centers have tried to manage the problem on their own without success.
Some council members flagged a complication. A number of Malibu's private lots were approved on the condition that they remain open to the public, in some cases as beach parking. Council members wanted assurance that an owner couldn't use the new ordinance to have those visitors ticketed for parking somewhere they're legally allowed to be.
"I just want to make sure we don't end up in a conflict," Mayor Bruce Silverstein said.
Staff said owners who opt in would have to post signs before enforcement could begin, and that lots with public-access conditions would be handled case by case.
Malibu would be far from the first city to do this.[California law has allowed cities](https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-veh/division-11/chapter-1/article-3/section-21107-8/) to extend parking enforcement to private lots by ordinance for decades, provided owners get written notice, the council holds a public hearing, and each entrance is posted with a sign at least 17 by 22 inches warning that public parking rules apply.[Half Moon Bay](https://ecode360.com/47029602) has enforced in two of its shopping centers under such an ordinance since 1985, and cities from[Palm Springs](https://ecode360.com/43000109) to[Antioch](https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/antioch/latest/antioch_ca/0-0-0-21121) have similar rules on the books.
It’s unclear when a vote on the ordinance will take place.