Contracting in California without a License
Running a contracting business?
If so, having a contractor’s license is necessary. If it expires (or worse, you lack one), you can be convicted for a misdemeanor.
Below, well discuss how lacking a valid license is prosecuted in California. Well also discuss the best course of action if youre facing charges.
What Make it a Crime?
Lets start by defining a contractor.
In California, a contractor is someone who performs a building job. That includes the workers, and those managing the task.
Contracting jobs include construction, wrecks/demolishes, moving/improving, and repairing or altering property.
And property includes any structural project that develops, excavates, or improves a building.
Whats Unlicensed Contracting?
The California Business and Professions Code (BPC 7028) defines contracting without a license as:
- Operating with a suspended license, or failing to correct a license
- Providing services with no license issued from the Contractors State License Board
Under the Code, any unlicensed contractor cannot enter a contract.
Consequences of Unlicensed Work.
Unlicensed individuals arent allowed to recover money they might be promised for work. As a result, this makes it a crime that harms the contractor as much as the customer.
Without a proper license, a laborer cannot prove their rights to income in court, and they risk being prosecuted doing so.
Also, licensed contractors arent allowed to hire unlicensed ones for work. Similarly, unlicensed contractors arent allowed to hand out jobs to licensed contractors.
