Maybe you aren't.Next time, perhaps consider adding a statement of your own rather than trying to alter someone else's which is based on their personal experience.

I always pull an interior alterations permit first so I can get started on the day I close.  

General repair OR Interior alterations are the easiest permit to get. 

Basically permits are required here for anything that alters the structural integrity of a buidling.

Landlord shall not be obligated to clean, decorate, alter, repair, or otherwise improve the rental, either before or after the execution of this lease, unless agreed to in writing as part of this Agreement.

However, someone could argue that some of the most life altering inventions were discovered by pure accident or by consistent failures e.g.

Thinking again about the example of LA City above, if it were me, I might try and permit any work on the existing house as an alteration or addition, which would mean that SB-8 would never be triggered.

Because you can literally print paychecks and pay stubs on any printer at home, it’ll be hard to tell unless someone is altering an existing one.

It changes lending and could alter something like insurance, taxes depending on where you live.

I’ve had “professional tenants” use this eviction delay to their advantage in exactly this type of situation: something’s going on that’s pushing them out of their housing, but the story/narrative wrapped around it is altered to look “not that bad.”