In City of West Hollywood v. Beverly Towers, Inc. (1991) 52 Cal. 3d 1184, the city passed an ordinance requiring a conditional use permit for the conversion of apartments into condominiums. The defendants contended they were exempt from the ordinance because, at the time the ordinance was passed, they had secured final subdivision map approval and permission from the Department of Real Estate to sell individual units as condominiums. ( Id. at p. 1187.) Our Supreme Court concluded that defendants were exempt from the ordinance because the defendants had completed all the steps required before they could sell condominium units. Because they had the right to sell the units, the court found that the city could not impose additional conditions on the sale. ( Id. at p. 1190.) The court said: "Under the statutory definition of a condominium, therefore, an apartment building is not converted into a condominium project until at least one unit has been conveyed, even if the owner has obtained all the governmental approvals and recorded all the documents necessary to subdivide and sell individual apartments as condominiums. The City concedes that once defendants sell a unit, the conversion is complete and the newly enacted regulations may not be enforced." (Ibid.) The court therefore found the decisive date was the date the developer secures final subdivision map approval and permission from the Department of Real Estate to sell units. (Id. at p. 1191.)