Deck and Balcony Law Update

This week on the podcast, we are doing a shorty episode as an update to a previous episode (#44) on the Deck and Balcony Law, SB721, for California.  There have been some significant changes in the dates and inspection specifications.

Now before you click away and say that this law doesn’t pertain to you, take a minute to listen and learn what California is doing to protect tenants and condominium owners when it comes to the safety of their decks and balconies.  FYI, Florida has already passed a similar law.

Many states have a law like this on the books and are just working out the details so this might just affect your rental property sooner rather than later.

LINKS

👉Episode 44: Deck and Balcony Safety Beyond SB-721

👉Dr. Balcony, SB721 inspectors for southern California.

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Transcript

Stacie: 0:00

Just because this is a California law, that does not mean that it won't someday be a law in your state. Many other states are working on this same law to protect rental property owners and tenants who live in their units. Florida already has a version of it. So, if you are not a California rental property owner, but are still interested in understanding the importance of this law, which basically states that multifamily rental properties must have all elevated exterior elements where tenants might stand inspected for structural integrity. Then stay tuned.

0:41

Welcome to your landlord resource podcast many moons ago. When I started as a landlord, I was as green as it gets. I may have had my real estate license, but I lack confidence in the hands on experience needed when it came to dealing with tenants, leases, maintenance, and bookkeeping. After many failed attempts, fast forward to today. Kevin and I have doubled our doors and created an organized, professionally operated rental property business. Want to go from overwhelmed to confident? If you're an ambitious landlord or maybe one in the making, join us as we provide strategies and teach actionable steps to help you reach your goals and the lifestyle you desire. All while building a streamlined and profitable rental property business. This is your landlord resource podcast.

Stacie: 1:30

Hey there, everyone. Thanks for tuning in to the Your Landlord Resource Podcast. We are here to support, well, landlords and their journey as rental property owners. Either as self managing landlords, or even if you hand that management off to a professional property management team. And where we, for the most part, focus on those who manage their own properties. All of the information that we discuss is relevant to any, rental is relevant to any rental property owner because regardless of who manages your rentals, you as the owner are responsible for making sure that all laws and regulations are followed correctly. And to be honest, a lot of our content goes beyond property operations and covers the business operations for rental properties. So if you're new here, you're in the right place. This week, we are doing more of a shorty episode. Kevin's here, but not contributing this week so that I can get through the content quickly and efficiently. All right. So this week I'm going to discuss some changes that have been made to the deck and balcony law. And we did a full detailed episode on this earlier this year, but there have been some changes to it as of September, and we thought you guys should know about them. Now I want to make this clear. This deck and balcony law, AKA SB721 for residential multifamily properties, and SB 326 for condo complexes that are located in California is what we are discussing today. And I've said this before, but just because this is a California law, that does not mean that it won't someday be a law in your state. Many other states are working on this same law to protect rental property owners and tenants who live in their units. Florida already has a version of it. So, if you are not a California rental property owner, but are still interested in understanding the importance of this law, which basically states that multifamily rental properties must have all elevated exterior elements where tenants might stand inspected for structural integrity. Then stay tuned. That means decks, balconies, stairways, and walkways that are higher than six feet off the ground, all those must be inspected and have faulty areas fixed and remedied. But if you'd like to learn more about the specifics of this law, we talk about how it, this affects all rental properties, not just the ones located in California on our previous episode number 44. And you can find that at yourlandlordresource. com forward slash episode 44. And we'll link that in the show notes for you as well. All right, let me briefly go over the deck and balcony law and then discuss where the changes have been made and how they're going to affect California rental property owners. The law came about because back in 2015, a group of college kids were at a party and they were standing on a wood deck, and unfortunately that deck collapsed and I believe six students died as a result of that. The structural integrity of the deck was found inadequate for the load that it had on it. The wood frame had dry rotted and where the property management company did have it in their records of needing maintenance, they failed to perform that maintenance, or at a minimum, mark that deck as unsafe and not allow anyone on there until it had been repaired by the owners. Who, in turn, lost a multi million dollar lawsuit. And that's both the owners and the property management company. This tragedy brought about a nationwide conversation about who is responsible for the safety and structural integrity of these residential buildings. One family member of one of the deceased students decided to move forward with getting some sort of legislative action and Senate bill 721, which passed in 2018 is a result of that. Now the bottom line is that all owners are responsible for getting the quote unquote exterior elevated elements of their rental properties, again this is only for your three units or more, getting those decks and balconies, porches, stairways, and walkways that are higher than six feet tall inspected. And have any issues found and repaired by January 1st, 2025. So at this point, you guys, it's less than a month away. And this is what the original law stated. However, on September 28th of 2024, our governor approved bill AB 2579 to extend that deadline to January 1 of 2026. I can hear a lot of big sighs going out there, like you're lucky. So if you want a triplex or more in the state of California with any exterior elevated elements that are over six feet tall and you have not completed your inspection yet, you can take a breath. You're okay for the time being. Now the reason that they had to give this extension is because the initial law was very limited as to who could actually perform the inspections. And it wasn't so much that it was a limit, it just was very hard to get these people over to your place to get it done. So it had to be a licensed architect, engineer, a building contractor, or a building inspector who could complete those inspections. And that included all the testing. But the same person who did the inspections could not perform any other repairs that may be found. So people like us who have a general contractor on our team, we could not use Jim our general contractor to do the inspection if we also wanted him to fix the issues. And that has now changed. The same general contractor who completes the inspection can now make any repairs needed, which is very helpful in moving this process along for those of you who might've procrastinated. The thing is inspections from a professional company can cost anywhere from$600 to$2500 or even more, depending on the size of the rental property and how many exterior elevated elements that the property has. So, initially, the law gave California rental property owners six years to get this all done. And of course, COVID happened right smack in the middle of those six years, but because many owners who likely know that their property will need some repairs made have waited to get their inspections done either because they didn't have the money to complete the project, or maybe they didn't want to pay the large fee that some of these inspection companies were charging. Maybe they don't know a structural engineer or a building inspector to do the initial inspection. But regardless, the same general contractor who does the inspection can now also complete the work. Now, if you have had your inspections done and remedied any issues, you're still good. You are not required to do any additional inspections for six years past the date of your initial inspection. So if you got it done in 2019, right after the law was passed, you will have to do another inspection in 2025. All right, with all of that said, inspection reports must include the condition of the exterior elevated elements, expectations of the projected service life, recommendations of additional inspections, like destructive testing. So that would be like cantilever framing, which is usually covered in concealed framing. That must be opened up to be properly inspected. And then also include photos of any issues found. And that shouldn't be an issue for most contractors, right? So you guys, did you catch the part about if you have exterior elevated elements that are cantilevered or concealed, that the wall must be open to properly inspect them? So, cantilevered is where the joists that support the floor of the deck protrude out from inside the home and are likely covered with stucco or brick or siding. In this case, it might be worth your while to pay a professional deck inspector. Because where most general contractors can find a way to access those joints inside the wall, they likely are going to have to remove stucco or bricks or cut into the siding to make sure that those joists are not dry rotted inside the wall, where it cannot be seen. The reason these companies charge so much is because they have the tools to do these inspections with very little damage to the property. So Kevin and I were just at a conference and we heard a gentleman speak who worked for a company called Dr. Balcony. He was explaining that they have a small little camera where they drill a tiny little hole under each of the joists, where they come out of the wall, and they can view, record, and take photos of the condition of the joists inside the wall, making repairs of those small holes post inspection very easy. Now, those cameras are pretty expensive and it's not likely that many GCs or structural engineers have those in their toolbox to do your inspections in a non invasive way. There are other tools like moisture meters that can be used, but again, most contractors don't own those unless all they do are inspections of wood elements. So if you don't think that there's anything wrong with your decks and you have the money to hire these guys so that you can keep your after inspection repairs to a minimum, then go for it. No association with them. We just wanted to share what we say that they can do. If you're a general contractor who owns a multi family rental property and you want to do your own inspection, the law does not include language that prohibits a qualified GC from performing inspection of their own property. However, this leads me to a very important point that I want to make. Where this law is a state law, there are several cities and counties within California that have their very own version of SB 721. And those ordinances supersede what the law says on state level. So off the top of my head, if you own multifamily rentals in San Francisco, Berkeley, or Los Angeles, your deck and balcony law is different from the state law SB721. So we highly recommend that if you have not done your inspection and before you take that big sigh of relief, that you check with your city and county to see if they have their own deck and balcony ordinance that you must abide by. Because they may not have followed suit with the state and extended out the drop dead inspection date of January 1 of 2026. And they may not allow the same general contractor that inspects your exterior elements to do the work. The last thing I want to say is that the penalty for noncompliance is steep, like$500 bucks a day. And that's not just the inspection. Once it rolls past January 1 of 2026, and you have yet to do the inspection and any needed repairs, if your city asks for proof of compliance and it has not been completed, you're looking at paying way more than what it's going to cost for that inspection or the work to be completed. And I'm not here to say that cities and counties are going to be out there on January 2nd, 2026 requesting those inspection reports. But if I had to guess ones that have a formal rental housing department like Sacramento, they will request it at some point so that they can collect those penalty fees. So, that's the update on the California Deck and Balcony Law, SB 721. And if you own rentals with these exterior elevated elements, anywhere other than California, check out your state and local authorities to see if there is a law in the books for something similar to this one. Florida has already passed one. And where it is not as extensive as the one in California, there is a law to abide by there as well. These deck collapses have not only happened in California. There have been deck collapses in Chicago and New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Arkansas with nearly 40 deaths associated with them. And even if I sound like a broken record here. Landlords, regardless of if you own one or 50 rental properties that have any elevated outdoor living space or walkway, please do yourself a favor and get it inspected as part of your regular preventative maintenance procedures. Like at least every five to seven years. There is no excuse for letting this go or tabling it until a later date. You know, this isn't like a roof that if it leaks, it's an inconvenience. This is a human safety issue, one that could result in a horrible legal battle if someone is injured or worse. All right, you guys, that was our shorty episode today. If you like what you hear on this podcast, would you do us a favor and subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast platform? That way our episodes will be there waiting for you each week so you can enjoy all that we have to say about owning and self managing rental properties. And we would be super appreciative if you could leave us a kind review. Those reviews really help other landlords, like you, know that we are the real deal. We have links to the review sites in our show notes. Now, if you have any questions or you want to suggest a subject for our podcast, you can text us at 650 489 4447. If you go ahead and text us, you're going to need to leave your email there so that we can respond because that's a one way text only. Or you can email us directly at stacie@yourlandlordresource.com. That's Stacie with an IE or kevin@yourlandlordresource.com. We want you to feel free to download any of the forms or templates that we offer. And if you wanna sign up for our free newsletter, you can access those in the show notes as well. And if you'd like to follow along on the daily, you can find us on Instagram and Facebook. And we have a private Facebook group as well. All the links are in our show notes. Thanks again for taking the time out of your day to listen to our podcast. And until next time, you've got this landlords.