Journal ·
Burbank Retrofit Upon Resale: The Water Certificate Seller and Buyer Both Sign
Every building in Burbank served by the city, house, condominium, shop or warehouse, has to meet seven water-use standards before it changes hands, and the seller certifies it on a one-page form called the Retrofit Upon Resale Certificate of Compliance. The rule sits in Ordinance No. 3786, adopted July 20, 2010 and amended December 13, 2022. There is no fee and no city inspection. What surprises people is the signature block: the certificate form requires the buyer to sign it as well as the seller, and a toilet that satisfies California law can still fail the Burbank standard.
What is the Retrofit Upon Resale Certificate of Compliance?
Burbank Water and Power administers the requirement for the City. Its Retrofit Upon Resale page states that for all new sales after December 13, 2022, both the seller and the buyer of the property certify that the property meets or exceeds the published water use standards.
Two things follow from the ordinance text that agents miss. Compliance is a condition of escrow, which means the sale is contingent on completing and filing the certificate, not merely on promising to. And the duty to comply belongs to the seller or transferor, even though the buyer signs the same page.
The form itself asks for the owner's name, the property address, the Assessor's Parcel Number, the year the property was built, the total number of plumbing fixtures on the property, and how many of each type were replaced to meet the requirement. Burbank Water and Power states that incomplete certificates will be returned, which in a short escrow matters more than the form suggests.
Which properties does Ordinance No. 3786 cover?
All residential, commercial and industrial buildings served by the City at the time of property resale. That phrasing is broader than most point of sale rules in the area, which stop at single-family houses and small residential income properties. A Burbank duplex, a Magnolia Boulevard storefront and an industrial building near the airport all sit inside the same ordinance.
Two limits are worth naming. The rule attaches to resale, so it does not reach a refinance or a transfer that is not a sale. And it reaches buildings served by the City, which is the practical test for parcels near the boundary with Los Angeles, where water and power service is the thing that decides which utility rules apply. That boundary problem is walked through in Burbank Water and Power vs LADWP.
What water standards do the fixtures have to meet?
Seven measures, taken from the ordinance summary printed on the back of the certificate form.
| Fixture | Burbank standard |
|---|---|
| Toilets | 1.28 gallons per flush or less |
| Showerheads | 1.8 gallons per minute or less |
| Bathroom faucet aerators | 1.2 gallons per minute or less |
| Kitchen faucet aerators | Default 1.8 gallons per minute, temporary increase to 2.2 allowed |
| Public or common area bathroom faucet aerators | 0.5 gallons per minute or less |
| Wall-mounted urinals | 0.125 gallons per flush or less |
| Floor-mounted urinals | 0.5 gallons per flush or less |
Two exceptions are written into the same summary and are easy to miss. A seller may keep a noncomplying toilet and install a dual flush toilet conversion kit instead, provided the kit reduces water use to a maximum of 1.28 gallons per flush. And the showerhead standard does not apply to an emergency shower installed for health or safety purposes that cannot safely operate at the maximum flow rate in the current California Plumbing Code, which is the clause that saves a light industrial building with a safety shower on the floor.
Why can a fixture that passes state law still fail in Burbank?
Because the two rules use different numbers. California defines a noncompliant plumbing fixture in Civil Code Section 1101.3, and the thresholds there are looser than Burbank's at every point where the two overlap.
| Fixture | State threshold, Civil Code 1101.3(c) | Burbank threshold, Ordinance 3786 |
|---|---|---|
| Toilet | More than 1.6 gallons per flush is noncompliant | Must not exceed 1.28 gallons per flush |
| Showerhead | More than 2.5 gallons per minute is noncompliant | Must not exceed 1.8 gallons per minute |
| Bathroom faucet | More than 2.2 gallons per minute is noncompliant | Must not exceed 1.2 gallons per minute |
| Urinal | More than 1 gallon per flush is noncompliant | 0.125 wall-mounted, 0.5 floor-mounted |
A house full of 1.6 gallon toilets and 2.5 gallon showerheads is fully compliant with state law and fails the Burbank certificate on both counts. That is the single most common way a Burbank escrow discovers the ordinance late, because the seller reads the state disclosure, sees the word compliant, and assumes the file is closed.
The state duty is also a different kind of duty. Civil Code Section 1101.4 required owners of single-family residential property to replace noncompliant fixtures on or before January 1, 2017, and it obliges a seller to disclose in writing whether any noncompliant fixtures remain. Disclosure is the state remedy. Burbank replaces disclosure with a signed certificate filed with the utility, and makes it a condition of escrow.
Do the seller and the buyer both have to sign?
Yes, and the ordinance says so twice. Signatures from both the property seller and the buyer are required on the form, and a signed copy of the Certificate of Compliance is to be included in the transfer documentation. The ordinance also covers the sale with no agent involved: if the property is sold by the owner without representing agents, the seller provides the buyer with a signed certificate attesting to compliance, and both parties still sign.
A buyer who signs is making a written statement that the fixtures meet the standard on the day of transfer. That is a reason to look at the shower and read the stamp on the base of the toilet during the inspection contingency, well before the signature page arrives.
What does the ordinance require of the real estate agent?
The seller's and buyer's real estate agent, real estate broker or real estate salesperson involved in the transfer must give written notice to the seller and buyer of the requirements of the ordinance before the close of escrow and transfer of title. The duty lands on both sides of the transaction, not only on the listing side.
Few point of sale ordinances in the San Gabriel Valley and the east San Fernando Valley name the licensee directly. Pasadena's presale rules put the duty on the owner, and Glendale has no city presale certificate at all, as set out in Pasadena vs Glendale point of sale requirements. Burbank writes the notice duty into the ordinance itself.
How much does it cost and where is the certificate filed?
There is no cost to process an application. The completed certificate goes to BWP Conservation, Attn: Retrofit Upon Resale, P.O. Box 631, Burbank, CA 91503, or is dropped off at the Burbank Water and Power office at 164 W. Magnolia Blvd. Questions go to BWPConservation@burbankca.gov.
The hardware can also be free. Burbank Water and Power offers free showerheads and faucet aerators for pickup at the Conservation counter in the BWP lobby, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Toilets are the line item that costs money, and the Metropolitan Water District runs rebates on high-efficiency toilets and urinals through SoCal WaterSmart.
When should a Burbank seller start?
Before the listing goes live, because the certificate is a condition of escrow and nobody can count the fixtures from the doorway. A three-bathroom house with original 1960s toilets means three replacements. No permit is needed for that work, but a plumber's schedule and a delivery date are, and both eat calendar days. A commercial building adds urinals and common area faucets to the same list.
Sellers of older Burbank buildings often have a second, larger deadline running at the same time. The soft-story retrofit program has its own clock and its own grant money, covered in Burbank soft-story retrofit deadlines and grants, and the two projects are worth sequencing together rather than discovering in sequence. The broader Los Angeles picture, including the 9A report that Burbank does not use, sits in retrofits required before selling a house in Los Angeles.
Q: Does the Burbank certificate require a city inspection?
No. The program runs on the seller's certification and the buyer's countersignature, with no city visit and no fee.
Q: Does the rule apply to a condominium?
Yes. The ordinance covers all residential, commercial and industrial buildings served by the City at the time of resale.
Q: Can a seller replace only the fixtures that fail?
Yes. The form asks how many toilets, urinals, showerheads and faucet aerators were replaced to meet the requirement, which assumes that complying fixtures stay where they are.
Q: Does a dual flush conversion kit count instead of a new toilet?
Yes, if it reduces the toilet to a maximum of 1.28 gallons per flush. The ordinance allows the kit in lieu of replacement.
This article is general information about a Burbank ordinance and state disclosure law, not legal or plumbing advice. Ordinances and forms change; confirm the current requirement with Burbank Water and Power for the specific parcel and closing date before you rely on it. Call Alla at (818) 699-5367 or use the enquiry form.
More on the city in the Burbank area guide, and on what a sale involves on the selling page.