Journal ·
What Retrofits Are Required Before You Can Sell a House in Los Angeles?
Short answer: inside the City of Los Angeles, three things attach to the sale itself. You order a Residential Property Report from Building and Safety, you retrofit water fixtures and file a Certificate of Compliance with LADWP, and the building needs a seismic gas shutoff valve. Smoke alarms and carbon monoxide devices are state duties that sit alongside the sale rather than inside it. Cross a city line and the list changes. Burbank runs its own retrofit ordinance with a spending cap, and Glendale has none at all.
What is the 9A report and who has to order it?
The Residential Property Report, known in escrow as the 9A, comes from Municipal Code Section 96.302. The code requires that "prior to entering into an agreement of sale or contracting for an exchange of any residential property, or, where an escrow agreement has been executed in connection therewith, prior to close of escrow, the owner or the owner's agent shall obtain from the Department a report of the Superintendent of Building and a report of the City Engineer."
Two details get missed. It is a records report, not an inspection. Nobody walks the house. It pulls what the city already holds: zoning, permitted occupancy, certificates of occupancy, and whether a house sewer connection permit was ever issued. And it is the seller's obligation, with delivery to the buyer required before the sale agreement.
The report is good for six months, so a listing that falls out of escrow and comes back usually does not need a new one.
A discrepancy worth knowing. The LADBS page states "there is a fee of $70.85 for each report requested." The fee written into the code is still sixty-five dollars, set by an ordinance effective in February 1991 and never amended since. Both are correct in their own register: the code sets a base figure, the department charges the administratively adjusted rate. Budget the LADBS number.
What water fixtures does Los Angeles make you replace before closing?
This one is a real retrofit, and it lives in a different chapter than the 9A. Section 122.03(e) requires that before a sale agreement, or before close of escrow, the owner ensure low-flow showerheads, compliant urinals, and, for residential property since January 1, 1999, low consumption water closets.
The paperwork sits in Section 122.06, which contains three provisions almost nobody mentions.
- Both sides sign. For a one to two family dwelling, the Certificate of Compliance "shall be signed by both the buyer or buyer's agent and the seller or seller's agent."
- It must be filed with LADWP "within 15 days after complying with the provisions of this article."
- Inspection pricing is capped by ordinance. "No person shall charge more than $25 per dwelling unit for inspecting apartment units and certifying compliance with these regulations."
There is also a one year lookback. A valid Certificate of Compliance submitted to LADWP within one year of the date the owner took title exempts the sale.
Does Los Angeles require a seismic gas shutoff valve to sell a house?
Yes, and the citation is Section 94.1217, which sits in the plumbing code rather than with the other sale requirements. Buildings with fuel gas piping must have a seismic gas shutoff valve or excess flow shutoff valve installed prior to a sale agreement or close of escrow.
Valves installed before September 1, 1995 are grandfathered, provided they stay installed and maintained. Separately from sales, alterations valued at more than $10,000 trigger the requirement, as does any work that alters or replaces the gas meter. The valve must carry a thirty year warranty. A receipt with no warranty documentation is a real gap.
Are smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors point of sale requirements?
Partly, and the two are not the same. That is where most published checklists go wrong.
Smoke alarms genuinely attach to transfer. Health and Safety Code 13113.8 requires that a single family dwelling that is sold have an operable smoke alarm, and that the transferor deliver a written statement of compliance.
Carbon monoxide is different. Section 17926 sets owner deadlines that ran on fixed calendar dates, July 1, 2011 for existing single family dwellings and January 1, 2013 for other existing units. It is a standing duty on the owner, not a transfer trigger.
Both statutes cap the remedy hard. Failure to comply does not invalidate the transfer, and the exclusive remedy is actual damages "not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100)." A seller who forgets the smoke alarm statement is exposed to a hundred dollars, not to a rescission.
The plumbing fixture rule people confuse with the LA ordinance is Civil Code 1101.4. That section set a January 1, 2017 retrofit deadline on the property owner statewide and puts a disclosure duty on the seller. It is not a close of escrow condition. The Los Angeles ordinance is what makes it one inside city limits.
What does Burbank require, and how is it different?
Burbank runs its own program under Municipal Code sections 5-3-1501 through 5-3-1504, added by Ordinance No. 3786, adopted July 20, 2010. It contains the single most useful number in this subject: a spending cap. Nothing in the article "shall require an expenditure greater than one tenth of one percent (0.1%) of the selling price in any single sales transaction on retrofit measures required to achieve compliance."
On a $1,200,000 Burbank sale that ceiling is $1,200. Sellers rarely know it exists.
Current standards are stricter than the 2010 text and stricter than LA City's. Per Burbank Water and Power, for sales after December 13, 2022 the thresholds are toilets at no more than 1.28 gallons per flush and showerheads at no more than 1.8 gallons per minute. There is no filing fee, and the certificate is a condition of escrow.
| City of Los Angeles | Burbank | Glendale | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Records report at sale | Yes, 9A | No | No |
| Water retrofit at sale | Yes, LAMC 122.03(e) | Yes, BMC 5-3-1503 | None found in code |
| Toilet standard | Low consumption | 1.28 gpf | Not applicable |
| Showerhead standard | Low-flow per Title 20 | 1.8 gpm | Not applicable |
| Spending cap | None stated | 0.1% of selling price | Not applicable |
| Certificate fee | $70.85 for the 9A | No fee | Not applicable |
Glendale is the surprise. A search of the Glendale Municipal Code turns up no retrofit on resale chapter, no resale certificate, and no sewer lateral inspection tied to transfer. Vendor pages advertising "Glendale point of sale requirements" are describing state law duties, not a Glendale ordinance. Verify with the city rather than buying a package you may not need.
What should a seller do first?
- Confirm the jurisdiction from the parcel, not the mailing address. A Los Angeles mailing address does not mean the City of Los Angeles.
- Inside LA City, order the 9A at listing. It surfaces unpermitted work from city records, and that is a disclosure problem better found in week one.
- Walk the fixtures with the actual numbers in hand before an inspector quotes you.
- Locate or install the seismic gas shutoff valve and find the warranty paper.
- Put the smoke alarm written statement in the file.
- In Burbank, calculate 0.1% of your likely selling price before agreeing to any retrofit bid.
Older multi-unit buildings in Burbank carry a separate deadline structure, covered in the soft-story retrofit article.
Q: Who pays for the 9A report in Los Angeles, the buyer or the seller?
The code puts the obligation on the owner or the owner's agent to obtain the reports and deliver them to the buyer before the sale agreement. Who absorbs the cost is negotiable. The legal duty is the seller's.
Q: Can you sell a house in Los Angeles with unpermitted work?
Yes. The 9A discloses what city records show about permits and certificates of occupancy. It does not block a sale. It puts the information in front of the buyer in writing.
Q: How long does the LA Residential Property Report take?
The code sets no turnaround time. It does set validity: no new report is needed for six months after issuance.
Q: Does Los Angeles require a sewer lateral inspection before sale?
Not an inspection. The City Engineer's portion of the 9A reports whether a house sewer connection permit has been issued. That is a records lookup, and it is a different thing from a camera inspection of the line.
Q: Do these rules apply to unincorporated Los Angeles County?
The county's water conservation rules for unincorporated areas contain no retrofit on sale requirement, and there is no county equivalent of the 9A report. Confirm the parcel, since unincorporated pockets sit against city boundaries across the Valley.
This article is general information about local ordinances and state law, not legal, tax or financial advice. Ordinances are amended and fee schedules change, so confirm current requirements with the relevant city before you list. Call Alla at (818) 699-5367 or use the enquiry form.
More on this market in the North Hollywood area guide.