CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF REAL ESTATE - Disclosure Statement

[mtnelect]

May not really help much. Our disclosure form here in WA has 3 choices - yes, no, and don't know. Most people check don't know. How are you going to prove they knew something. When I bought my last house, the home owner did check NO to "are there any tanks that have contained fuel, oil, chemicals, ...". I was digging in a planting bed and discovered an old buried oil tank. I opened the cap and put a stake in the tank and it had about 6 inches of oil in it. I checked with the gas utility and found the previous owner changed from oil to gas heat about 6 months after buying the place which was about 25 years prior. So obviously he knew the tank was there. I thought about suing him for the cost of mitigating that tank, but I did not. He probably would have said "I forgot about it and thought there were no tanks".

It is best to be stupid when selling a house and say you know how nothing works or how anything was done.

This new amendment to the existing disclosure requirement is geared to work performed without a permit. It's kind of difficult to play dumb on a room addition.

 

[mtnelect]

What about an AS IS CONDITION agreement ?

Further, in this statute the Assembly limited the use of the “As Is” clause as interpreted in Loughrin v. Superior Court. Meaning that although the parties agreed that the property is sold in in its “as is” condition, the clause does not insulate a seller from a misrepresentation contained in the disclosures. In 1993 the Loughrin decision the Court stated that a “knowing and explicit waiver of the benefits of section 1102 et seq. can be effective.” The Assembly, concerned with this decision, later amended the statute and prohibited any waivers under Loughrin.

 

[AC\DC]

A professional what? Maybe a professional home inspector? (There are plenty of good ones out there, mostly retired contractors who know their limits.)

Back to the disclosures- I was happy to receive a required list of all the known underground tanks within half a mile from the property; wasn't expecting it but it's part of the package (there were a lot). There was also a disclosure if anyone has died in the house and if there are any utility easements. A sewer line inspection is required. What the issue with having all of that?

How about an Electrian, Roofer, Plumber, Hvac all trades for a home. Home inspectors are not professional and retired contractors are the biggest morons I come across.
Your home your biggest investment. Cost several thousand dollars. Your spending 300+ and can't afford to know everything wrong with you home You're a moron.

Cheap as homeboys and lazy relators take a 800+1200 inspection report from a guy that says " Seek qualified Professional" very relevant to his post. Its these dumb inspection report that end up backfiring on homeowner.

 

[suemarkp]

This new amendment to the existing disclosure requirement is geared to work performed without a permit. It's kind of difficult to play dumb on a room addition.

There will still be plenty of unpermitted electrical and plumbing mods. It is harder now days with date coded wires and pipes. Even room additions on my house were sketchy as to which previous owner did them and exactly when. Google map histories will make that easier to pin down. But the electrical permits here in WA give you wiggle room. A service or feeder gets you some branch circuits included. You won't know which ones, so it is difficult to know if something was added or not. And the inspector didn't really inspect much on my last altered service with additional feeder. So inspections may only find the gross problems.

Biggest problem at my house is everything hidden behind walls. When I open one up, I know I'm going to find some problem.

 

[letgomywago]

There will still be plenty of unpermitted electrical and plumbing mods. It is harder now days with date coded wires and pipes. Even room additions on my house were sketchy as to which previous owner did them and exactly when. Google map histories will make that easier to pin down. But the electrical permits here in WA give you wiggle room. A service or feeder gets you some branch circuits included. You won't know which ones, so it is difficult to know if something was added or not. And the inspector didn't really inspect much on my last altered service with additional feeder. So inspections may only find the gross problems.

Biggest problem at my house is everything hidden behind walls. When I open one up, I know I'm going to find some problem.

I actually like how lni handles permitting and inspections. Even the city's in WA are very good to deal with. I'm in Oregon now and it's not at all organized and systematic like WA is. Lots of independent people saying it's this way or that way but not written and enforced well. What I've seen from CA on inspection forums is that each local ahj lives in its own world and won't look beyond their walls

 

[mtnelect]

I made a mistake ... The new amendment on Real Estate disclosure(s) in California, does not take effect until July 1, 2024. You still have time to sell you home without disclosing that your home improvement(s) were done without a permit.

 

[ramsy]

You still have time to sell your (train wreck) without disclosing (defects) without a permit.

Even the crickets stopped talking

 

[Jraef]

NY has had one for years. Meaningless. No teeth, a typical homeowner has not the knowledge nor expertise to make a substantial informed statement as to material defects. According legal proceedings.

Where it comes up most often is that in the disclosure, you must state whether all work (over some value, such as $500 here) that YOU have had done in your time of ownership was done with permits and inspections. If you answer Yes and it comes out later in an investigation after an incident that you lied, you can be sued and charged with fraud. If there is no incident, there is no need for an investigation so nobody knows. So it’s not totally “toothless”, but like OSHA, only if there is a problem worthy of investigating (usually by an insurance company). This is what I tell people who are offered a “lower price without a permit”, which happens more often lately. It’s a risk I personally wouldn’t take.

 

[Jraef]

I made a mistake ... The new amendment on Real Estate disclosure(s) in California, does not take effect until July 1, 2024. You still have time to sell you home without disclosing that your home improvement(s) were done without a permit.

I bought my house here (SF Bay Area) in 1997, I had that in the disclosure statement. I’m not sure what may have changed, maybe it was a local requirement, not state? I also had to sign a disclosure statement like that when I sold my house in Seattle in 2000. I was nervous about that one because I did my own replacement of K&T wiring (house built in 1910) and although I did it to Code at the time, I didn’t pull a permit and have in inspected. Statute of limitations has expired now, so I’m free…

 

[mtnelect]

Another common consequence of on non-disclosure is appraisals. Depending on the appraisal companies' policy, "exposure to liability". I have personally witnessed exclusions of a room addition built without a permit. Also, walls being opened up to exposed building code violation(s).

 

[mtnelect]

Also, in the State of California, the "Statue of Limitations" is 4 years from the date it was discovered, not when it was constructed.

 

[mtnelect]

The bottom line: In California you can sue a ham sandwich.

 

[zbang]

In every state, you can sue the sandwich but it'll probably be dismissed for lack of standing. Remember that in civil law, the only barriers to suing someone are the filing fees and your lawyer's ethics (they're supposed to tell you that it's a stupid action).