For a rental apartment building that is not a common-interest development, Health and Safety Code section 17973 requires inspection of qualifying wood-supported exterior elevated elements in buildings containing three or more multifamily dwelling units, first due in 2026 and every six years; retained reports pass to a later buyer. A condominium project with three or more attached multifamily dwellings follows Civil Code section 5551 instead: the association is responsible, the first inspection was due in 2025, and the cycle is nine years.
SB 721 begins at three multifamily dwelling units and only reaches qualifying exterior elevated elements more than six feet above ground that rely substantially on wood or wood-based products for support. Health and Safety Code section 17973(n) excludes common-interest developments.
This six-year owner duty is the rental-apartment path and excludes common-interest developments. A condominium project with three or more attached multifamily dwellings instead follows Civil Code section 5551: the association is responsible, the first inspection was due 1 January 2025, and the cycle is nine years. Those first deadlines do not establish the deadline for newer construction: the statutes instead measure six years from the certificate of occupancy for buildings whose permit applications fall on or after their respective 2019 and 2020 dates. On the SB 721 path, the owner must retain reports for at least two inspection cycles and deliver them to a later buyer. Confirm the property class, qualifying exterior elevated elements, permit and certificate dates, and applicable owner or association report rather than treating an absent document as proof no inspection was required.
- Unit counts
- 3+ units
- Sb721 first deadline
- 2026-01-01
- Sb721 cycle years
- 6
- Sb326 first deadline
- 2025-01-01
- Sb326 cycle years
- 9
In effect since 2019-01-01.