8 Earthquake Retrofit Rules California Homeowners Find Out About When They Sell

California carries more than a 99% chance of a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake within the next 30 years, according to the state’s emergency services agency.

Retrofitting a house for that kind of shaking isn’t usually what catches a California seller off guard.

It’s the paperwork behind it.

A document a seller has never seen can surface the moment a buyer’s agent starts asking questions.

These are the earthquake retrofit rules California homeowners find out about when they sell.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Retrofit ordinances, disclosure requirements, and deadlines vary by city and are subject to change.

1. Your Pre-1960 Home’s Retrofit Deficiency Checklist

California’s earthquake retrofit rules single out any home built before 1960, and the state has a clear reason for drawing that line.

The state carries more than a 99% chance of a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake within the next 30 years, according to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES).

A seller of a pre-1960 home with one to four units has to complete an earthquake hazards checklist before the sale closes.

State law requires a copy of the Homeowner’s Guide to Earthquake Safety to go along with it.

The checklist asks about retrofit gaps: Missing anchor bolts, unbraced cripple walls, an unstrapped water heater.

Many sellers have never seen the checklist before their agent hands it to them.

An owner who bolted the house decades ago and never kept a receipt still has to answer honestly, based only on what they know.

2. Unpermitted Retrofit Work on Your Disclosure

Did the retrofit work on this house ever get a permit?

That’s one of the questions on California’s statewide disclosure form, and it trips up sellers who assumed a repair this responsible wouldn’t need paperwork.

The question covers foundation bolts and cripple-wall bracing exactly like it covers a converted garage.

A homeowner who paid a handyman to bolt the house to its foundation in the 1990s has to check that box now, permit or no permit.

The rule carries no exception for good intentions.

So does a buyer who purchased a house with the work already done and never thought to ask about paperwork.

An unpermitted retrofit isn’t automatically a dealbreaker.

It’s still a conversation nobody plans to have about a repair meant to make the house safer in the first place.

3. San Francisco’s Mandatory 3R Report

San Francisco’s housing code makes it unlawful to sell a residential building without first handing the buyer a Report of Residential Building Record.

Everyone calls it a 3R report.

The Department of Building Inspection compiles it from city records, and among the required fields is the property’s soft-story retrofit program status.

An owner who assumed nobody would check finds out otherwise the moment escrow requests the report.

The report costs money.

It also takes over a week to arrive, so order it early, or the closing date waits on it.

4. Los Angeles’ Order to Comply

A title company or a buyer’s agent runs a routine earthquake retrofit check on almost every Los Angeles sale: The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety’s (LADBS) public property records.

Los Angeles’ Order to Comply shows up there, and it follows the building, not just the owner who received it.

The order comes from Ordinance 183893, part of one of the largest soft-story retrofit programs in the state.

It carries three deadlines counted from the day the order arrives: Two years to submit retrofit or demolition plans, three and a half years to pull a permit, seven years to finish construction.

The earliest orders went out in 2016, so their clocks have already run out.

A seller who inherited one of those unresolved orders, or never realized a tuck-under-parking building qualified in the first place, finds out the hard way.

5. Santa Monica’s Certificate of Completion

Santa Monica runs its own Seismic Retrofit Program, adopted in 2017, and the city’s records only call a building compliant once one document exists.

That’s the Certificate of Completion of Seismic Retrofit Work.

Nothing else counts.

The city issues that certificate only after its own inspectors sign off on the finished retrofit, and it’s what updates the property’s status in Santa Monica’s records from flagged to cleared.

An owner who paid for the work years ago but never closed the loop with a final inspection is still showing up as unresolved.

A listing agent runs into that gap fast.

6. Berkeley’s Transfer Tax Rebate Clock

Berkeley runs a strict filing clock on earthquake retrofit work that many sellers never hear about until it’s too late.

The city’s transfer tax rebate, under Berkeley Municipal Code 7.52.060, refunds up to a third of the city’s base 1.5% real estate transfer tax for qualifying seismic upgrades.

Foundation bolting, cripple-wall bracing, and removing an unreinforced masonry chimney all qualify.

The application has to be filed within one year of the date the transfer document is recorded.

Miss that window and the rebate is gone, even for retrofit work finished years before the sale.

A buyer who inherits unfinished retrofit work can file for the same rebate once they complete it themselves, on their own one-year clock.

Sellers who retrofitted a decade ago rarely think to check whether an old receipt still qualifies before that clock runs out.

7. Your Address on a Public Retrofit List

West Hollywood posts its entire earthquake retrofit survey as public open data, address by address, and any buyer’s agent can look up a property before an offer goes in.

The city’s ordinance gives owners five years from their notification date to finish construction.

The listing itself never comes down.

Oakland runs the same kind of public list for its own soft-story ordinance, and keeps it current: The city has reposted an updated version every year, with the newest one dated 2026.

A seller who assumed a retrofit notice from years back was old news forgets that a buyer’s agent can look the address up in minutes, long before anyone sits down to negotiate.

8. Earthquake Brace and Bolt Grant Window

The Earthquake Brace and Bolt grant surfaces at the negotiating table more often than the closing table.

A buyer’s inspection report flags a foundation that was never bolted down, and the buyer asks the seller to fix it or credit the cost at closing.

A seller trying to cover that cost turns to the state’s grant program, which covers up to $3,000 toward bolting a house to its foundation, with an additional $7,000 available to income-eligible households.

Registration only opens for a few weeks a year, and only in ZIP codes the state has flagged for risk.

More than 1,100 ZIP codes statewide qualify.