The old-house items California requires at sale, even when you sell as-is
You can sell an older California house as-is and skip every repair, and you'll still sign a small stack of forms about its condition. A short list of rules follows nearly every older house to closing, and several of them turn on a single date: the year it was built.
I'm not a lawyer. For 24 years I was the inspector who noticed when these items were missing, and I watched plenty of escrow officers chasing signatures in the final week. Below is each rule, where it sits in the code, and what it means when you don't fix anything.
The list on one page
| Item | Law | What it asks | If you sell as-is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water heater bracing | Health and Safety Code 19211 | Water heaters braced, anchored or strapped against earthquakes; seller certifies in writing | You still sign the certification, so you may as well strap it |
| Smoke alarm | Health and Safety Code 13113.8 | An operable smoke alarm in a single-family home that's sold; written statement from the seller | Statement still required; a missing alarm can't undo the sale, and damages are capped at $100 |
| Carbon monoxide devices | Health and Safety Code 17926 | Owners of homes with a fuel-burning appliance, fireplace or attached garage had to install them by July 1, 2011 | It's an owner duty whether or not you sell; same $100 cap and no voiding the sale |
| Water-conserving fixtures | Civil Code 1101.1 and following | Houses built on or before January 1, 1994: old fixtures replaced by January 1, 2017, and disclosed in writing | You can sell with old toilets in place, but you disclose the rule and whether they're there |
| Lead-based paint | 40 CFR 745, subpart F | Housing built before 1978: pamphlet, known lead disclosed, warning statement, a 10-day inspection window | No testing or removal required; the forms are |
| Transfer Disclosure Statement | Civil Code 1102 and following | The seller's written report on the condition of the property | Can't be waived; as-is changes nothing |
| Earthquake booklet | Government Code 8897.1 | Wood-frame houses of one to four units built before January 1, 1960: give the guide, disclose known weak spots | Still required |
- 1978
- houses built before this year get the federal lead paint forms
- Jan. 1, 1994
- houses built on or before this date carry the plumbing fixture disclosure
- 10 days
- the buyer's default window for a lead inspection, changeable in writing
- $100
- cap on damages for a missing smoke or CO alarm at transfer
Source: 40 CFR 745.103 and 745.110, California Civil Code 1101.2, Health and Safety Code 13113.8 and 17926.
Water heater: strap it, then sign for it
Health and Safety Code 19211 says all residential water heaters, new or existing, "shall be braced, anchored, or strapped to resist falling or horizontal displacement due to earthquake motion." It covers standard heaters up to 120 gallons where a pre-made strapping kit is available, which describes the ordinary tank in a garage or closet.
The part sellers forget is subsection (b). The seller has to certify to the buyer, in writing, that the heater complies. That certification can ride along in the Transfer Disclosure Statement or the purchase contract. So even in an as-is sale you'll be asked to put your name to it.
It was the write-up I made more than any other. One loose strap, or a band of plumber's tape somebody wrapped around the tank decades ago. It's cheap to fix. If you fix one thing before you sell, make it this.
Smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms
Health and Safety Code 13113.8 has required an operable smoke alarm in every single-family home sold since January 1, 1986. "Single-family" here includes duplexes. The seller hands over a written statement saying the house complies, either in the deposit receipt, an addendum or a separate document.
The law is also clear about what happens if you don't. A sale can't be invalidated over it, and the buyer's remedy is actual damages up to $100. Probate sales, trust administration sales and foreclosures are exempt from the statement.
Carbon monoxide is a separate rule. Health and Safety Code 17926 required owners of existing single-family homes with a fossil-fuel heater or appliance, a fireplace or an attached garage to install an approved carbon monoxide device by July 1, 2011. A gas furnace alone puts a house in that group. A violation is an infraction with a fine of up to $200 after a 30-day notice to correct. At sale, the same $100 damage cap applies and the transfer can't be voided over it.
So the stakes on paper are small. In practice, a missing alarm is exactly what a buyer's agent puts in a repair request on day three, and it's silly to haggle over a battery-powered unit.
Old toilets and showerheads in pre-1994 houses
California's water-conserving fixture rules apply to property "built and available for use on or before January 1, 1994," per Civil Code 1101.2. Civil Code 1101.3 defines what counts as noncompliant: a toilet that uses more than 1.6 gallons per flush, a showerhead that flows more than 2.5 gallons per minute, or an interior faucet over 2.2 gallons per minute.
Civil Code 1101.4 set January 1, 2017 as the date owners of single-family homes had to replace noncompliant fixtures. It also requires the seller to disclose, in writing, the replacement requirement and whether the house still has noncompliant fixtures.
There's a second trigger buried in there. If you pull a permit for an alteration or improvement, the building department won't sign off the final until noncompliant fixtures in the house are replaced. Keep that in mind if you're doing a quick kitchen job before listing.
I still saw big-tank toilets in hall bathrooms right up until I quit. If you have one, you can replace it or disclose it. Both are legal. Only one of them comes up in the buyer's repair request.
Lead paint in pre-1978 houses
This one is federal. The rule is 40 CFR part 745, subpart F, enforced by EPA and HUD, and it covers "target housing," meaning housing built before 1978, with a few exceptions such as housing for the elderly.
Before the buyer is bound by the contract, the seller has to:
- give the buyer the EPA pamphlet "Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home"
- disclose any known lead-based paint or lead hazards in the house
- hand over any lead reports or records the seller has
- include the Lead Warning Statement in the contract and sign the certification
- allow the buyer 10 days to have the house inspected for lead, unless both sides agree in writing to a different period or the buyer waives it in writing
The rule says in plain words that nothing in it obligates a seller to test or remove anything. As-is sellers hear that and relax, which is fine, as long as the forms get done. A seller who knowingly violates the rule can be liable to the buyer for three times the damages, and sellers and agents have to keep the signed disclosure for at least three years. EPA's real estate disclosure page has the sample forms. Foreclosure sales and housing built after 1977 are exempt.
In the City of Sacramento, 40.6% of housing units were built before 1970, and another 13.0% went up in the 1970s, according to the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 estimates. A lot of sellers here are going to see this form.
The seller's disclosure statement (TDS)
The TDS is California's main seller disclosure for a house sale. Civil Code 1102 applies it to sales of single-family residential property, and subsection (c) says any waiver "is void as against public policy." No as-is clause gets you out of it.
Timing matters. Civil Code 1102.3 says the seller delivers it "as soon as practicable before transfer of title." If it shows up after the buyer has made an offer, the buyer gets three days after delivery in person, or five days after delivery by mail or electronically, to back out in writing.
Some sales are exempt under Civil Code 1102.2, including court-ordered probate sales, foreclosures and sales by a trustee administering a trust. That trust exemption doesn't apply when the trustee is a person who used to own the house or lived in it during the past year. If you inherited through a living trust, check with your escrow officer or a real estate attorney before assuming you're off the hook.
The pre-1960 earthquake booklet
Under Government Code 8897.1, sellers of conventional wood-frame houses of one to four units built before January 1, 1960 have to give the buyer the Homeowner's Guide to Earthquake Safety and complete an earthquake hazards disclosure. Government Code 8897.2 lists what you disclose if you know about it: no anchor bolts at the sill plate, unbraced cripple walls, unbraced first-story walls, an unreinforced masonry foundation or walls, living space over a garage, and an unstrapped water heater. Nobody makes you crawl under the house to look. You disclose what you actually know.
What as-is buyers do with all of this
Every form above attaches to the transfer, not to the type of buyer. A cash buyer gets the same paperwork a financed buyer does. What changes is who handles the fixes. A buyer who purchases as-is reads the same disclosures, then repairs get priced into an as-is offer instead of showing up as a repair request. If you're comparing a listing with a sale to a local cash home buyer such as Lorris Home Buyers, line the offers up against the same list of disclosed items, so you're comparing like with like.
A paperwork checklist for an older house
- Find the year built. Under 1994, 1978 and 1960, more forms apply.
- Strap the water heater and photograph it.
- Test the smoke alarms and add carbon monoxide alarms where the house burns gas or has an attached garage.
- Count the toilets, showerheads and faucets that are over the flow limits.
- Gather any lead reports, inspection reports, permits and repair receipts you have.
- Fill out the TDS honestly and early, before offers come in.
- Ask your escrow officer which of these forms they need signed and when.
When an old-house sale I worked on dragged, the hold-up was usually a form somebody forgot about until the week before closing. Do the cheap items, get the forms filled out early, and the house can be as old as it likes.