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Vacant Houses and Code ViolationsBy Anthony Grynchal10 min read

Selling a Cited House: Disclosure Duties

Selling a house with code violations in California: the disclosure lines a code case touches, what to hand the buyer, timing, and your liability.

Empty bedroom with wood-look floor, a black ceiling fan and mirrored closet doors

You can sell a house with code violations in California, but you have to disclose what you know about them. The state's Transfer Disclosure Statement asks directly about "any notices of abatement or citations against the property", and its neighboring lines ask about work done without permits, work not to code, zoning violations and nuisances. Selling as-is does not waive that form, and the duty to disclose facts that matter to the buyer reaches past the form. What a cash sale changes is not the disclosure but how the disclosed items are priced.

This guide maps a code case onto the form line by line, lists what to hand a buyer, explains the timing and the limits on your liability, and covers the special cases: rentals, recorded notices, estates and trusts. It describes the statutes; for your own sale, a real estate attorney is the right person to ask.

Do you have to disclose code violations when selling a house?

For most sales of a house, yes. Civil Code section 1102 applies the disclosure article to sales of single-family residential property and makes any waiver of it void. Section 1102.1 states that delivery of the disclosure statement may not be waived in an as-is sale. Section 1102.8 adds that the items listed on the form do not limit any other duty to disclose that exists to avoid fraud, misrepresentation or deceit. A code case is a textbook example of a fact that matters to a buyer: it can bring fines, an order to repair, a lien and a lender who will not fund.

The general Transfer Disclosure Statement, the form itself and its delivery rules are covered in the Transfer Disclosure Statement for as-is sellers. This page is about the lines a code case touches.

Which lines on the form a code case touches

The form is set out in Civil Code section 1102.6. In the form as printed in SB 652 (2013), the fullest official text we could read (the section was amended again in 2020), Section II, part C asks whether the seller is aware of a list of conditions. Use the current form your escrow or agent provides, since numbering can shift. These are the lines a cited house most often answers "yes" to:

Line on the formThe code case that triggers itWhat to attach or explain

Item 4: room additions, structural modifications or other alterations or repairs made without necessary permits

A citation for an unpermitted carport, garage conversion or back room

The notice, and any permit applied for or final

Item 5: alterations or repairs not in compliance with building codes

A substandard-building finding, or wiring and plumbing cited on inspection

The inspection findings and what was corrected

Item 10: zoning violations, nonconforming uses, violations of setback requirements

A zoning citation, a structure too close to the line, a use the zone does not allow

The citation and the code section named

Item 11: neighborhood noise problems or other nuisances

A nuisance notice for overgrowth, debris or an open structure

The notice and its status

Item 15: any notices of abatement or citations against the property

Every notice, citation and order to abate, open or closed

Copies, the case number and the agency

Item 16: any lawsuits by or against the seller affecting the property

A city action to abate, or a lien foreclosure suit

The case caption and status

If the answer to any item is yes, the form asks you to explain. A short, factual explanation with the documents attached is better than a long one. Unpermitted work has its own guide, disclosing unpermitted work to a buyer.

What to hand the buyer

  • Every notice of violation, citation, notice and order, and abatement letter, open or closed.
  • The case numbers, the agency and the inspector's name.
  • Permits applied for, permits finaled and any re-inspection results.
  • Receipts for fines paid and any lien or assessment payoff letters.
  • Any recorded notices: a notice of pendency, a notice of noncompliance or an abatement lien.
  • For a rental, any findings from a city rental inspection. Ontario, for example, runs systematic rental inspections, so a cited Ontario rental may carry findings no neighbor ever complained about; see the Ontario page.

If you are not sure which office holds the records, the notice names it. Watch the jurisdiction line: a San Antonio Heights house with an Upland address answers to San Bernardino County code enforcement, not the City of Upland, as the Upland page explains.

Recorded notices: disclose them anyway

Some code documents are on the public record. Health and Safety Code section 17985 has an agency record a notice of pendency when it starts a substandard-building action, and under Code of Civil Procedure section 405.24 a buyer is treated as knowing about a recorded notice of pendency from the day it is recorded. That legal notice is not a reason to leave it off the form: the form asks what you are aware of, and a buyer who learns of a case from the title report halfway through escrow is a buyer with a reason to renegotiate.

For rentals, and dwellings unoccupied or abandoned for at least 90 days, Revenue and Taxation Code section 17274 adds a notice of noncompliance when cited conditions are not brought into compliance. It is recorded, and the deduction denial in that section reaches a buyer who takes title after recording, until a notice of compliance is recorded. An investor buying a rental needs to know that before signing, and a tax professional, not a seller, should explain it.

When to deliver it, and what happens if it is late

Section 1102.3 has the seller deliver the statement as soon as practicable before transfer of title. If a disclosure, or a material amendment to one, is delivered after the buyer's offer, the buyer can terminate by written notice within three days after delivery in person, or five days after delivery by mail or by agreed electronic delivery. A new citation that arrives during escrow is the classic material amendment. Deliver it promptly, in writing, and expect that window to open.

What you are and are not liable for

  • Your knowledge. Section 1102.4 says a seller is not liable for an error or omission that was not within the seller's personal knowledge, was based on information timely provided by a public agency or a licensed expert, and was obtained and passed on with ordinary care. Passing along the agency's own records is the safe way to describe a case.
  • Willful or negligent failures. Section 1102.13 says a sale is not invalidated just because the article was not followed, but a person who willfully or negligently fails to comply is liable for the buyer's actual damages.
  • Agents. Section 2079 gives a listing broker, and a broker cooperating with that broker, its own duty to the buyer: a reasonably competent and diligent visual inspection, and disclosure of the material facts it would reveal.

Estates, trusts and court sales

Section 1102.2 exempts some transfers from the disclosure article, including sales ordered by a court, such as a probate court administering an estate, and sales by a fiduciary administering a trust or a decedent's estate. The trust exemption does not apply when the trustee is a natural person who is trustee of a revocable trust and is a former owner of the property or lived in it within the preceding year. An exemption from the form is not an exemption from honesty: section 1102.8's fraud language and ordinary contract law still apply. If an estate or trust is selling a cited house, ask the estate's attorney what the buyer must be given.

Does a cash sale change the duty?

No. The form and the duty are the same for a financed family and a cash investor. What changes is what happens after you disclose. On a financed sale, each disclosed citation can become a lender condition, a repair request or a price cut during escrow. On a cash sale, the walkthrough prices each disclosed item before you sign. Our walkthrough notes are not your disclosure; the form is yours.

Every house we walk gets two written numbers: an as-is cash offer and an open-market read, each with the comparable sales, the deductions and the net. The open-market read is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal. When the citations are light and already corrected, a clean disclosure packet and an otherwise sound house can net more on the open market, and the written recommendation says so; you are then introduced to a designated local expert, an independently licensed California agent.

As-is cash offerOpen-market read

Each disclosed open citation

Priced as a line item before signing

Corrected first, or priced by the buyer in escrow

Risk of a late-disclosure cancellation

-

-

Net to you

-

-

What this looks like in practice

These are the kinds of files that come in, described without names or figures.

  • An inherited house where the heirs found three code notices in a kitchen drawer and needed to know which lines of the form they touched.
  • An Ontario rental sold with the tenant in place, with the rental inspection findings attached to the disclosure.
  • A house that received a new citation during escrow, where the seller delivered an amended disclosure the same week.

The notices themselves are explained in code enforcement notices: what they mean, and what a lien does at closing in code liens and title. The full series is in vacant houses and code violations, starting with the vacant and cited house guide. To see your disclosed items priced, send the address and the notices through the vacant house and code violation page, or call (909) 498-3977. There is no cost and no obligation to get the two numbers and the written report.

Sources

Mr. Cali Offers is not a law firm; ask a real estate attorney how to complete your disclosures. Cash offers come from independent buyers and investors who buy for their own account and may resell for profit; a cash offer is generally below what the open market would bring. Any value shown is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to disclose code violations when selling my house in California?

For most sales of a house, yes. The Transfer Disclosure Statement asks whether the seller is aware of any notices of abatement or citations against the property, and of work without permits, code or zoning violations and nuisances. Civil Code section 1102.1 says the statement cannot be waived in an as-is sale, and section 1102.8 keeps any other duty to disclose in place.

What if a new code citation arrives during escrow?

Deliver it to the buyer in writing as an amended disclosure. Under Civil Code section 1102.3, a disclosure or material amendment delivered after the buyer's offer gives the buyer three days after delivery in person, or five days after delivery by mail or agreed electronic means, to terminate by written notice.

Do I need to disclose a code violation that was already fixed?

The form asks about notices of abatement or citations against the property without limiting the question to open ones, so disclose closed cases too and attach the proof they were closed, such as a finaled permit or re-inspection result. Ask a real estate attorney if you are unsure how to answer a line.

Does selling to a cash buyer change my disclosure duties?

No. The form and the duty to disclose are the same whether the buyer pays cash or uses a loan. What changes is that a cash buyer prices each disclosed item on the offer before you sign, instead of raising it as a repair request or price cut during escrow.

Written by

Anthony Grynchal

Anthony Grynchal is a California real estate salesperson with eXp Realty, licensed since November 2009 (CA DRE #01873626), and the owner of Mr. Cali Offers.

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