Water Heater Bracing, Smoke Alarm, and Carbon Monoxide Statements

The seller — as transferor — certifies and signs. The buyer acknowledges receipt. Agents should not certify on the seller's behalf, and should not "confirm" compliance from the sidewalk. What an agent can usefully do is ask the seller to walk the house with the list before signing.

In multi-unit and rental settings, ongoing compliance obligations sit with the owner independent of any sale, and property managers often carry them operationally.

At or before transfer of title, with the disclosure package. Practically, handle these at listing: they are the one category of disclosure where the seller can cure the problem for under two hundred dollars and a Saturday morning. Straps, a few sealed alarms, and a CO device are cheap; a renegotiation two days before closing is not.

Because the same physical items appear in the Residential Earthquake Hazards Report, run both at the same time.

Two distinct exposures. On the smoke alarm statement, Health & Safety Code section 13113.8(g) makes the buyer's exclusive remedy actual damages not exceeding $100, exclusive of court costs and attorney's fees, and the transfer of title is never invalidated by the failure; section 13113.8(f) also says licensees have no duty to monitor compliance. Carbon monoxide devices under section 17926 carry the same $100 exclusive civil remedy, and separately an infraction punishable by a fine of up to $200 per offense. The water heater bracing statement sits in section 19211.

The larger exposure is injury. If a carbon monoxide device was absent, the certification said otherwise, and someone is harmed after closing, the certification is the document that will be read aloud. These are safety devices; the paperwork exists because the devices save lives.

A missing certification also gives the buyer a straightforward pre-closing demand, which is the least costly version of this problem.

Certifying without looking. Open the garage, look at the strapping, count the alarms.

One strap. The requirement is bracing sufficient to resist falling or horizontal displacement; a single loose strap generally is not it. Confirm current standards locally — local ordinances may exceed the state minimum.

Missing bedroom or level placement. Smoke alarm placement rules are specific and have changed.

Skipping CO devices in all-electric homes with an attached garage. The garage is itself a trigger.

Assuming the home inspector's report is the certification. The seller's signed statement is the required document.