Check Your New Leases
The state of California Senate Bill 1186, recently signed by Governor Brown, amends a number of provisions related to accessibility lawsuits and requirements, including those of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Of specific importance is the addition of California Civil Code 1938 which will require all commercial leases or rental agreements executed on or after July 1, 2013 to contain a paragraph indicating whether the commercial property has been inspected by a certified access specialist and whether the property was found to have met all applicable construction-related accessibility standards pursuant to Section 55.53.
In a related issue, A consultant performing inspections and preparing property condition reports for FHLMC must have ALL of the following qualifications:
•A degree in engineering and/or architecture from an accredited institution
•Five or more years of experience in one or more of the following disciplines: architecture, engineering (structural, mechanical or civil) and/or construction/cost estimating
•Three or more years of experience performing multifamily property inspections
•Two or more years of experience conducting similar work for financial institutions.
Whether this will trickle down to all inspections/inspectors is not known yet.
The various federal/state legislators have focused heavily on the single family real estate issues since 2007. It now looks like they are looking more closely at commercial real estate issues. Stay Tuned!