When you sell your home in Davis, you, as a seller, are required to provide a clear City of Davis resale inspection report to the buyer. This report proves to the city and to the buyer that your house complies with California health and safety codes and zoning at the point of sale. Not every city in California has a point-of-sale (POS) ordinance. Such POS ordinances vary from city to city, with minimal items enforced, such as only sewer lateral, as in Richmond and Oakland, or energy conservation in Berkeley. In Davis, we have it heavily enforced to include all safety and health items.
- The resale application fee is $510 for a single-family home. This fee increases periodically. Please check with the city for an updated fee.
- Once you pay the fee, the city schedules a visit to your house by one of the inspectors. They usually give you a time window for his arrival, and you need to be standing by and waiting for him.
- On the day of inspection, the inspector goes through the house collecting “inventory”. This means that the inspector won’t be able to give you any feedback on that day. His only task is to document what he sees on that day.
- Then he goes to the office, pulls the past report from their file, and starts to compare notes. Anything he sees that does not match their record is flagged for correction and permitting.
- Within five business days, you will receive a copy of the city resale report with a list of items to correct or permit (if renovations were done without a permit).
- No doubt, homeowners are required to pull permits when they plan to do home improvements. Different cities within the state of California have different rules, regulations, and building codes enforcement.
Please watch this YouTube video dedicated to homeowners in Davis who:
- do not know that a permit is required for most of their home improvement projects,
- homeowners who hired an out-of-town contractor who did not know about the point-of-sale city inspection requirement, and
- homeowners who knew about the point-of-sale permitting requirement, but thought they could get away with not having to apply for a permit.
Either way, homeowners will have to deal with the city permitting process when it’s time to sell the house. And… when it is time to sell the house, the last thing you want to get entangled with is dealing with the city timeline and all the frustration that will come from having to hire last-minute contractors (who charge an arm and a leg to meet your deadline) to make the corrections requested by the city inspectors.
This video is also dedicated to home buyers who must be informed about:
- How to review the city of Davis resale inspection report,
- how to verify that the past improvements were approved and signed off on by the city building department, and
- Avoid this issue during their ownership since they’ll be sellers at a certain point.
Items that require a permit:
- Mechanical: HVAC (furnace/air-conditioner), water heater, ducts, elevator, wheelchair lift, pump-stump pump, and well pumps
- Structural: siding, awning, windows, wall removal, addition, foundation repair or installation
- Electrical: lights, fans, switches, main panel, and new wiring lines
- Plumbing (gas and water): pipes/sewer, faucets, toilets, drains, water heater, replace electrical with gas stove
- Solar, Pool, Roof (permit should be pulled by the installing company)
Unfortunately, there is no list of home improvements that need a permit. However, there is a list of home improvements that do NOT need a permit. Look at this 2-sided page… if you quickly skim through it, everything listed is sort of a rule-of-thumb:
Tool Sheds
Fences
Collecting rainwater in storage tanks
Sidewalks/driveways
Painting
Swimming pools less than 18 inches deep
Playground swings/slides
Window awning: crankable
Small decks (not to exceed 200 sf)
- Xmas lights
- Cover of the outlet
- Phones, TVs, and stereo devices
- Lamp and bulb replacement
- Cooking devices, such as fryers, toasters, and coffee machines
- Any portable appliances (evaporators, coolers, heaters, ventilators)
- Stopping leaks, clearing of sewer/pipe stoppage
Homeowners: if you made improvements in your home and you have not seen this green slip, chances are you did not pull a permit. So, what does it take to comply with the city ordinance?
- Apply for a permit.
- The application must include a drawing of before (existing) and after, in addition to supporting documentation of what’s included in the drawings.
- Once the city building department is satisfied with your drawing, details, and application completeness (this stage might take a few visits to the city office), they will issue the green form, which marks the start of your project or the start of the city inspection.
- Though most people complain about the tedious process before and after this point, if you know what they want, everything should move very smoothly.
The city does not ask you to provide receipts for your improvement. They’ll accept your overall project estimate for labor and material. However, they have minimums on project costs; for example, if you renovate your kitchen and you estimate it at $10,000. They’ll reject your estimate because it is unreasonable. The minimum accepted estimate for a kitchen remodel is $15,000. This figure applies to 2025 and could increase in future years.
If you are planning to start a renovation project or have already completed one without a permit, please contact me for assistance in complying with the necessary regulations. I created this illustration to show you a step-by-step process for acquiring the resale report and the permit. I would love to share this card with you. Just shoot me a message or call me.
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