I’m gonna talk to you about how to
sell your house in Oakland California
one of the things that makes it a little
more complicated out here to sell your
house is the side rock repair order my
name is Tanja Odzak-Goppold, top producing realtor
with Keller Williams and I work Oakland
and the greater East Bay
so the Sidewalk ordinance came out
in the last half of 2019 it was rolled
out pretty quickly and there were a lot
of complaints and challenges to it so
then they modified the process and they
wrote out this document to explain it
which was actually pretty convoluted so
um my suggestion is save yourself one to
two hours of frustration and watch my
short video so in this video I’m going
to tell you what it is when it’s
triggered the possible exemptions the
process for getting your certificate
appliance and also make sure you watch
until the end to hear about how that
factors into when you’re selling your
house and also when you’re a buyer
buying house so as of july 2019 the city
of oakland started requiring that all
sidewalks meet the guidelines set forth
by the American with Disabilities Act
this means that any crack depression or
vertical offset of more than a quarter
inch in the sidewalk is considered a
defect and your sidewalk requires repair
this means that if your property is
within the City of Oakland then you have
to have the sidewalk inspected and if
they are not in compliance to bring them
into compliance and have a formal
certificate of compliance issues the
certificate of compliance is good for
five years from the data was issued and
since this is a new thing it basically
means that no houses have this already
and everybody regardless of the
condition of their sidewalk is gonna
have to go get so just like the private
sewer lateral this is only required if a
trigger is activated so what are the
triggers the first one is
the Salem property the second one is if
you build or remodel in excess of
$100,000.00 and those are basically the
two triggers otherwise you can just
choose you know of just because to bring
the sidewalks into compliance if you
would like so there are some properties
that are exempt this can be transferred
between co-owners transfers to a trust
transfers to a spouse or a registered
domestic partner that kind of thing also
properties with no improved sidewalk are
also excluded since I’m a realtor I’m
going to focus on what happens when a
house is sold also please be aware that
this process is still really new so it’s
likely that than you really bumpy if you
ever have any questions call or visit
the oak do two permanent office they’re
down at 250 Frank H ohkawa Plaza on the
fourth floor of the building the process
always starts with hiring an inspector
to come out and take a look at the site
line it’s important to mention that not
all contractors can certify a sidewalk
you need to get a contract that means a
specific criteria set forth by the City
of Oakland it has to be a licensed
contractor or a professional engineer or
a licensed architect that holds a
specific a B C 8 or D 6 license and a
current valid open business line they
will then issue an inspection report and
if the report says that you’re set off
does not require repair and that it
meets the ABA guidelines and then you’re
good either you or the contractor can go
apply for the certificate of compliance
you bring your documentation you go
prepared and you go downtown to 250
Frank H Ogawa Plaza it costs about $80
so make sure that you’re being an
acceptable form of payment I’ve been
down to HUD office plenty of times and
it can really be sometimes a source of
frustration to go so go online
double-check their hours call them up
double-check it again just verify
because sometimes
you know the office is closed for
whatever reason sometimes there’s a
two-hour lunch so just make sure that
you come prepared and you don’t have to
wait for in a city inspection to get
your certificate of complaint if your
sidewalk requires repair then you’re
gonna have to hire a licensed contractor
to do the work if the work is gonna
require a permit then you’re also going
to need to pay extra for the permit so
you have the work done and then after
the repairs are done your contractor
will certify that the work has been done
according to code and then can get the
certificate appliance I have heard that
the owner can also get the certificate
of compliance too so again if you do go
down there and get it make sure you go
prepared bring your documentation to
prove that the work has been done you
know this can be the inspection report
itself the contractors invoice and
photographs so for what it’s worth again
you don’t need to wait for a city
inspection to get your certificate of
them so how much do the repairs cost
well the nature of the work is variable
but you’re gonna have a quote on the
inspection report so you can look at
that and then you’ll know also every
house is different to the extent of the
work is different and you just need to
get quotes I always recommend getting at
least three bids on the work because
even people who do the same kind of work
or can have widely variable prices and
don’t forget to think about the cost of
the firm and make sure that that is on
the estimate that you get so a side note
about trees there’s a thing about damage
being done by city trees and if you
believe that a tree is a city tree the
city will need to verify it that it is
actually a city tree and if it’s not
then you will need to take care of the
sidewalk regardless and if it is a city
tree then there’s a whole process that
you’re gonna need to go through and work
it out with a city and I’m not going to
go into that with this video if you’re
part of an HOA though the governing
documents are going to say whether or
not the HOA is responsible for bringing
the sidewalks in to comply
you can ask for a copy of the
certificate of compliance to use in the
sale and if the HOA doesn’t cover the
sidewalks then the individual unit
owners like as a group are responsible
for getting the sidewalk certain so what
does this mean if you’re selling a house
or buying a house well if you’re working
with a realtor then these are all things
that your Realtor can help you find the
right answer for so essentially when
you’re a seller you need to know if
you’re required to comply or if you’re
exempt and if you have a sidewalk that
needs to be brought into compliance you
need to get a contractor that meets a
specific criteria set forth by the city
to come out and inspect your sidewalks
and you should also be aware that they
are going to spray-paint your sidewalk
and that’s just gonna highlight where
any of the repairs need to be made if
you’re in compliance you’re good you go
get the certificate and it’s not that
you need to have a plan for what you’re
gonna do and if you’re gonna bring it
into compliance and you’re gonna need to
know how much is that gonna be and how
that fits into your overall budget and
then of course when are you gonna do the
work and how does that work to do the
sidewalks be coordinated with any of the
other working may possibly be doing on
your house or is this going to be
something that you’re gonna try to
negotiate with a buyer and you should
have a plan on how you’re gonna do that
and when you’re a buyer you need to know
how much of the sidewalk or what is the
area of the sidewalk they needs to be
brought into compliance and you’ll need
to know if there has been an inspection
and how much is it gonna cost to bring
it into compliance or if it’s already in
compliance you also need to know what
your plan is to negotiate complaints as
part of your overall offer so there are
no hard and fast rules about who brings
a sidewalk into compliance other than
the sale triggers the requirement to
comply and
so what happens if the sidewalks are not
brought into compliance before the
transfer of title from the seller to the
buyer so a provisional sidewalk
compliance certificate can be applied
for by giving the city $80 it’s gonna
give you 90 days to bring the sidewalk
into compliance but the thing is you
have to get that before the title
transfer occurs then the money that went
towards the provisional certificate can
then be applied towards the final
certificate of compliance if you want to
check on the status of a compliant
certificate for a particular property
just call the oak d-o-t permit counter
at five ten two three eight three one
nine nine so you should check out my
series on how to sell your house in
Oakland California especially the one on
private sewer lateral compliant because
if you love this one about the sidewalks
you’re really gonna love that one about
the sewers and if you like this one
please give me a like below and
subscribe to my channel!