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What Do the State Laws Say?
Text of Two Geologic Disclosure Laws in California
For those of you who would like to see the text of the geologic disclosure
laws themselves, this page is for you. The following are excerpts of the
Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zone and the Seismic Hazards Mapping Acts.
Both of these Acts specifically identify the real estate licensee as the
medium for disclosure in the real estate transaction. Currently,
the Seismic Hazards Mapping Act disclosure areas have been released for
some areas of California. These disclosures are addressed in the disclosure
law (California Civil Code 1103) and are fulfilled by the JCP
Natural Hazard Disclosure Report.
THE ALQUIST-PRIOLO EARTHQUAKE FAULT ZONE ACT
(called the Alquist-Priolo State Special Studies Zone Act prior
to 1994)
The long standing and well known Alquist-Priolo Act (active fault zones)
was signed into law on December 22, 1972 and went into effect on March 7,
1973. This law was amended a few years later to include a disclosure obligation
for real estate licensees. The text of this disclosure section is as follows:
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Chapter 7.5, Section 2621.9
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(a) The person who is acting as an agent for a seller of real property
which is located within a delineated special studies zone, or the seller
if he is acting without an agent, shall disclose to any prospective purchaser
the fact that the property is located within a delineated special studies
zone, provided the maps prepared pursuant to this chapter, or the information
contained in the maps, are reasonably available.
(b) For the purposes of this section, in all transactions subject to Section
1102 of the Civil Code, disclosure shall be provided by either of the following
means:
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(1) The real estate transfer disclosure statement set out in Section
1102.6 of the Civil Code.
(2) The local option real estate transfer disclosure statement set out
in subdivision (a) of Section 1102.6 of the Civil Code.
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(c) For the purposes of this section, 'reasonably available' means that
for any county that includes areas covered by a delineated special studies
map, a notice has been posted at the offices of the county recorder. county
assessor, and county planning commission that identifies the location of
the map and the effective date of the notice, which shall not exceed 10
days beyond the date the county received the map from the State Geologist.
(d) For purposes of the disclosure required by this section, the following
persons shall not be deemed agents of the transferor:
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(1) Persons specified in Section 1102.11 of the Civil Code.
(2) Persons acting under a power of sale regulated by Section 2924 of the
Civil Code.
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(e) For purposes of this section, Section 1101.13 of the Civil Code
shall apply.
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A later amendment clarified a controversial point within the Alquist-Priolo
Act. Previously, there had been some question due to interpretation of what
types of real property transfers required disclosure and which did not.
Section 2621.9 (b) specifically clarifies this point by linking the Alquist-Priolo
disclosure requirement with and making applicable Section 1102 of the Civil
Code. This code is excerpted as follows:
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Section 1102 of the Civil Code - Application of article
Except as provided in Section 1102.1, this article applies to any transfer
by sale, exchange, installment land sale contract, as defined in Section
2895, lease with an option to purchase, any other option to purchase, or
ground lease coupled with improvements, of real property, or residential
stock cooperative, improved with or consisting of not less than one nor
more than four dwelling units.
( This Section became operative on January 1, 1987)
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The JCP Natural Hazard Disclosure Report includes this disclosure
and satisfies the real estate licensees's and seller's dislcosure obligation.
THE SEISMIC HAZARDS MAPPING ACT
This law has created some confusion since it uses terms once considered
general to mean something very specific. The Seismic Hazards Mapping Act
(Public Resource Code Chapter 7.8, Section 2690 et. seq.) was enacted January
1, 1992.
According to this Act, the California Department of Conservation is mandated
to identify and map the state's most prominent earthquake hazards in order
to help avoid damage resulting from earthquakes. The official maps produced
by the Seismic Hazard Zone Mapping program are also mandated to be used
by cities and counties to regulate development within identified seismic
hazard areas. The local governments can withhold development permits until
geologic or soils investigations are conducted and mitigation measures are
incorporated into development plans.
"Seismic hazard zones" are defined as those areas shown on the
maps that are subject to strong earthquake shaking, liquefaction, landsliding
or earthquake induced ground failures. Importantly, the Seismic Hazards
Mapping Act mandates disclosure of areas located within a "seismic
hazard zone" delineated on the maps. Some confusion has resulted from
the fact that geologically hazardous areas outlined on maps in the Seismic
Safety Element of a city or county General Plan are commonly referred to
as "seismic hazard zones" also. Any maps in a Seismic Safety Element
will remain independent of maps produced for the Seismic Hazards Mapping
Act. The disclosure section of this Act is excerpted as follows:
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Chapter 7.8, Section 2694
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(a) A person who is acting as an agent for a seller of real property
which is located within a seismic hazard zone, or the seller if he or she
is acting without an agent, shall disclose to any prospective purchaser
the fact that the property is located within a seismic hazard zone, provided
the maps prepared pursuant to this chapter or the information contained
in the maps are reasonably available.
(b) For the purposes of this section, in all transactions subject to Section
1102 of the Civil Code, disclosure shall be provided by either of the following
means:
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(1) The real estate transfer disclosure statement set out in Section
1102.6 of the Civil Code.
(2) The local option real estate transfer disclosure statement set out
in subdivision (a) of Section 1102.6 of the Civil Code.
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(c) For the purposes of this section, 'reasonably available' means that
for any county that includes areas covered by seismic hazard maps, a notice
has been posted at the offices of the county recorder, county assessor,
and county planning commission that identifies the location of the maps
and the effective date of the notice, which shall not exceed 10 days beyond
the date the county received the maps from the State Geologist.
(d) For purposes of the disclosure required by this section, the following
persons shall not be deemed agents of the transferor:
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(1) Persons specified in Section 1102.11 of the Civil Code.
(2) Persons acting under a power of sale regulated by Section 2924 of the
Civil Code.
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(e) For purposes of this section, Section 1101.13 of the Civil Code
shall apply.
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Chapter 7.8, Section 2696
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(c) In order to ensure that the sellers of real property and their agents
are adequately informed, any county that receives an official map pursuant
to this section shall post a notice within five days of receipt of the
map at the office of the county recorder, county assessor, and county planning
commission, identifying the location of the map and the effective date
of the notice.
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Seismic Hazard Mapping Act maps have been officailly released for parts of San Francisco,
Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties. Disclosure of these zones where
they exist in maditory. Where applicable, JCP Geologists, Inc. includes
this disclosure in the JCP Geologic, Flood and Fire Disclosure Report.
ARE ANY TRANSACTIONS EXEMPT?
In practice, disclosure of geologic hazard areas under the Alquist-Priolo
Act or the Seismic Hazards Act is required on most real estate transactions.
However, according to the Acts, there are some exceptions. Unfortunately,
trying to figure out if a particular transaction is truely exempt can be
more difficult than just providing the disclosure. In addition, most lawyers
would agree that even if a transaction may be exempt according to the Act,
in the trenches, that may not prevent a lawsuit for non-disclosure. The
best rule of thumb is when in doubt, just disclose.
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Section 1102.1 - Nonapplication of article
The provisions of this article do not apply to the following:
(a) Transfers which are required to be preceded by the furnishing to a
prospective transferee of a copy of a public report pursuant to Section
11018.1 of the Business and Professions Code and transfers which can be
made without a public report pursuant to Section 11010.4 of the Business
and Professions Code.
(b) Transfers pursuant to court order, including, but not limited to, transfers
ordered by a probate court in administration of an estate, transfers pursuant
to a writ of execution, transfers by any foreclosure sale, transfers by
a trustee in bankruptcy, transfers by eminent domain, and transfers resulting
from a decree for specific performance.
(c) Transfers to a mortgagee by a mortgagor or successor in interest who
is in default, transfers to a beneficiary of a deed of trust by a trustor
or successor in interest who is in default, transfers by any foreclosure
sale after default, in an obligation secured by a mortgage, transfers by
a sale under a power of sale or any foreclosure sale under a decree of
foreclosure after default in an obligation secured by a deed of trust or
secured by any other instrument containing a power of sale, or transfers
by a mortgagee or a beneficiary under a deed of trust who has acquired
the real property at a sale conducted pursuant to a power of sale under
a mortgage or deed of trust or a sale pursuant to a decree of foreclosure
or has acquired the real property by a deed in lieu of foreclosure.
(d) Transfers by a fiduciary in the course of the administration of a decedent's
estate, guardianship, conservatorship, or trust.
(e) Transfers from one co-owner to one or more other co-owners.
(f) Transfers made to a spouse, or to a person or persons in the lineal
line of consanguinity of one or more of the transferors.
(g) Transfers between spouses resulting from a decree of dissolution of
marriage or a decree of legal separation or from a property settlement
agreement incidental to such a decree.
(h) Transfers by the Controller in the course of administering Chapter
7 (commencing with Section 3771) of Part 6 of Division 1 of the Revenue
and Taxation Code.
(j) Transfers or exchanges to or from any governmental entity.
(This Section became operative on January 1, 1987.)
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