Here is the official ‘skinny’ on low flow toilets in the state of California for agents and sellers. This law was adopted by the state of California in 2017, and applies for all homes in the state of California. Some other states have similar water conservation laws.
This explainer is from the CAR (California Association of Realtors) legal division website.
Can you sell your home without compliant toilets? Yes. There is nothing in this law that requires installation of water-conserving plumbing fixtures as a condition of sale. However, if you haven’t already installed water conserving plumbing fixtures on your pre-1994 single-family house, then you are in violation of the law. Read the below explainer for more detail.
To add to this state mandate, individual cities, such as Burbank and Manhattan Beach, require lower (1.28GPF) toilets when selling.
Confusing? Yes it can be. Call us with your specific address and questions and we can help answer them at 310-800-4418.
Hello,
This is an old flyer. The California Association of Realtors should update it because it confuses sellers, escrow officers and agents. It also causes retrofitters and plumbers to seem like they are requiring items that are not mandatory. In 2017, the date of this flyer, sellers were not required to replace non-compliant toilets. However, in 2019, all sellers in the entire state of California, whether or not a CoC is required, MUST replace non-compliant toilets before closing. Escrows that allow sellers to close without some verification (3rd party preferably) that the toilets are compliant are breaking the law and may be subject to fines and penalties. It’s sad that people undermine their integrity because a seller doesn’t want to replace a toilet. It’s even sadder when an agent doesn’t know that this is a requirement.