Out of area – usually outside of Los Angeles City – escrow officers are sometimes bewildered on what to do with the city of Los Angeles retrofit certificate. Here is a simple break down of what is needed for compliance.
After the retrofit inspection is complete, the retrofitter will email the escrow officer and the ordering agent an invoice for their services and the LADWP certificate of compliance, or called the COC. The original COC is also mailed to escrow.
The LADWP certificate (located below) ONLY certifies the low flow water devices are present at the property. It does not apply to anything else. It is one part of the retrofit certificate, it is not the entirety of it.
Certification of items other than the city of Los Angeles low flow items (ie smoke detectors, etc) are usually itemized on an invoice or separate sheet. There is no formal certificate that certifies that the other items are compliant hence each retrofit company has their own format or form.
Important: Just having the LADWP certificate signed by either a retrofitter or an agent does not make the Subject property code compliant
Once the COC is received by escrow, the escrow officer will send a check (typically $15) with this blue ink LADWP original signed form to the LADWP at the address listed on the form in the lower right. Escrow has up to 15 days after the close to mail it in to the DWP.
The signature of the retrofitter must be in blue ink. The signatures of the buyer and seller may be digital / Docusigned, or black/blue ink. The signature of the retrofitter may not be digital per LADWP.
The COC is separate from the 9a form, aka the RPR form. That form has a separate fee of $70.85 to be mailed to the Building and Safety department of the city of Los Angeles. Though items on the 9a form overlap, it is a separate form. The 9a form goes to the city of LA. The LADWP form goes to LADWP, which is an independent entity of the City of Los Angeles. A link and more info on the 9a / RPR form is here.
Below is a copy of a LADWP COC (Certificate of Compliance). Again, once filled out by the retrofitter, it is mailed to the escrow officer for them to mail to the LADWP at the address listed on the form in the lower right corner with the check for $15 fee.
If you have any questions, feel free to call us at 310.800.4418, and hope this helps out.
Thankyou very much! Very helpful