Burbank’s Soft Story Earthquake Retrofit Program
Strengthening the Burbank’s Resilience to Earthquakes Burbank, California has established a voluntary program for Soft Story Earthquake Retrofit program to improve the safety of its buildings in the event of an earthquake. Soft Story buildings are structures with weak first floors that are unable to support the weight of the floors above them during a […]
California’s Multifamily Buildings Balcony and Deck Inspections Mandate.
Balcony and Deck Inspections are now the LAW Without regular inspections and maintenance, balconies are prone to a variety of structural problems and wood decay due to dry rot, termites, long term and regular exposure to moisture, and lack of drying mechanisms. When left unchecked, the balconies can become high risk and result in a […]
Seismic Retrofit – How to hire the right Contractor
How to work with a licensed contractor for a soft story seismic retrofit to obtain cost and time estimates, including special inspections and permits, all in a timely manner is of course best. https://www.cslb.ca.gov/consumers/ A few diligent ways to check is to: Ask for project references of similar jobs. Double-check in project type and verify […]
Protecting Beverly Hills: The Soft Story Retrofit Program
Soft-story buildings are a common sight in many cities, and Beverly Hills is no exception. However, these buildings pose a significant risk to residents and property owners in the event of an earthquake. In January of 2019, the city of Beverly Hills implemented a mandatory Soft-Story Retrofit program (Ordinance 18-O-2767) to ensure that these buildings […]
Balcony and Deck Inspections in California: A Mandate for Safety
Following a series of balcony and deck collapses that resulted in multiple fatalities and injuries, California enacted Senate Bill 721 (condos) & Senate Bill 326 (apartments)in 2018. This bill requires the inspection of all multi-family residential buildings with exterior elevated elements, with the most common being balconies, decks, stairways, and walkways. The mandate requires buildings […]
Add an ADU to your Multi-Family Property and Generate Additional Income
Do you own or manage a multi-family property and looking for a way to increase your rental income and add value to your property? Have you considered adding an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) to your property? ADUs are self-contained living units that can be built on the same lot as a primary residence. They are […]
Seismic Retrofitting L.A. Apartment Buildings are quickly being fixed
Seismic retrofitting has extended to 27% of Los Angeles’ 11,400 dangerous wood-frame apartments, up from 5% just 14 months ago. Retrofit progress has been steady across the city, a Times analysis of city records shows. Among the regions with the most “soft-story” buildings, 29% of the apartments on the Westside and in the San Fernando […]
West Hollywood landlords squarely on the hook for earthquake retrofit costs
City council denied surcharge plan that would have forced tenants to pay half West Hollywood Mayor John Duran and buildings damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake Landlords of earthquake-vulnerable buildings in West Hollywood will completely shoulder the costs to retrofit their buildings. The five-member West Hollywood City Council voted unanimously on Monday against adding a […]
Why LA landlords are choosing to sell rather than retrofit
One word: Earthquakes Los Angeles may have lucked out in comparison to the East Coast this year, but there is one ominous natural disaster that is keeping landlords up at night. Property owners are now choosing to sell their buildings altogether, rather than deal with the cost of retrofitting older apartment buildings put at risk […]
Earthquake maps now show Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive at risk
Earthquake maps show areas in fault zones could face limits on development Beverly Hills was thought to be in the safe zone when the draft maps of earthquake fault lines were released last year. Now? Not so much. The final version of California Geological Survey’s map shows the Santa Monica fault line extending a mile […]