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Balcony and Deck Report — Readiness Check

California condo associations. Four questions. About five minutes.

A new law, SB 410, took effect on January 1, 2026. It changed how your balcony and deck inspection report has to be stored, shared, and disclosed. This check tells you where you stand on each of the four things that changed.

This is not legal advice, and it is not a compliance certification. See the full note at the bottom.

No sign-up, no email, and nothing to pay. Your answers stay in your browser — they are never sent to us.

Does this check apply to you?

Two things both have to be true.

1. Your community is a condominium project.

You do not have to guess. California law requires your recorded declaration (your CC&Rs) to say so. Civil Code §4250(a) says a declaration recorded on or after January 1, 1986 must contain a statement that the common interest development is a community apartment project, condominium project, planned development, stock cooperative, or combination thereof. Open your CC&Rs and find that sentence. If it says condominium project, you are in. If it says planned development, stock cooperative, or community apartment project, this law does not reach you — a different one may.

Read the official text: Civil Code §4250 (opens the official California statute site in a new tab)

2. The buildings have three or more attached multifamily units.

Civil Code §5551(l): This section shall only apply to buildings containing three or more attached multifamily dwelling units. This is counted building by building, so a mixed community can be partly in and partly out.

Read the official text: Civil Code §5551 (opens the official California statute site in a new tab)

Two cases to send to your attorney, not to guess at: your declaration was recorded before 1986 (it may not carry that sentence), or it says “combination thereof.”

Renting out apartments instead? A different law covers you — see the last page.

The four questions

4 questions · about five minutes

Question 1 of 4Do you have the inspection report?

This is the inspection of your balconies, decks, stairways and walkways — the law calls them “exterior elevated elements.”

Why it matters

Civil Code §5551(f) says the report shall be stamped or signed by the inspector, presented to the board. Civil Code §5551(i) says The first inspection shall be completed by January 1, 2025, and then every nine years thereafter.

Read the official text: Civil Code §5551 (opens the official California statute site in a new tab)

Question 2 of 4Is the report part of your reserve study?

Why it matters

Civil Code §5551(f) says the report shall be incorporated into the study required by Section 5550. Section 5550 is your reserve study. The law says the report goes into that study, not just next to it in the same folder.

Read the official text: Civil Code §5551 (opens the official California statute site in a new tab)Civil Code §5550 (opens the official California statute site in a new tab)

Question 3 of 4Is the report in both places it now has to be?

Two different things changed here, and they are not the same. Answer both.

3a. Member records requests.
When a member asks to see association records, is the balcony and deck report on the list your office pulls? The law now covers every report you hold, not just the newest one.
3b. Sales and escrow.
When a unit sells, does the most recent report go into the buyer’s packet? Here the law asks for the newest report only.

Why it matters

Civil Code §5200(a)(15) now lists All inspector’s reports compiled pursuant to Section 5551. as association records. Civil Code §4525(a)(11) separately calls for A copy of the report issued pursuant to the most recent inspection conducted pursuant to Section 5551. in the documents a seller gives a buyer.

How long you keep them

Civil Code §5551(i) says All written reports shall be maintained for two inspection cycles as records of the association. Two cycles — roughly eighteen years.

Read the official text: Civil Code §5200 (opens the official California statute site in a new tab)Civil Code §4525 (opens the official California statute site in a new tab)Civil Code §5551 (opens the official California statute site in a new tab)

How fast do you have to hand it over?

It depends on who is asking and which report they want.

A sale is in escrow and the owner (or their escrow or agent) asks for the report
10 days

Civil Code §4530(a)(1): within 10 days of the mailing or delivery of the request. Count calendar days, not business days.

A member asks for a report from this fiscal year
10 business days

Civil Code §5210(b)(1).

A member asks for a report from the last two fiscal years
30 calendar days

Civil Code §5210(b)(2).

A member asks for your current report and it is older than that
Treat it as 10 days

The law routes it back to the escrow rule. Because inspections run every nine years, this is the situation you will be in most of the time.

A member asks for an older, replaced report you still keep
Target 30 days

The law sets no deadline here. Target 30 days, the same as the two-fiscal-year rule.

If a request is unusual or contested, your association’s attorney decides — not this sheet.

Read the official text: Civil Code §4530 (opens the official California statute site in a new tab)Civil Code §5210 (opens the official California statute site in a new tab)

Question 4 of 4Is the report listed on your document fee form?

When someone asks you for the sale documents, you send back a form showing what each document costs. That form has a new line on it.

Why it matters

The form in Civil Code §4528 now includes a line reading Copy of the report issued pursuant to the most recent inspection of exterior elevated elements — Sections 4525(a)(11) and 5551. Civil Code §4530(b)(2) says you send this form Upon receipt of a written request — so it goes out with each document request, not once a year.

Read the official text: Civil Code §4528 (opens the official California statute site in a new tab)Civil Code §4530 (opens the official California statute site in a new tab)

It only appears on your printed sheet. It stays in your browser.

0 of 4 answered

The note at the bottom

What this is: a self-check you fill in about your own records.

What this is not: legal advice, a legal opinion, or a certification that your association complies with any law. Edukas Solutions is not a law firm and does not practice law. Nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship. Your association’s attorney decides what applies to your community and what to do about it.

Quotes and dates: all statute quotes were taken from the official California Legislative Information site on August 18, 2026, and are quoted as the law read on that date. Laws change. If you are reading this more than a year later, check for updates before relying on it.

Renting apartments, not condos? A different law applies. Health & Safety Code §17973 covers multifamily rentals: first inspection due January 1, 2026, then every six years. That law says plainly that it “shall not apply to a common interest development.” Some advisories mix these two laws up. They are separate, with different dates and different deadlines.

Read the official text: Health & Safety Code §17973 (opens the official California statute site in a new tab)

Balcony and Deck Report — Readiness Check | Edukas Solutions