Daly City’s City Council voted last week to approve the city’s Draft Housing Element but with the recommendation that the city adopt a controversial Residential Resale Inspection Program removed. About 300 angry property owners showed up for the council’s meeting to volubly protest inclusion of the recommendation in the draft document.

As readers of the last monthly newsletters are aware, the program would have required a property owner before selling real property to apply for a permit from the city indicating that all habitable rooms within the dwelling were constructed with permits. An invasive inspection would have followed to ascertain the legality of all such rooms.

In addition, the proposed program would have mandated energy efficiency upgrades in all existing residential structures, including apartment buildings, which could have included attic insulation, heating duct insulation, water heater insulation and programmable thermostats. It also would have mandated water efficiency upgrades which could have included the installation of low-flow shower heads, where feasible, and retrofit or upgrade of existing toilets to meet low-flush requirements as established by the city.

Property owners and REALTORS opposed the Residential Resale Inspection Program for the following reasons:

• The city has no right to become involved in fishing expeditions for code violations every time a property is offered for sale.

• Strict State disclosure laws already protect buyers of residential properties. Daly City also requires the issuance of a report of residential record prior to any sale that discloses the number of permitted units on the property.

• The program could impose crushing financial burdens on property owners who put their property up for sale if sale transactions are the mechanism used to deal with habitable rooms and additions that have been constructed illegally.

• There are ways to deal with habitable rooms and additions that have been constructed illegally OUTSIDE OF THE SALE PROCESS.