Inspection required when high-fire area residents sell home | Community News

When Chino Hills resident Josie Taylor received a letter from the Chino Valley Fire District in September regarding the new fire hazard severity zone maps released by CAL FIRE, she noticed a one-sentence mandate that took her by surprise.

“Upon sale of your property, you are required to have a hazard disclosure inspection conducted,” it read. “This disclosure has been in effect since July 2021.”

Ms. Taylor, a real estate broker associate and owner and manager of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, said she learned from the Fire District that the ordinance has been on the books for several years and never enforced.

Ms. Taylor said residents who live in a high or very high fire risk area, which is the vast majority of Chino Hills, must now contact the Fire District to conduct a hazard disclosure inspection when they sell their homes.

She said the burden is being placed on the back of real estate agents who must disclose it to the parties.

“My big disappointment is that they made this a point of sale,” Ms. Taylor said. “We won’t be able to close escrow until this is completed, which will impede the sale of the house.”

She believes that the inspection should not be tied to a real estate transaction.

The matter was recently discussed at the Chino Valley Real Estate Professionals meeting which resulted in some confusion, according to board member Sarah Ramos-Evinger who brought it up at the Nov. 3 fire board meeting. 

Board president Mike Kreeger asked if the inspection must be conducted by Fire District personnel and board member Harvey Luth asked if this was required only in certain fire hazard zones.

When the maps were released by CAL FIRE last year, it was revealed that the vast majority of Chino Hills is now located in a high or very high risk fire area.

The inspection fee is $219 and the inspection must be conducted by the Fire District, according to Fire Marshal Danielle O’Toole.

Ms. Taylor said her company has made all her agents aware of the ordinance. “As a Realtor, once you have knowledge of an ordinance such as this, you cannot close your eyes to it.”

She is also a director of the Tri Counties Association of Realtors, of which the majority of Realtors are in Chino and Chino Hills, and they now have knowledge of the ordinance.

“I wish we were given incentives and not penalties, such as assistance for the homeowners, many who don’t have the financial ability to bear the inspection costs,” she said.

According to the notice mailed to property owners in the high or very high fire zones, residents must maintain defensible space on their property. Anybody planning to prune protected trees must follow the tree pruning standards of the International Society of Arboriculture and should contact the City of Chino Hills for information about tree regulations.

Ms. O’Toole said the Fire District will work with residents to provide them with information. She said the notice was created to help educate property owners about the requirements related to their respective properties based on the new fire hazard severity maps.

The hazard disclosure inspection ensures that the property is in compliance with defensible space requirements as outlined in the Fire District’s vegetation management ordinance, Mrs. O’Toole said.

The new maps released last year did not require the Fire District to include the inspection in its ordinance. AB 38, approved in 2019, required the inspection, she said.

Residents may contact Mrs. O’Toole by email at [email protected] or by calling (909) 315-8825.