Exterior Elevated Elements Inspections

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Inspector in front of apartment building, stairs and balconies at an apartment building, and a balcony with a patio set

The City is implementing State laws that are in effect for multi-unit buildings with exterior elevated elements that are located more than six feet above the adjacent grade, such as balconies, decks, or stairways. Owners of these properties must hire a licensed professional to perform a safety inspection and submit an inspection report. The deadline to complete the first safety inspection is January 1, 2025.

State Law Information

On September 17, 2018, Senate Bill 721 (California Health & Safety Code § 17973), the "Balcony Inspection Bill" or "Elevated Exterior Elements (E3) Bill,” was signed into law for apartments. This law went into effect in January 2019.
On August 30, 2019, Senate Bill 326 (California Civil Code § 5551) was signed into law for condominiums. This law went into effect in January 2020.
The laws were in response to a balcony collapse at an apartment complex in Berkeley in 2015, which tragically claimed the lives of six UC Berkeley students.

Implementation Timeline

Early to mid-2024: City performs outreach to stakeholders regarding upcoming deadline to complete safety inspection.
Late 2024: City starts enforcing laws and opens code enforcement cases on multifamily buildings that have not submitted an inspection report or Exemption Declaration Form.

Requirements

The laws require multifamily property owners and condominium homeowners associations (HOAs) to hire a licensed professional for necessary inspections to determine whether exterior elevated elements are in safe and functional condition. Elements include balconies, walkways, decks, landings, railings, and stairways.

Buildings Subject to Laws (Not Exempt)

Multifamily apartment and condominium buildings are subject to the laws if they have ALL three of these characteristics:

1. Building has three or more units,

AND

2. Building has wood-framed exterior elevated elements that are located more than six feet above the adjacent grade—such as balconies, walkways, decks, landings, railings, or stairways,

AND

3. Building is classified as an apartment or condominium building.

If the building has ALL three of these characteristics, then the property owner or HOA must obtain a safety inspection by a licensed professional and submit an inspection report. See Inspection & Reporting Process section below.

Buildings Not Subject to Laws (Exempt)

If any of the three characteristics above do not apply to the building, then the building is exempt from the laws. The property owner or HOA must still take action by filling out and submitting the City's Exemption Declaration Form.

The form can be submitted using the City's online permitting portal, Citizen Access. For instructions on how to do this, refer to the "Steps for Submitting Reports and Forms" section below or the Citizen Access User Guide for Elevated Exterior Elements.

To help multifamily property owners and condominium HOAs determine if their building is subject to the laws, the City has developed the following flowchart

Exterior elevated elements flowchart

View Flowchart (PDF)

Inspection & Reporting Process

If you own a building with three or more dwelling units that has wood-framed exterior elevated elements which are located more than six feet above the adjacent grade, you will need to comply with these laws. The deadline to complete the first safety inspection of elevated exterior elements is January 1, 2025. Subsequent inspections are required once every six years for apartments and once every nine years for condominiums.

To comply, follow the steps below:

Hire a licensed professional to perform the safety inspection. (A current employee of the City of Fremont cannot perform the inspection.)
Submit the inspection report to the City using the City's online permitting portal, Citizen Access. For instructions on how to do this, refer to the "Steps for Submitting Reports and Forms" section below or the Citizen Access User Guide for Elevated Exterior Elements.

If the inspection finds issues that need correcting:

The issues need to be reported to the City of Fremont Building Official.
To correct the issues, you may need to hire a licensed contractor and apply for a building permit.

There are separate laws for multifamily apartment buildings and condominium buildings. Senate Bill 721 applies to apartment buildings and property owners. Senate Bill 326 applies to condominium buildings and HOAs. The laws are very similar; however, there are differences. For the specific requirements for each type of building, visit the webpages below.

Steps for Submitting Reports and Forms

Step 1: Create Citizen Access Account & Log In

STEP 2: SELECT "SUBMIT AN APPLICATION"

Step 3: Complete Online Form

Complete the online form by using the directions to understand what is required for each section. If any steps or required information are missing, error messages will pop up at the top of the screen to inform you of what needs to be modified.

Address Tip: Use the "Address" search to query the City's parcel database to fill out the address, parcel, and owner information, which are all required fields. To do this successfully, enter the street number and the partial street name with the wildcard "%" (e.g., 39550 Lib%), then select "Search." If only one address is available, it will populate the address, parcel number, and owner. If multiple addresses are available, select the correct address. If the parcel number or owner has recently changed, leave them as is so you can submit the request. Then, inform City staff that these items need to be corrected. Staff can do this in the backend of the system.

Step 4: Upload Required Documents

Upload the required documents. A report or Exemption Declaration Form is required for every Elevated Exterior Elements record.

Upon submittal, documents will be reviewed for conformance with the requirements. Documents that do not conform to these requirements will need to be corrected before they can be processed.

Sometimes Required: Property Owner Verification – In Citizen Access, the property owner information will auto-populate based on the address or parcel number provided. It cannot be edited within the online form. If the owner information is incorrect and/or has recently changed, click NO in the “Verify Owner Information" section. You must upload verification of the correct ownership (i.e. a property deed) later in the process.

Step 5: Continue Form to Payment

Continue form to payment checkout cart. Accepted credit cards are Mastercard and Visa. If the Citizen Access account is linked to a trust account, "trust account" will be a payment option in the checkout cart.

Beginning January 2023, a 2% convenience fee will be added to each credit card payment and will be identified in the checkout cart and included on the receipt. There will also be no maximum credit card payment amount. Payment of the initial fees must be made online via credit card in order to submit the documents. If you do not want to pay with a credit card and would rather pay by check/cash, then you should not continue with the online submittal and instead make the submittal in person at the Development Services Center/Permit Center during operational hours.

Once the payment is complete, confirmation of the successful payment is provided on screen, and a copy of the receipt is emailed to you.

Step 6: Complete Submittal

After your submittal is successfully submitted, you will see the new record number in your Citizen Access account under “My Records.” The record status will be “Received.”

Processing staff will review new submittals in the order they were received and will contact you as soon as they get to the record in the processing queue. The record status can be checked at any time by logging into your Citizen Access account and selecting “My Records.”

Your submittal will be reviewed by staff to determine if enough information has been provided/uploaded. If any necessary information is missing, you will be contacted via email with a list of the required information.

Step 7: Complete Process

Questions

For questions, please contact the City's Code Enforcement team by email.

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