The California Unreinforced Masonry Building Law lets cities and counties identify older brick, stone, and concrete-block buildings that could collapse in an earthquake and require their owners to retrofit or demolish them. It also directly obligates owners of these buildings in high-seismic areas to post earthquake warning signs and give written notice to tenants. The core rules sit in Health and Safety Code Sections 19160 through 19168 and Government Code Section 8875.8. If you own a qualifying building, your obligations come from two layers: the state statute, and a local ordinance your city or county may have adopted on top of it.
Which Buildings Are Covered
The law targets buildings whose walls are made of brick, stone, or concrete block held together by mortar but lacking internal steel reinforcement. Health and Safety Code Section 19161 flags unreinforced masonry buildings built before local codes required earthquake-resistant design as potentially hazardous if they have any of these features: exterior parapets or ornamentation that could fall, exterior walls not anchored to the floors or roof, or no effective system to resist seismic forces.1Justia. California Health and Safety Code 19160-19168 – Earthquake Hazardous Building Reconstruction The same section also reaches soft-story wood-frame residential buildings built before January 1, 1978, which follow a separate set of technical standards.
Section 19168 exempts state-owned buildings, public school facilities, and community college structures; those are governed by other seismic safety provisions.2California Legislative Information. California Code Health and Safety Code HSC 19168 In practice the law reaches privately owned commercial buildings, apartment complexes, and mixed-use structures in seismically active areas.
The signage rule discussed below applies to buildings in “Seismic Zone 4,” an older Uniform Building Code designation that still covers most of California’s major population centers even though the current California Building Code has moved to a different classification system.
Is a Retrofit Actually Required Where You Are?
This is the part owners most often get wrong. The state statute is permissive. Section 19161 says each jurisdiction “may” assess earthquake hazards and identify buildings as potentially dangerous.1Justia. California Health and Safety Code 19160-19168 – Earthquake Hazardous Building Reconstruction A local retrofit mandate exists only where a city or county has adopted its own ordinance under Section 19162.
Most major California cities in high-risk areas have done exactly that. If your building sits in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, or Berkeley, there is almost certainly a retrofit ordinance on the books and your building’s status is likely already on file with the local building department. Smaller jurisdictions sometimes have no inventory and no ordinance at all. Call the local building department and ask whether your address has been identified as a URM building and whether a retrofit ordinance applies.
Where an inventory exists, structural evaluations must be performed by a licensed architect, a registered civil or structural engineer, or qualified building department staff supervised by one of those professionals.1Justia. California Health and Safety Code 19160-19168 – Earthquake Hazardous Building Reconstruction
What a Required Retrofit Must Accomplish
When a local government does adopt a retrofit ordinance, Section 19163 dictates what the engineering work has to address. The retrofit must adequately handle five areas: the ability of unreinforced masonry walls to resist normal and lateral earthquake forces, the anchorage and stability of exterior parapets and ornamentation, the connection of unreinforced walls to floors and the roof, the performance of floor and roof diaphragms, and the development of a complete bracing system to resist seismic forces.3California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 19163
In practice, the physical work usually involves bolting the masonry walls to the floor and roof framing so they cannot separate during shaking, bracing or removing parapets above the roofline, and adding internal steel or plywood shear panels to create a load path that channels earthquake energy down to the foundation. Local jurisdictions may assign their own allowable working stresses to existing materials based on engineering judgment or research, and may consult the State Architect’s office if they lack that capacity.4California Seismic Safety Commission. Unreinforced Masonry Building Law
What It Costs
Retrofit costs vary with building size, condition, and the target performance level. A rough national range runs $3 to $7 per square foot for basic bolts-plus and wall-anchoring work, with complex projects in dense urban areas running higher. Before any construction, you will need a licensed structural engineer to perform a seismic evaluation and produce a retrofit design; that engineering work can run from a few hundred to several thousand dollars depending on building complexity. Jumping straight to construction without the engineering analysis invites change orders and code violations.
Earthquake Warning Signs and Lease Disclosures
Separate from the retrofit framework, Government Code Section 8875.8 imposes direct duties on owners of unreinforced masonry buildings in Seismic Zone 4 who have received notice that their building contains load-bearing unreinforced masonry walls.5California Legislative Information. California Government Code 8875.8 The exact requirement depends on whether the building has been retrofitted.
For any covered URM building, the owner must post a sign at least 5 inches by 7 inches, in a conspicuous place at the building entrance, with text in at least 30-point bold type reading: “This is an unreinforced masonry building. Unreinforced masonry buildings may be unsafe in the event of a major earthquake.”
For a URM building not retrofitted under an adopted hazardous building ordinance after December 31, 2004, the sign has to be larger: at least 8 inches by 10 inches, with the first two words in 50-point bold and the remainder in at least 30-point type, reading: “Earthquake Warning. This is an unreinforced masonry building. You may not be safe inside or near unreinforced masonry buildings during an earthquake.”
The sign requirement does not apply to buildings where the unreinforced masonry walls are non-load-bearing and the structure has a steel or concrete frame.5California Legislative Information. California Government Code 8875.8
Landlords have an additional duty. Every rental or lease agreement entered into after January 1, 2005, for a building subject to the larger warning sign must include a written statement notifying the tenant that the building is unreinforced masonry and that such buildings have proven unsafe in earthquakes.5California Legislative Information. California Government Code 8875.8
Selling a URM Building
Selling triggers its own disclosure obligations. For residential transfers of one to four units, sellers must disclose known structural deficiencies, including unreinforced masonry perimeter foundations and unreinforced masonry dwelling walls. The transfer of any unreinforced masonry building with wood-frame floors or roofs built before January 1, 1975, also requires delivery of the state’s Commercial Property Owner’s Guide to Earthquake Safety.6California Department of Real Estate. Disclosures in Real Property Transactions
Buyers should look hard at a building’s URM status before closing. In jurisdictions with an active retrofit ordinance, a sale may come with an existing compliance deadline. Some cities, such as Berkeley, record notices on the property title that block transfer or refinancing until the retrofit is complete. Missing that in due diligence can leave a buyer holding a six- or seven-figure retrofit bill.
What Non-Compliance Costs
State-level penalties for failing to post the sign or include the lease disclosure are a $250 administrative fine, with an additional $1,000 if the violation is not corrected within 30 days. The bigger exposure is local.
Cities with active URM ordinances have built their own penalty structures:
- Los Angeles records a notice on the property that a building is subject to retrofit requirements, can order the building vacated if the owner does not comply within 90 days, treats non-compliance as a misdemeanor, and can order demolition of vacant non-compliant buildings.
- Oakland imposes a $1,000 fine for failing to file a timely building permit application and $2,000 per month for failing to complete the retrofit, and can file a lien against the property.
- Berkeley treats non-retrofitted properties as public nuisances and records notices on the title that block transfer or refinancing until the work is complete.
- San Francisco imposes fines of $500 per day.
The common pattern across jurisdictions is that non-compliance gets progressively more expensive and eventually threatens your ability to use, sell, or keep the property.
The 15-Year Protection After You Retrofit
Section 19166 gives owners who complete a retrofit real certainty. Once a building has been strengthened to the local standards and is properly maintained, the jurisdiction cannot re-identify it as a seismic hazard under any new, stricter local standards for 15 years.7California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 19166 The one exception is a building that no longer meets even the original standards it was retrofitted under.
Help Paying for the Work
Several federal programs can offset part of the cost.
SBA Mitigation Loans
The Small Business Administration offers low-interest disaster loans that can be increased by up to 20 percent specifically for building upgrades, including strengthening and retrofitting masonry buildings vulnerable to ground shaking. SBA approval of the proposed mitigation measures is required before any loan increase is made.8U.S. Small Business Administration. Mitigation Assistance These loans are tied to disaster declarations, so application windows are limited.
FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grants
The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds seismic retrofitting as an eligible project type, but individual owners cannot apply directly. Local communities apply on their behalf, so your city or county has to participate for you to benefit.9Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) Ask your jurisdiction’s Hazard Mitigation Office whether HMGP funding is available for URM retrofits in your area.
Federal Historic Rehabilitation Credit
Many unreinforced masonry buildings are old enough to qualify as certified historic structures, which can make their owners eligible for the federal Rehabilitation Credit. The credit equals 20 percent of qualified rehabilitation expenditures and is taken over a five-year period. The building must be a certified historic structure, the project must be certified by the National Park Service as consistent with the building’s historic character, and total rehabilitation expenditures must exceed the greater of $5,000 or the building’s adjusted basis within a 24-month period. Seismic retrofitting costs can count as qualified expenditures when part of a broader certified rehabilitation project, though expenditures for enlarging the building are excluded.10Internal Revenue Service. Rehabilitation Credit (Historic Preservation) FAQs The credit is part of the general business credit and is subject to passive activity rules, so talk to a tax professional before counting on it.