Every couple of years, California increases its standards of energy efficiency requirements for residential and commercial buildings which fall under the California Building Code Title 24. The next standards will be released in July of 2016, so now is a good time to evaluate your current situation and budget for any significant changes you consider making to your building next year.
While roofs and mechanical systems get most of the attention, conscientious operators build in reserves for the replacement of all capital items including the parking lot. Usually when a capital expenditure is made, the expense is amortized over its useful life, and then collected again back over that time from the tenant(s) in the building. Be advised that replacement reserves may get transferred in sales to the buyer, similar to security deposits, for the continued replacement of capital items.
The first thing to remember is that if you can read the following diagrams and a tape measure you can reasonably understand what is in and out of compliance in your restrooms. While your real estate agent (meaning us) never wants to tell you if the property is or isn’t in compliance you can educate yourself and learn to identify accessibility issues. In this article we want to simplify the issues, point out some rules of thumb, and make recommendations about where clients can seek additional information. There are lots of resources you can find to figure out where you stand—or sit.
