SB 326 Balcony Inspection: What Every Bay Area Condo HOA Board Must Do Now

What Is SB 326 and Why Does It Matter Right Now?

California Senate Bill 326, signed in 2019 and codified at Civil Code §5551, required all California condominium associations with three or more units to complete a visual inspection of all exterior elevated elements (EEEs) — balconies, decks, walkways, stairways, and associated waterproofing systems — by January 1, 2025.

The January 1, 2025 deadline has passed.

If your Bay Area condo association has not yet completed an SB 326 inspection, you are not simply behind on a paperwork deadline — you are operating with unknown structural risk, and your insurance carrier almost certainly knows it.

What SB 326 Requires

**Who must comply.** Any common interest development in California with condominiums (not single-family detached homes) where the units are attached — meaning any townhome or condo building where homeowners share walls, floors, or ceilings — must comply with SB 326.

**What must be inspected.** Every exterior elevated element that has a walking surface more than six feet above ground, has load-bearing components that are wood or wood-based, and serves a unit or building. This includes:

• Balconies and decks attached to units
• Exterior stairways and landings
• Exterior walkways and breezeways (including those connecting buildings)
• Entry decks
• Parking structures with wood-framed decks above grade

**Who can perform the inspection.** The inspection must be performed by a licensed structural engineer (SE) or licensed architect. It cannot be performed by a general contractor, property inspector, or pest control company alone — they may assist, but the inspection report must bear an SE or architect stamp.

**What the inspection produces.** The inspector must produce a written report that identifies each EEE inspected, its current condition (safe, requires repair, unsafe), and a recommended maintenance and replacement timeline. The report must be provided to the association and kept in the association's records.

**The re-inspection cycle.** After the initial inspection, associations must re-inspect every nine years going forward.

The Insurance Issue Bay Area Boards Need to Understand

This is no longer just a statutory compliance issue. It is now an insurance coverage issue.

Following the 2021 Champlain Towers collapse in Florida and the passage of California SB 326 and SB 721 (the parallel law covering rental housing), commercial property insurance carriers that cover California condo associations began asking a new question at renewal: has your association completed its SB 326 inspection?

As of 2025 and 2026, multiple Bay Area HOA insurance carriers and brokers are:

• Requiring proof of SB 326 inspection completion as a condition of coverage renewal
• Applying premium surcharges to associations that cannot provide documentation
• In some cases, non-renewing policies for associations with confirmed past-due SB 326 compliance

If your association's master property insurance policy is up for renewal and you cannot document SB 326 compliance, you may face a coverage gap or dramatically higher premiums at a time when Bay Area HOA insurance costs are already up 20-40% over 2022 levels.

What Happens If an Inspection Finds Problems

The inspection outcome determines your urgency level:

**Safe with no immediate action required.** The inspector finds the EEEs in good condition and provides a maintenance timeline. Document this report, file it, and plan for your nine-year re-inspection.

**Repairs required (non-emergency).** The inspector identifies deterioration or deficiencies that require repair but are not immediately dangerous. You must plan and execute those repairs. Consult your reserve study — if the repair is a capital expense, it should be funded from reserves. If reserves are insufficient, a special assessment may be required.

**Unsafe — immediate action required.** If any EEE is found to be in an unsafe condition, the inspector must notify both the association and the local code enforcement agency. You will be required to restrict access to the unsafe element immediately and complete emergency repairs before restoring access.

The worst-case scenario is not the cost of repairs — it is an inspector-triggered notification to code enforcement before your board has had a chance to plan a response. If you proactively complete the inspection, you control the timeline and the remediation process. If a homeowner is injured on a failing balcony before you've completed the inspection, you have no defense.

Steps for Bay Area Boards Right Now

**Step 1: Confirm whether your association is subject to SB 326.** If you have attached units where the EEEs are elevated wood structures, you are subject. If you have only detached single-family homes with no shared elevated walkways, you may not be. When in doubt, consult your HOA attorney.

**Step 2: Hire a licensed structural engineer who specializes in SB 326 inspections.** This is not a job for a general building inspector. You need an SE licensed in California, ideally with Bay Area condo experience. Request proposals from at least two firms.

**Step 3: Complete and document the inspection.** The inspector will access each unit's balcony or deck — coordinate with homeowners well in advance. The more organized your access coordination, the faster and less expensive the inspection.

**Step 4: Address any deficiencies identified.** If repairs are needed, obtain contractor bids, review your reserve study for funding, and execute repairs in a documented, prioritized order. Keep all repair documentation tied to the original SB 326 report.

**Step 5: File the report and notify your insurance carrier.** Once complete, notify your insurance carrier and provide documentation. This may affect your upcoming renewal premium in a positive direction.

**Step 6: Plan for your nine-year re-inspection.** Add the next SB 326 inspection to your reserve study as a projected capital expense. The cost of an SB 326 inspection for a mid-size Bay Area condo association typically ranges from $3,000 to $15,000 depending on unit count and EEE complexity.

AB 2579: The 2024 Amendment That Extended the Deadline (and What It Means Now)

In 2024, AB 2579 amended SB 326 to extend the initial deadline for some associations from January 1, 2025 to January 1, 2026 — specifically for associations that had made a good-faith effort to complete the inspection but faced delays due to inspector availability, access coordination challenges, or funding constraints.

If your association requested and documented a good-faith extension, the extended deadline was January 1, 2026 — which has also now passed.

If you have not completed the inspection and did not document a good-faith extension, you are out of compliance regardless of which deadline applied to your association.

Frequently Asked Questions

We have an older wood-frame condo building built in the 1970s. Does SB 326 definitely apply?

Almost certainly yes. SB 326 was specifically written to address failures in older wood-frame construction. The wood-frame requirement in the statute is an inclusion criterion, not an exclusion — if your balconies and walkways have wood or wood-based load-bearing components (as nearly all pre-1990 Bay Area condo buildings do), you are covered.

Our balconies are concrete. Do we still need to comply?

If the load-bearing components of your EEEs are concrete, steel, or masonry with no wood-based components, SB 326 may not apply to those specific elements. However, the connection points where concrete elements attach to wood-frame building structures may still qualify. An SE can make this determination.

What does an SB 326 inspection cost in the Bay Area?

Most Bay Area SE firms are charging $150-350 per unit for an SB 326 inspection for a complete report, with a minimum for small associations. A 30-unit complex might pay $5,000-8,000. Firms with prior SB 326 experience typically provide the most useful reports and the clearest remediation guidance.

We found out our reserves don't have enough to cover the repairs needed. What can we do?

You have three funding options: (1) special assessment — one-time charge to owners to fund the repair; (2) HOA loan — associations can borrow against future dues revenue; (3) phased repair plan — address the most urgent items first, fund additional repairs over subsequent years with an updated reserve contribution rate. Association Property Managers helps Bay Area boards navigate reserve shortfalls and repair funding plans.

Can we be held personally liable as board members for not completing the inspection?

Board members who knew about the SB 326 requirement and took no action could face claims of breach of fiduciary duty if a structural failure occurs. The best protection for individual board members is documentation: document that the board was informed of the requirement, that steps were taken to engage an inspector, and that any delays were outside the board's control.

Association Property Managers coordinates SB 326 inspections for Bay Area condo associations — from inspector procurement to homeowner access scheduling to insurance documentation. Contact us to get started.