If your board has heard about SB 326 or SB 721 but hasn't fully worked through what it means for your association, this page is meant to walk through it plainly — no sales pitch, just what the law requires and what your board's options typically look like once you understand it.

What Are

SB 326

and

SB 721?

Both laws address the same underlying issue — aging exterior elevated elements (EEEs) on multi-family residential buildings, like balconies, decks, stairways, and walkways — but they apply to different types of ownership structures:

SB 721 applies to apartment buildings and other rental multi-family properties with three or more units.
SB 326 applies to condominiums and other properties governed by HOAs — common interest developments, in legal terms.

Both laws were passed following incidents where structural failures of these elements caused serious injury, and both are built around the same core idea: these structures need to be inspected periodically by a qualified professional, and problems found need to be addressed rather than left indefinitely.

What SB 326 Specifically Requires of HOA Boards

If your association falls under SB 326, here's the general framework (your governing documents and specific building details may add nuance — this is the statute's general structure, not a substitute for your inspector's or attorney's specific guidance):

Inspection cycle: Buildings must have their exterior elevated elements inspected once every nine years by a licensed architect, structural engineer, or contractor qualified to perform the inspection.
What's inspected: Load-bearing components and associated waterproofing systems for balconies, decks, stairways, walkways, and similar structures more than six feet above ground level.
What happens if issues are found: The inspector's report will classify findings, and the law requires the association to take action within specific timeframes for anything posing an immediate threat to health or safety, with other findings addressed on a more standard maintenance timeline.
Documentation: Boards are required to retain inspection reports and any documentation of corrective action taken.

What This Means in Practice for a Board

For most boards, the practical sequence looks like this:

Get the inspection done by a qualified professional if you haven't already (this isn't something we perform — see below).
Review the report to understand what was found and how it's classified.
Determine urgency — some findings require prompt action, others can be planned into a standard maintenance or reserve schedule.
Get a scope and cost estimate from a licensed contractor for any required repair work.
Budget and schedule the work — through reserves, a special assessment, or a combination, depending on your association's financial position.
Complete the work and document it for your board's records and future compliance cycles.

Who Performs the Inspection vs.

Who Performs the Repair

This is one of the most common points of confusion, so it's worth being direct about it:

The SB 326 inspection itself must be performed by a licensed architect, structural engineer, or a contractor holding an appropriate license and qualifications to certify the elements — this is an independent, arm's-length assessment.
The repair or waterproofing work that findings often require is a separate contractor engagement, and can be performed by a licensed contractor specializing in that work.

We don't perform SB 326 inspections. What we do is repair and waterproofing work — often for boards who already have a report in hand and need the findings addressed.

What If Your Board Hasn't Had an Inspection Yet

If your association hasn't scheduled its SB 326 inspection, that's a separate step from anything we handle directly, and typically starts with your management company or board reaching out to a qualified inspector. Once you have a report in hand and know what needs to be addressed, that's where our process picks up.

Does SB 326 apply to every HOA, or only certain buildings?

It applies to common interest developments with buildings containing three or more units with exterior elevated elements more than six feet above ground level. Smaller associations or buildings without these structures may fall outside the requirement — your management company or an attorney familiar with the statute can confirm your association's specific status.

What happens if our association misses an inspection deadline?

The statute doesn't specify a direct penalty structure the same way as, say, a building code citation, but non-compliance can create liability exposure for the board, particularly if a structural failure occurs on an uninspected element. Most boards treat the inspection cycle as a firm deadline rather than a flexible one for this reason.

Can our board do a partial fix now and the rest later?

This depends on how your inspector's report classifies each finding. Immediate safety-threat findings generally can't be deferred, but lower-priority items may be able to be phased into a longer-term plan. This is a conversation to have directly with your inspector or contractor once you have specific findings in hand.

Who do we talk to first — an inspector or a repair contractor?

If you don't yet have an SB 326 report, start with a qualified inspector. If you already have a report with findings, that's when a repair contractor like us becomes relevant.

SB 326 & SB 721 Explained