The Residential Earthquake Hazards Disclosure is a form typically seen in most San Francisco disclosure packages. The Residential Earthquake Hazards Disclosure form is required in all transactions that involve the purchase or sale of pre-1960 residential construction. However, many agents in San Francisco are in the habit of including it in their disclosure package and often include it even when it is not required.
// This post is a part of our series: Your Guide to a San Francisco Disclosure Package. //
The Residential Earthquake Hazards disclosure is a *property specific* disclosure document. It contains information that may help you understand how the property is likely to behave in an earthquake. While this document can contain property specific information, unless a property has had specific seismic retrofitting, the answers to questions on this document are typically “Don’t Know.”
Most homes in San Francisco were constructed prior to 1960, so you will almost always see this form in a San Francisco disclosure package.
The Residential Earthquake Hazards Disclosure guide goes hand in hand with the Earthquake Safety guide mentioned in a previous post. The questions that are answered on this form make much more sense after you’ve had a look at the booklet.
We generally advise our buyers to review the earthquake safety guide before actively searching for a particular home. That way, by the time they find the right home they are familiar with the background information and can apply it to a particular property of interest.