Legislation Dealing with Construction or Repair Permits for Multiunit Residential Buildings

The provisions House Bill 1848, Ch. 456 Laws of 2005 ( 70 KB),  effective August 1, 2005, need to carefully be reviewed by any city or county that has multiunit residential buildings under construction or being planned. This is the legislative response to the serious construction/repair problems that have occurred over the past few years concerning water penetration of building enclosures (mostly on the West side of the Cascades). The law:

1. Prohibits the issuance of "a building permit for construction of the building enclosure of a multiunit residential building or for rehabilitative construction unless the building enclosure design documents contain a stamped statement . . ." [sec. 3 of the bill];
2. Requires that all multiunit residential buildings have the building enclosure inspected by a qualified inspector [defined in sec. 5 of the bill] during the course of initial construction and during rehabilitative construction;
3. Describes the minimum standards for the building enclosure inspection [sec. 6];
4. Prohibits issuance of a "certificate of occupancy or other equivalent final acceptance until submission of a signed letter certifying . . ." [sec. 7]; and
5. Prohibits the sale of condominium units if various provisions of the bill have not been followed.

Cities and counties:

1. May need to hire independent qualified inspectors to do the special inspections required by the law;
2. Should review their existing regulations to make sure that the full cost of such inspections will be charged to the building owner; and
3. Should review these new requirements with their building departments and permit technicians, and revise their procedures to make sure that all the required certifications and inspections are completed prior to issuance of building permits or certificates of occupancy.