For decades, a renovated house could be sold on its looks. New paint, new floors, new kitchen — and the buyer had no easy way to know who did the work, whether they were licensed, or whether the city ever saw a permit. California closed that gap with AB 968, in effect since July 1, 2024, and most owners who renovate before selling still have not heard of it.
AB 968 — now Civil Code section 1102.6h — applies to a single-family residential property when the seller accepts an offer within 18 months of the date title was transferred to them. Two details matter. The clock runs from the date title passed to you, not from when you finished the work. And it is the *accepted offer* that counts, not the close of escrow — accept at month 17 and close at month 19 and you are still covered.
It was written for house flippers, but the text does not care what you call yourself. Bought a fixer, renovated for a year, life changed and now you are selling? Covered. Inherited, renovated and sold inside the window? Talk to your agent — the calendar is what matters.
If your offer comes in more than 18 months after title passed to you, this particular law does not apply — the standard Transfer Disclosure Statement and its duty to disclose known material facts still do.
Sellers the law covers must disclose, in writing:
Read that middle line again, because it is the one with teeth: the buyer now sees who did your work. A licensed contractor's name and license number sits on your disclosure as a mark of quality. A blank where the contractor's name should be — or cash work by someone unlicensed — is now visible to every buyer, their agent and their inspector.
Failing these disclosures is treated like any other material non-disclosure in California: the buyer can sue after closing — for the cost of repairs, or in serious cases to unwind the sale — and the clock generally runs from when they *discover* the problem, not from when escrow closed. Selling "as-is" does not help; California's disclosure duties cannot be waived by an as-is sale. The few hundred dollars a seller saves on paperwork is not on the same scale as the exposure.
AB 968 is part of a clear direction in California law: renovation history is becoming part of a home's paper trail, the way a car carries its service records. For sellers who renovate properly — licensed contractor, permits where required, invoices kept — the law costs nothing and reads like a warranty. It only bites the work that was never meant to be looked at closely.
This article is general information, not legal advice — for a specific sale, an hour with a California real estate attorney is money well spent.
A California law, in effect since July 1, 2024, that says: if you accept an offer on a single-family home within 18 months of the date title passed to you, you must tell the buyer in writing what renovations and repairs a contractor made, name those contractors and give their contact information where the contract was above the state's minor-work threshold — $1,000 since 2025, inflation-adjusted since — and hand over copies of any permits you obtained. It exists so buyers of recently renovated homes can see who did the work and whether the city inspected it.
If you accept an offer within 18 months of the date title passed to you, yes. The law does not ask why you are selling; it only looks at the calendar, and it measures to the accepted offer rather than to the close of escrow. An owner who bought, renovated and had a job change eight months later is covered exactly like a professional flipper. Past the 18-month mark, AB 968 no longer applies — though the standard Transfer Disclosure Statement and its duty to disclose known material facts never goes away.
The statute's disclosure of renovations targets work performed by a contractor, and the contractor-naming requirement applies only above the state's minor-work threshold — $1,000 since 2025, adjusted for inflation since. But do not read that as a loophole: DIY work you know about is still a material fact under California's general disclosure rules, and anything that needed a permit needed one regardless of who held the hammer. The safe reading is to disclose what you did, whoever did it — concealment is what creates liability.
Two cases. If the work was finish work — paint, flooring, counters, tile — no permit was required, and your disclosure simply says so; that is completely clean. If the work legally required a permit and never got one, you must disclose that too, and expect it to cost you: appraisers do not count unpermitted square footage, lenders and insurers get nervous, and buyers negotiate hard against it. California's streamlined rules have made retroactively legalizing some work, especially ADU conversions, more achievable than it used to be.
Sue, the same as for any material non-disclosure — for repair costs, damages, or in egregious cases rescission of the sale. The limitations clock generally runs from discovery of the problem rather than from closing, so the exposure lasts years. Selling as-is does not remove the duty; California's residential disclosure regime cannot be waived. This is general information rather than legal advice — a real estate attorney can assess a specific situation.
Keep and hand over the paper: a written list of the renovations and repairs a contractor made since you took title, each contractor's name and contact information where the contract cleared the state's minor-work threshold (about $1,000 today), and copies of any permits you obtained — or a pointer to whoever holds them if you were never given copies. If you are renovating now and even might accept an offer within 18 months, build that file as the work happens: contract, license number, invoices, permit cards. Five minutes per project now replaces weeks of reconstruction in escrow.
