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Chapter 5 — PRESCRIPTIVE COMPLIANCE METHOD

Section 506A

California Existing Building Code (Title 24, Part 10) · 2022 edition · updated 2026-09-10 · California

Italicized text is a California amendment to the model code, as printed in the official publication.

CHANGE OF OCCUPANCY

506 A .1 Conformance. No change shall be made in the use or occupancy of any building, that would place the building in a different division of the same group of occupancy or in a different group of occupancies, unless such building is made to comply with the requirements of the California Building Code for the use or occupancy. Subject to the approval of the building official, the use or occupancy of existing buildings shall be permitted to be changed and the building is allowed to be occupied for purposes in other groups without conforming to all the requirements of the California Building Code for those groups, provided the new or proposed use is less hazardous, based on life and fire risk, than the existing use.

506 A .1.1 Change in function. A change in function shall require compliance with all the functional requirements for new construction in the California Building Code, including requirements in California Building Code Sec- tion 1224.

Exception: Minimum room clearances, areas and dimensions may meet the requirements of the 2001 Cali- fornia Building Code for existing rooms re-used for a similar purpose, subject to the approval of OSHPD.

506 A .2 Certificate of occupancy. A certificate of occupancy shall be issued where it has been determined that the requirements for the new occupancy classification have been met.

506 A .3 Stairways. Existing stairways in an existing structure shall not be required to comply with the requirements of a new stairway as outlined in California Building Code Section 1009 where the existing space and construction will not allow a reduction in pitch or slope.

506 A .4 Existing emergency escape and rescue openings. Where a change of occupancy would require an emergency escape and rescue opening in accordance with Section 1031.1 of the California Building Code, operable windows serving as the emergency escape and rescue opening shall comply with the following

  1. An existing operable window shall provide a minimum net clear opening of 4 square feet (0.38 m 2 ) with a minimum net clear opening height of 22 inches (559 mm) and a minimum net clear opening width of 20 inches (508 mm).
  2. A replacement window where such window complies with both of the following:

2.1. The replacement window meets the size requirements in Item 1. 2.2. The replacement window is the manufacturer’s largest standard size window that will fit within the existing frame or existing rough opening. The replacement window shall be permitted to be of the same operating style as the existing window or a style

PRESCRIPTIVE COMPLIANCE METHOD

that provides for an equal or greater window opening area than the existing window.

506 A .5 Structural. When a change of occupancy results in a structure being reclassified to a higher risk category, the structure shall conform to the seismic requirements for a new structure in the California Building Code of the higher risk category.

Exception: Specific seismic detailing requirements of Cal- ifornia Building Code Section 1613A for a new structure shall not be required to be met where it can be shown that the level of performance is equivalent to that of a new structure. A demonstration of equivalence shall consider the regularity, over strength, redundancy and ductility of the structure.

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▸Contents — California Existing Building Code (Title 24, Part 10)
California Existing Building Code (Title 24, Part 10)
  1. Chapter 2 — DEFINITIONS
  2. Appendix A — GUIDELINES FOR
  3. Appendix B — SUPPLEMENTARY
  4. Appendix C — GUIDELINES FOR THE WIND
  5. Appendix D — BOARD OF
  6. Chapter 1 — SCOPE AND ADMINISTRATION
  7. Chapter 3 — PROVISIONS FOR ALL COMPLIANCE METHODS
  8. Chapter 4 — REPAIRS
  9. ▸Chapter 5 — PRESCRIPTIVE COMPLIANCE METHOD
    Overview
    1. Section 501
    2. Section 503
    3. Section 502
    4. Section 504
    5. Section 505
    6. Section 506
    7. Section 507
    8. Section 501A
    9. Section 502A
    10. Section 503A
    11. Section 504A
    12. Section 505A
    13. Section 506A
    14. Section 507A
  10. Chapter 6 — CLASSIFICATION OF WORK
  11. Chapter 7 — ALTERATIONS—LEVEL 1
  12. Chapter 8 — ALTERATIONS—LEVEL 2
  13. Chapter 9 — ALTERATIONS—LEVEL 3
  14. Chapter 10 — CHANGE OF OCCUPANCY
  15. Chapter 11 — ADDITIONS
  16. Chapter 12 — HISTORIC BUILDINGS
  17. Chapter 13 — PERFORMANCE COMPLIANCE METHODS
  18. Chapter 14 — RELOCATED OR MOVED BUILDINGS
  19. Chapter 15 — CONSTRUCTION SAFEGUARDS
  20. Chapter 16 — REFERENCED STANDARDS

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