Santa Barbara — Condominium Conversion

Core Project Standards

Before conversion, residential buildings must comply with the City-adopted Uniform Housing Code and California standards. All buildings must meet applicable exit, occupancy, height, and area requirements under the City-adopted and amended California Building Code; this is distinct from obtaining confirmation under the California Building Standards Code. § 28.88.030(A)–(B)

A building generally cannot be converted if its certificate of occupancy was issued within the preceding 5 years, unless it satisfies the City’s requirements for new condominium construction. § 28.88.030(E)

The conversion plan must show project features including structures, driveways, pedestrian ways, walls and fences, landscaping, recreation, drainage, fire hydrants, utilities, lighting, elevations, and unique natural or vegetative features. The plan must also identify the parking assigned or used with each unit. § 28.88.050(A) For broader Santa Barbara Parking, landscaping, and design issues, verify the separate citywide rules; Chapter 28.88 does not supply their general standards.

Building, Utility, and Ownership Readiness

Each unit needs approved smoke detectors located to serve sleeping areas. On-site fire hydrants, alarms, extinguishers, and other fire-protection appliances must remain operable, be maintained by the homeowners’ association, and be addressed in the CC&Rs. § 28.88.040(B)

For multi-unit buildings, wall and floor-ceiling assemblies must meet the referenced sound-transmission standard, or noise- and vibration-producing mechanical equipment must be appropriately isolated. Replacement floor covering must provide the same or better insulation; the rule does not apply to a building with no other unit. § 28.88.040(C)

Gas and electricity must be separately metered by unit, with individual electrical-panel access and unit/appliance gas shutoff valves. Each dwelling unit requires a separate City water meter, and projects with 5 or more units need an additional separate City meter for landscaped areas. § 28.88.040(D)

The Staff Hearing Officer or Planning Commission may grant a utility-metering exception only where a licensed engineer finds literal compliance impracticable, equivalent conservation measures are proposed, and the Public Works Director concurs that equivalent conservation is likely. § 28.88.040(D)(4)

The applicant must provide initial buyers written certification that listed appliances are working at close of escrow. When the homeowners’ association assumes management, the applicant must certify that commonly owned pools, pool equipment, appliances, and mechanical equipment are working. § 28.88.040(G)

Application Package and Physical Investigation

An application will not be accepted without the development plan and physical-elements report required by Chapter 28.88, in addition to other required application materials. § 28.88.050

The physical-elements report must assess condition and remaining useful life for major systems, including roofs, foundations, paving, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire-protection, utility-delivery, and structural elements. It must include replacement-cost estimates for elements with less than 5 years of useful life, a licensed structural pest control report, and a building-history report. § 28.88.050(B)

The application also requires proposed CC&R provisions, unit sizes and room counts, five years of rent history by unit type, two years of monthly vacancy data, tenant-household characteristics, and tenant names and addresses. The Community Development Department may modify an unavailable-information requirement when the developer demonstrates that the information is unavailable. § 28.88.060(A)–(B)

Tenant Protections

The applicant must give every tenant a notice of intent at least 60 days before filing the tentative-map application. Delivery must be personal or by certified mail with return receipt requested, and proof of notice accompanies the application. § 28.88.100(A)

That notice must identify the owner and proposed subdivider, anticipated filing date, purchase and relocation rights, lease-termination rights, rent-increase limits, special-case and moving-expense provisions, hearing rights, and other information required by the Community Development Department. § 28.88.100(A)

Present tenants receive an exclusive right to contract to buy their occupied or equivalent unit for at least 90 days after the later of issuance of the Subdivision Public Report or commencement of sales. They also have a 45-day right of first refusal when a buyer’s accepted price is lower than the price previously required to be offered to the tenant. § 28.88.100(B)

A non-purchasing tenant who is not in lease default receives at least 180 days after final conversion approval to find replacement housing and relocate. The applicant must give each tenant written notice of approval and tenant-affecting conditions within 15 days after approval. § 28.88.100(C)

A present tenant may terminate a lease without penalty after receiving the intent-to-convert notice. A qualifying “special case” tenant—including a person over 62, a handicapped or low-income tenant, a single parent with custody of minor children, or another person likely to have difficulty finding replacement housing—may receive up to an additional 6 months to relocate; tenants with school-age children cannot be required to leave before the school year ends when the 180-day period begins. § 28.88.100(D)–(E)

From approval until conversion, rent may increase no more than once annually and no faster than the annualized Consumer Price Index for all items in Los Angeles–Long Beach, except for increases provided by leases or contracts existing before the conversion application’s filing date. § 28.88.100(F)

A relocating tenant is generally entitled to moving expenses equal to 1.5 times monthly rent or $2,000, whichever is greater, unless the tenant gave notice of intent to move before receiving the owner’s conversion notice. A tenant who exercises the purchase right is not entitled to those moving expenses except as state law requires. § 28.88.100(B)(3), (G)

Prospective tenants renting after the notice of intent must receive written notice of the intended conversion before leasing. If entitled tenants do not receive it, the subdivider owes actual moving expenses up to $1,000 plus first month’s rent at the replacement unit up to $1,000; the notice failure itself is not grounds to deny the conversion. § 28.88.100(H)

Rental-Housing Supply and Approval Findings

If any project units were affordable rental units for at least 24 of the preceding 48 months, approval requires a recorded affordability covenant on the same number and type of post-conversion units, with City affordability-criteria maximum sales prices. Those restricted units must be owner-occupied unless a Council resolution provides otherwise; unsold units retained by the original owner are subject to affordable-rental restrictions. § 28.88.110(A)

The City must disapprove a conversion if the Staff Hearing Officer or Planning Commission finds vacancies were increased to prepare for conversion. The review considers the prior 5 years of rent increases and the prior 2 years of average monthly vacancy rates. § 28.88.110(B)

Approval requires findings that Chapter 28.88 is met; the project is not detrimental to health, safety, and general welfare; it is General Plan-consistent or legally nonconforming with the Land Use Element’s density requirement; and it conforms to the Municipal Code in effect when the application became complete, except as Chapter 28.88 provides. § 28.88.120(A)–(C)

The decision-maker must also find quality, safety, and aesthetic adequacy; required affordability mitigation; no coercive or retaliatory tenant action; reasonable assistance for tenants wishing to purchase; and compliance with § 28.88.130. The content of § 28.88.130 is not found in source materials. § 28.88.120(D)–(H)

Checklist

• Confirm that the proposal converts more than 1 existing dwelling unit, or verify that a Chapter 28.88 exception applies. § 28.88.028(B)
• Obtain Planning Commission approval, unless changed on appeal, and a conversion permit from the Chief Building Official. § 28.88.028(A)
• Verify zoning compliance or lawful nonconforming status and confirm that proposed work will not intensify a nonconformity. § 28.88.030(C)
• Confirm the certificate of occupancy was issued more than 5 years before the tentative-map/conversion application, or meet new-condominium-construction requirements. § 28.88.030(E)
• Prepare the required development plan, physical-elements report, pest-control report, and building-history report. § 28.88.050
• Replace physical elements with less than 2 years of remaining useful life. § 28.88.040(K)
• Demonstrate unit-size, parking, storage, laundry, outdoor-living-space, fire, utility, and accessibility compliance or request a permitted exception. § 28.88.040
• Give each tenant the intent notice at least 60 days before filing and submit proof with the application. § 28.88.100(A); § 28.88.060(C)
• Compile required rent, vacancy, and tenant-household information and submit proposed CC&R provisions. § 28.88.060
• Address affordable-rental-unit history and avoid actions that increase vacancies or coerce tenants. §§ 28.88.110, 28.88.120(F)
• Notify tenants after final-map approval and about the Department of Real Estate public-report application. § 28.88.100(I)–(J)

Risks & Ambiguities

Plain-English Summary

In Santa Barbara, turning an apartment building into condominiums requires more than recording a map: the building must be upgraded or documented to meet conversion standards, tenants must receive substantial advance notice and relocation protections, and the City must find that the conversion protects the public interest and does not improperly erode affordable rental housing.

Source References

• Santa Barbara Municipal Code § 28.88.010 — purpose and rental-housing balance.
• Santa Barbara Municipal Code § 28.88.025 — date of conversion.
• Santa Barbara Municipal Code § 28.88.028 — permit requirement and exceptions.
• Santa Barbara Municipal Code § 28.88.030 — eligibility, code compliance, zoning, and 5-year certificate-of-occupancy rule.
• Santa Barbara Municipal Code § 28.88.040 — physical standards and exceptions.
• Santa Barbara Municipal Code § 28.88.050 and § 28.88.060 — application, reports, and additional submittals.
• Santa Barbara Municipal Code § 28.88.100 — tenant protections.
• Santa Barbara Municipal Code § 28.88.110 and § 28.88.120 — affordable housing, vacancy, and approval findings.