Effective on January 1, 2011, the California Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act of 2010 mandates that all California dwellings have working carbon monoxide detectors installed on or before July 1, 2011.
Formally presented in Senate Bill 183 and signed into law last May, this rule further requires that sellers disclose in the TDS whether or not a carbon monoxide detector has been installed in the home and the TDS requires sellers to certify that certain safety laws have been followed. Failing to make these disclosures could set the seller up to be liable for civil penalties. However, the penalties are nominal and they cannot invalidate the property transfer.
The TDS form, which is short for Transfer Disclosure Statement, is a three-page document that is often used as supporting evidence in court when a buyer decides to sue a seller for non-disclosure. This is why the sellers really need to fill it out correctly and disclose pertinent information.
Most of the TDS form is self-explanatory, but there are several tricky areas that even some real estate agents do not fully understand. Also, sellers have to fill out this form must in their own handwriting. Agents cannot and will not complete this form for a seller under any circumstances. So, even if you are unable to fill it out then ask a close relative to do it for you, but never ask your agent to fill it out.
Before the bill came into law there was no explicit requirement about carbon monoxide detectors. However, now a seller must explicitly state whether or not a carbon monoxide detector is installed within the home.
Furthermore, the seller must certify that they will make sure that the property is compliant with smoke detector and water heater safety laws before close of escrow. Before the seller only had to make a disclosure about the property’s compliance with smoke detector installation laws and water heater safety laws, but it did not require any type of certification.