Los Angeles County, California
Roof Certifications in Los Angeles
No California law makes you certify a roof to sell a house. You order one because a lender, an insurer or a buyer asked, and only a licensed C-39 roofing contractor can inspect it, make the repairs and put his name on the term.
Free, and there is no obligation to go ahead.
- Free roof inspection
Someone comes out, gets on the roof, and tells you what they find.
- The price in writing
A written quote before anyone starts, with nothing to sign on the day.
- Licensed roofers
The roofer who turns up holds a current California license.
- Across Los Angeles County
From the Valley and the foothills to the Westside and the South Bay.
No California law requires a roof certification to sell a house. The law requires the Transfer Disclosure Statement under Civil Code 1102, whose form at section 1102.6 asks the seller for the roof type and its approximate age, and for no certification from anybody. You order one because somebody with money in the deal asked for it.
- Is it requiredNo California law makes you certify a roof to sell a house
- Who signs itA licensed C-39 roofing contractor, and nobody else
- What it saysInspected, repaired, and free of leaks for a stated term
- Who asksA lender, an insurer or a buyer, usually inside the contingency window
The definition is in the code
Business and Professions Code section 7197(d)(4) defines it as a written statement by a licensed C-39 roofing contractor who has performed a roof inspection, made any necessary repairs, and warrants that the roof is free of leaks at the time the certification is issued and should perform as designed for the specified term.
- Written, and signed by a C-39Its scope at 16 CCR 832.39 is installing and repairing the surfaces that seal and waterproof a structure, and examining that surface as part of the work
- Repairs before warrantyThe order in the statute is the order of the job
- Free of leaks on the day it issuesThe stated term is what covers the days after
- A term has to be statedThe code sets no length. Whoever signs picks the number
Who asks, and when
The C.A.R. Residential Purchase Agreement gives the buyer 17 days after acceptance to investigate unless the parties agreed otherwise. That is when a certification usually gets ordered, and it leaves time to price and do the repairs. When the lender asks late in escrow there is no such room, and a roof that will not certify holds up the loan.
What FHA asks for
HUD Handbook 4000.1 has the appraiser notify the lender where the roof covering does not keep moisture out or give reasonable future utility, and has less than two years of physical life left. The appraisal then issues subject to repair, and the work must be finished before closing. HUD asks only for someone the lender considers qualified, never the C-39. It sets no term either, so the length is whatever the signing contractor will warrant. Ask what he will put on the paper before you order.
Repairs come first, or it does not issue
- Certifiable as it stands, with a remaining life estimate written on it
- Certifiable once repairs are done, which means the work, a second visit, then the certificate
- Not certifiable, where the answer is a replacement and a price conversation with the buyer
Ballpark, not quotes. A slipped tile, a vent reseal or a cracked pipe boot typically runs $400 to $900. Chasing a single source of water commonly lands at $800 to $2,500. A composition re-roof is $9,000 to $25,000. The bands are on roofing costs.
When the home inspection law applies, and when it does not
Chapter 9.3 applies only where a home inspection is part of the deal. Section 7195(a)(1) defines that as a noninvasive physical examination performed for a fee in connection with a transfer of a one to four unit dwelling, and section 7195(e) covers sales, exchanges, installment land sales contracts, lease options and ground leases. An owner who is not selling sits outside it, and so does anything over four units.
Section 7197(a)(1) bars repairing, for an additional fee, a structure on which the inspector or his company prepared a home inspection report in the past 12 months. A roofer whose report covers only the roof has not prepared such a report under section 7195(a)(1). Where one company handles both jobs, section 7197(d) governs. It allows that on three conditions: different employees do the two inspections, the roof inspection is ordered first or at the same time or else finished before the home inspection starts, and the written disclosure reaches you before you authorize the home inspection, naming the company doing both, the repairs it covers, and your right to a second opinion under section 7197(d)(3)(C).
What a home inspection report will not say
CREIA leaves out the one thing a certification is made of. Its standards of practice do not require the inspector to warrant or certify that a roof is free of leakage. The rest of the gap is on what a home inspection covers. With nobody demanding paperwork, a roof inspection answers the same question, and the visit and written quote cost nothing.
If the ask came from your insurer
No California statute requires a certification for a homeowners policy. It is underwriting, and it differs carrier by carrier. Reporting through 2026 has most of the largest California carriers restricting cover on roofs over about 25 years old, some declining them outright and some writing them at actual cash value instead of replacement cost. Rules move and they differ by carrier, so ask your agent what yours wants before you order anything.
What should be on the paper
The statutory elements are the floor. Trade practice adds the inspection date, the condition of covering, flashings, penetrations and decking, the remaining life estimate and the repairs done. Ask for the signing contractor's CSLB license number so you can look it up. None of that is in the statute, so ask before the visit is booked.
If you want the roof looked at first, send the details. A certification only counts when it comes from a licensed C-39 contractor who inspects, does the repairs and signs his own license number to the term.
The offer
$500 off a new roof, 10% off any repair
Start online and it is attached to your request, with nothing to remember.
- We get on the roof, and into the attic if that is where the answer is
- You get photographs of whatever we find
- The price in writing, with nothing to sign on the day
Where we work
Across Los Angeles County
Tell us what is going on
A description is enough to start. We will come out, look at the roof properly, and give you the price in writing.