The real estate industry and the media recently have been focused on the updates to the Title 24 energy regulations (24 California Code of Regulations, Part 5) that became effective on July 1, 2014, and the increased costs in the completion of tenant improvements that may result from these standards. In the meantime, however, the delayed compliance deadlines for a lesser-known (or perhaps a lesser-publicized) requirement in California to install water-conserving plumbing fixtures have now arrived, and will also likely result in increased costs in the completion of tenant improvements as well as other obligations for all property owners, including single family homeowners.
These requirements were enacted several years before the current drought conditions now impacting the state, but the heightened importance of water conservation will draw greater attention from regulators and building officials in light of present water shortages, and pose particular issues for owners and tenants of real property of all types.
