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 re- sult from these standards. In the meantime, however, the delayed com- pliance 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 require- ments were enacted several years before the current drought conditions now impacting the state, but the heightened importance of water con- servation will draw greater attention from regulators and building of- ficials in light of present water shortages, and pose particular issues for owners and tenants of real property of all types.

1. BACKGROUND -

New-construction standards are now applicable to buildings built prior to 1994. California law has required that all toilets and urinals sold or installed on or after January 1, 1994 be low-flow (i.e., toilets having a maximum of 1.6 gallons per flush, and urinals hav- ing a maximum of 1 gallon per flush).1 Subsequent legislation enacted in 20092 was intended to update pre-1994 buildings (and the toilets, urinals, showerheads, faucets and other plumbing fixtures therein), by requiring that the same water-conserving plumbing fixtures be in- stalled in residential and commercial real property built and available for use on or before January 1, 1994. Because the effective date for complying with such requirements was postponed for several years, many may have overlooked these requirements. The law took effect on January 1, 2014, so the time has come to confirm compliance with its requirements.