San Rafael RBR Report for Sellers: What to Expect

Most sellers preparing to list in San Rafael assume they know the disclosure drill. Fill out the Transfer Disclosure Statement, order the Natural Hazard Disclosure Report, disclose lead paint if the house predates 1978, done. That checklist is real, and it is also incomplete. Before your sale can close, the City of San Rafael runs its own audit of your house: a physical inspection paired with a full records search of every permit ever pulled on the property, going back to the 1970s. It has nothing to do with state disclosure law. It is a municipal program, and it decides something the standard paperwork never touches: whether unpermitted work sitting in your walls right now becomes your bill or a waived formality.

The mechanism behind that outcome is not what most sellers expect.

The rule that actually determines your exposure

Ask a homeowner who should pay to legalize an unpermitted deck or a converted garage, and most will say whoever built it. San Rafael's Residential Building Resale program does not work that way. The city's policy waives permit fees and penalties for unpermitted work completed before the current owner's purchase, but only if that work was not already flagged on a prior city-issued resale report. If a previous seller's RBR caught the same issue and it was never corrected, the current seller inherits it in full, fees and all.

In practice, this means two houses with identical unpermitted additions, built by different owners decades apart, can land in completely different financial positions at resale. One seller gets a retroactive permit at no cost because nobody ever wrote the problem down. The other gets a bill because someone did, years ago, and the paper trail followed the parcel instead of the person.

That is the part worth sitting with before you list. Your exposure is not a function of what you built. It is a function of what got written down on your parcel's file, sometimes years before you owned it.

What the inspection actually covers

The RBR program, codified in Chapter 12.36 of the San Rafael Municipal Code, requires a report before any residential sale or exchange in the city, whether it is a single-family home, a duplex, a townhouse-condo, or an apartment building. City staff research every building permit, planning file, and code enforcement record tied to the parcel, then send an inspector to walk the property and check it against those records. The finished report goes to the seller, and a signed copy has to reach the buyer before the sale closes.

This is not unique to San Rafael in isolation. Every incorporated city and town in Marin County runs some version of a resale inspection, while the unincorporated pockets of the county do not require one at all. San Anselmo runs its own version through its Building Division, warns buyers to insist on a current report even in off-market sales, and charges an hourly rate for revisions after the report is issued. Mill Valley requires the same report before close of escrow, applied for directly through its Building Department. The requirement is regional, but the specifics of what gets flagged and what gets forgiven differ town by town, which means a seller who last transacted in Novato or Corte Madera cannot assume San Rafael's rules will feel familiar.

Why an older kitchen might sail through and a newer one might not

San Rafael's policy carves out real relief for older work. Improvements completed more than 25 years ago, such as a kitchen or bathroom remodel that didn't add habitable square footage and complies with current zoning, will not trigger a retroactive permit requirement. The inspector photographs it, notes it in the file, and moves on. The city also honors the calendar itself. Work completed before the date a given permit requirement took effect gets acknowledged rather than penalized. Window replacements before 2006 are the example the city cites directly.

That combination means a lot of San Rafael's older housing stock, the postwar bungalows in the flats and the mid-century homes scattered through neighborhoods like Gerstle Park, the Dominican area, and the West End, tends to clear the inspection more cleanly than a home with recent, undocumented work. A remodel finished five years ago without a permit does not get the 25-year pass. It goes into the current inspection as a live issue, and depending on what happens next, it may or may not become the seller's cost.

Here is how the two paths typically diverge:

The city updated its RBR form this year specifically to separate minor unpermitted items from major ones, giving sellers a clearer read on which category they are in before they get to the negotiating table.

The timing problem nobody mentions until it's too late

The inspection itself introduces a scheduling reality that catches sellers who assume they can order it the week they go live. Once an application is submitted, a staff member typically calls within seven business days to set up the inspection, which is then usually completed within ten business days of that call. Add report preparation on top, and a seller who applies the same week they list is often still waiting when the first offers come in.

The report also has a shelf life. It stays valid for six months from the inspection date, with one 90-day extension available on written request. Wait too long between ordering the report and closing, and you are back to square one with a fresh inspection.

As of February 2026, the process changed in one more way. The city moved all permit applications and inspection scheduling to a new online system called OpenGov, and paper submissions are no longer accepted. For sellers and agents used to the old process, that is one more reason to start early rather than assume the paperwork will move at the pace it used to.

The Marin Association of Realtors has pushed this same advice for years, developed jointly with the city after a stretch of friction over how the program was being enforced: file the RBR request before the property is listed, not after it is in escrow. Pulling your own permit history from the city and county in advance, and lining up plans or contractor documentation for anything you suspect might surface, turns a potential mid-escrow scramble into a problem you solved before the sign went up.

A few steps make the difference between a smooth inspection and a delayed one:

• Order the RBR before you list, not after you accept an offer
• Pull your own permit and tax assessment history to cross-check against the city's file
• Gather any old plans, missing permits, or contractor documentation for work you suspect is unpermitted
• Confirm your application went through OpenGov, since paper submissions are no longer accepted
• Track your report's six-month clock against your expected closing date

San Rafael's market moves fast enough that this timing matters. The typical home value in the city sat at roughly $1.28 million as of the end of June 2026, and homes here regularly draw multiple offers within weeks of listing. A resale report that expires mid-escrow, or a violation that surfaces after you are already under contract, can cost you leverage at exactly the moment you have the least room to negotiate it back.

A few questions worth asking before you list

Does a buyer ever need to request the RBR themselves? Typically no. The report is requested by the seller and delivered to the buyer, who signs a statement confirming receipt before closing.

What if the house hasn't changed hands in decades and no prior RBR exists? The city's records search still applies, using whatever permit and planning history it has on file. Without a prior report to compare against, any unpermitted work uncovered during the inspection is more likely to be treated as new, so gathering your own documentation in advance matters even more.

Can I sell the house as-is and skip the inspection? No. The RBR is a city requirement tied to any residential sale or exchange, not something a seller can waive by listing the property in as-is condition.

If you are weighing a sale in San Rafael and want to know where your property likely falls on this spectrum before a buyer's agent finds out for you, that is exactly the kind of groundwork Suzie Koide walks sellers through early, alongside a complimentary home valuation and plan built around your specific address and its permit history, not just the neighborhood median.