Sell a Fire Damaged House in South San Jose and the Almaden Foothills

The Fifty Foot Rule and the Fifty Per Cent Rule

Two numbers that sound similar and do entirely different things, and it is worth separating them.

Fifty feet is a prohibition. No structure to be used for human occupancy may be constructed over or within fifty feet of the trace of a known active fault shown on the maps. That is a constraint on where a building can sit.

Fifty per cent is a threshold. Alterations or additions where the value does not exceed fifty per cent of the value of the structure are exempt from the requirement to obtain a geologic report. That is a constraint on when the process is engaged. The full position is on our page covering the debris and the ground.

Which of Them Is Likely to Affect Me?

The Waiver Is a Real Route

Where a report would otherwise be required, it may be waived if the city or county geologist determines that no undue hazard from surface fault rupture exists and the waiver is approved by the State Geologist.

And once a report has been approved or a waiver granted, subsequent geologic reports are generally not required, provided no new geologic data warranting further investigation has been recorded. So the requirement is a one-time process on a parcel rather than a recurring one.

Has This Ever Been Applied to Fire Damage?

We publish no hazard determinations, fault trace locations or waiver prospects for individual south San Jose parcels. The city, a registered geologist and the State Geologist hold those, and a waiver is their decision rather than a prediction anyone else can make.

What Changed In 2023

Assembly Bill 1046 was approved on 13 October 2023 and recast the exemptions. As amended, an alteration is exempt where its value does not exceed fifty per cent of the appraised value of the structure and, where use or occupancy changes, the change does not authorise a greater occupant load and is less hazardous on life and fire risk.

The amendments also address identification of sites within fifty feet of an identified fault and require proof that the owner has been notified that granting an exemption is not a guarantee that a geologic hazard does not exist. That last point is worth reading twice: an exemption is procedural relief, not a finding about the ground.

Slope Adds Its Own Costs

Foothill parcels bring access constraints for demolition equipment and material handling, and on a job where waste has to be separated, wetted, contained and removed under controlled conditions, a difficult site costs more.

It is a reason to prefer a buyer who has stood on the property over one quoting from a map, because access surprises here arrive as renegotiations rather than as apologies.

South San Jose in Context

Where ground failure mapping matters more than fault mapping, see our page about north San Jose, Berryessa and Alviso. Where high values make repair under the threshold the obvious route, see our page for Willow Glen and the Rose Garden.

The Sections Behind Both Numbers

Public Resources Code sections 2621 to 2630 carry both figures: the 50 foot prohibition around a known active fault trace and the 50 per cent exemption threshold for alterations and additions. Structures predating 4 May 1975 are treated the same way.

Assembly Bill 1046, approved 13 October 2023, amended sections 2621.6, 2621.7 and 2621.8. The 1991 Berkeley-Oakland Hills fire waivers remain among the recognised exemption categories.

South San Jose Questions