Foundation surprises in a home purchase often aren’t surprises. The crack was in a photo, the seller checked a box on a form, or the home inspector wrote “recommend further evaluation” near the back of the report. The problem is timing. By the time anyone reads those signals closely, the window to act on them has narrowed or closed.
This guide is for buyers of La Jolla and San Diego homes who want to handle foundation questions while they still have choices. It covers what California law makes the seller and agents hand you, what it doesn’t, the questions worth asking at each stage, and the documents to request. If you want to know what the different kinds of inspection actually examine, start with our post on what a foundation inspection covers. This one is about sequence and paperwork. For how we scope an evaluation itself, see our foundation inspection page.
The short version: read the disclosures first, schedule the general inspection early, and leave room in your contingency period for a follow-up if the first report points at the foundation.
What you’re entitled to receive, and what you aren’t
California gives buyers of most single-family homes a set of disclosures. They are useful, and they have limits written into them.
The Transfer Disclosure Statement (TDS). Civil Code §1102 and the sections after it require sellers of most single-family homes to complete this form, and §1102(c) says any waiver of those requirements is void. The form’s seller section asks, among other things, whether the seller is aware of:
- Room additions, structural modifications, or other alterations or repairs made without necessary permits
- Work not in compliance with building codes
- Fill (compacted or otherwise) on the property
- Any settling from any cause, or slippage, sliding, or other soil problems
- Flooding, drainage, or grading problems
- Major damage from fire, earthquake, floods, or landslides
Those six lines are the ones to read first for foundation history. Read the explanations attached to any “yes,” and notice blanks.
The form also states, in capital letters, that it is a disclosure and not a substitute for any inspections the buyer may want to obtain. A clean TDS tells you what the seller says they know. It does not tell you what is under the house.
The Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement (NHD). Civil Code §1103.2 sets out this form, which reports whether the property lies in mapped zones, including an Earthquake Fault Zone and a Seismic Hazard Zone for landslide or liquefaction. The form itself warns that the maps “are not definitive indicators of whether or not a property will be affected by a natural disaster” and suggests that buyers and sellers “may wish to obtain professional advice.” Treat a “yes” as a prompt to ask a geotechnical question, not as a verdict on the house.
The earthquake guide, for older homes. Under Government Code §8897.1, a seller of a home built before January 1, 1960, with one to four units of conventional light-frame construction, must deliver the state’s Homeowner’s Guide to Earthquake Safety and complete an earthquake hazards disclosure. Section 8897.2 lists the weaknesses the seller must disclose if they actually know of them, including missing anchor bolts at the sill plate, unbraced perimeter cripple walls, and a perimeter foundation of unreinforced masonry. The 2020 edition of the guide also raises hillside foundations, noting that hillside homes “require special engineering to resist earthquake shaking.” Our posts on cripple wall bracing and bolt-and-brace retrofits explain those items.
What the agent’s inspection leaves out. Civil Code §2079 requires the listing broker to conduct “a reasonably competent and diligent visual inspection” and disclose material facts it would reveal. Section 2079.3 then excludes areas that are “reasonably and normally inaccessible” and any affirmative review of “public records or permits.” Section 2079.5 adds that buyers still have a duty “to exercise reasonable care to protect” themselves.
Put together: the crawl space nobody entered and the permit history nobody pulled are, by default, your job.
Timing: work backward from your contingency deadline
Your purchase contract sets the length of your inspection or investigation contingency. We don’t quote a typical number because contracts differ. What matters is the order of events inside whatever window you have.
- Read the TDS and NHD as soon as they arrive. If a disclosure, or a material amendment to one, is delivered after you’ve made an offer, Civil Code §1102.3 gives you three days after delivery in person, or five days after delivery by mail or electronic record, to terminate by written notice. Ask your agent or attorney how that interacts with your contract.
- Book the general home inspection early. It’s the screen that tells you whether you need anything more.
- Hold a slot for a foundation or structural follow-up. If the inspector flags cracks with displacement, sloping floors, a wet crawl space, a leaning retaining wall, or hillside conditions, you want a second visit scheduled before your deadline rather than discovered after it.
- Request seller documents in parallel. Prior reports and repair records can change what the follow-up needs to look at.
- Pull the City permit history yourself. It takes some time, and nobody else in the transaction is obligated to do it.
The habit we’d steer you away from is serial scheduling: waiting for the home inspection report, then reading it, then calling for a follow-up. Overlap where you can.
Questions to ask at each stage
When you read the disclosures
- For each “yes” on the foundation, soil, drainage, or permit lines: when, what was done, who did it, and is there paperwork?
- For each blank: was the question skipped, or is the answer “no”?
- Did the seller list any substituted inspection reports in Section I of the TDS? Ask for copies.
At the general home inspection
Under Business and Professions Code §7196.1, a home inspector who is not a registered engineer cannot perform analysis of structural integrity that amounts to civil engineering. That isn’t a weakness. It’s the reason good inspectors write “further evaluation” when they see something they can’t size up. Ask yours:
- Which foundation areas could you not see or reach, and why?
- Is this crack, slope, or gap something you’d want an engineer or foundation specialist to look at before my contingency ends?
- Were there signs of past repair, such as patched cracks, new posts, or shims?
One more rule worth knowing: §7197 makes it an unfair business practice for a home inspector to offer, for a fee, repairs on a structure they’ve reported on in the past twelve months. If the person who wrote your report offers to fix what they found, that’s a flag.
At a foundation or structural follow-up
- Is the movement likely active, dormant, or impossible to tell from one visit?
- Is this a monitoring question, a drainage question, or a repair question?
- Does the site call for a geotechnical look, given fill, slope, or a seismic hazard zone on the NHD?
- What would you need to see to be more confident, and can that happen before my deadline?
For hillside lots, our hillside foundation repair page explains why slope questions often need geotechnical input. For whole-house load-path concerns beyond the foundation, see structural inspection.
Documents to request from the seller
Ask in writing, through your agent, early:
- Any prior home inspection, foundation, structural, or geotechnical reports
- Repair invoices, scopes of work, and contracts for foundation, drainage, or retaining-wall work
- Permit numbers and final inspection records for that work
- Engineering plans or letters tied to past repairs
- Monitoring readings, survey points, or dated photos of cracks
- Earthquake retrofit records, if the seller disclosed corrective work under §8897.2(b)
Our companion post, the seller foundation documentation checklist, covers the same list from the other side of the table. If the seller has read it, you may get a tidy folder.
How to read an older report the seller hands you
A report written for someone else, years ago, is useful history. It isn’t a current opinion about your purchase.
The City of San Diego’s Guidelines for Geotechnical Reports say it plainly in their consumer section: geotechnical services “are performed for specific purposes, persons, and projects,” and “subsurface conditions can change.” For permit purposes, the same guidelines treat a geotechnical report as valid for three years unless the consultant set a shorter date.
Questions to bring to any older report:
- Who wrote it, and what license did they hold?
- What was it for: a purchase, a repair design, a permit?
- What areas were inaccessible or not tested?
- Were its recommendations carried out, and is there proof?
Civil Code §1102.4 also matters here. When a seller delivers a report from a licensed engineer, geologist, contractor, or other expert in response to a request, that can limit the seller’s liability for errors in that information, as long as the statute’s conditions are met. That’s one more reason to read the report closely and ask who stands behind it today.
Checking permit history with the City
La Jolla is part of the City of San Diego, so permit records for any La Jolla address sit with the Development Services Department. City Information Bulletin 110 (April 2026) says those records help buyers “verify whether a project required discretionary approval and was legally constructed and completed.”
What to expect:
- Online search by address, permit number, or Assessor Parcel Number through OpenDSD, Accela, the Permit Finder, and the Open Data Portal, which covers applications back to 2003.
- Older permits issued before 2003 are mostly on paper and are searched in person at City self-service stations, according to the City’s records guide.
- Plans can only be viewed in person by appointment. Copies need written permission from the current owner and the design professional who signed them, so plans are hard to get quickly during escrow.
Compare what you find with the TDS. If a seller reports a foundation repair and there’s no permit or final inspection on record, ask why. Our San Diego permit basics post explains when foundation work needs a permit.
When the follow-up finds something
A finding doesn’t automatically end a deal. Your options depend on your contract and your tolerance for uncertainty. Common paths:
- Ask for more investigation before the contingency ends, if the seller will agree to an extension
- Ask for credits or repairs, with scope defined by a licensed professional rather than a guess
- Accept the condition with a monitoring plan
- Walk away within your contingency rights
The Homeowner’s Guide to Earthquake Safety makes a point that applies more broadly: state law does not require either the seller or the buyer to strengthen a home against earthquake risks. Repairs are a negotiation, not a legal requirement of the sale. Our post on when to involve a structural engineer covers who should define a repair scope.
Cost factors, not prices
We don’t publish prices. What a buyer’s foundation follow-up involves depends on access to the crawl space or slab, lot slope, whether a level survey is needed, whether geotechnical work or lab testing comes into play, the number of disciplines involved, and how fast the answer is needed. See our foundation inspection page for how evaluations are scoped.
Next step
If you’re in escrow on a La Jolla home and the report says “further evaluation,” call early in your contingency window. La Jolla Structural evaluates homes anywhere in La Jolla, and we coordinate with licensed engineers as needed when a question calls for engineering or geotechnical work. Request a Free Quote, or call (650) 739-6537.
This post is general information, not legal advice. For questions about your contract or disclosure rights, talk with your real estate agent or a California real estate attorney.
Sources (accessed October 11, 2026)
- California Civil Code §1102, §1102.3, §1102.4, and the Transfer Disclosure Statement form (§1102.6, as reproduced by the California Department of Real Estate in Disclosures in Real Property Transactions and form RE 640)
- California Civil Code §1103.2 (Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement)
- California Civil Code §2079, §2079.3, §2079.5
- California Government Code §8897.1–§8897.5
- California Seismic Safety Commission, Homeowner’s Guide to Earthquake Safety, 2020 edition
- California Business and Professions Code §7196.1, §7197
- City of San Diego Information Bulletin 110, Permit Records and Mapping Information (April 2026)
- City of San Diego Development Services, Records page and Public Records Act request guide
- City of San Diego, Guidelines for Geotechnical Reports (2008): §1.6, §2.4