The Repair Request in a California Home Sale: What Every Los Angeles Seller Needs to Know
California buyers can ask you to fix things after the inspection. Here's how the repair request process works and when to repair vs. give a credit.
What can a buyer ask a seller to fix in a California home sale?
After the home inspection in California, buyers use C.A.R. Form RR (Request for Repair) to ask sellers to make repairs, give a closing cost credit, or reduce the purchase price. Sellers are not required to agree to any item. The only legally mandated pre-sale corrections are earthquake strapping for the water heater, smoke detectors on every level, and carbon monoxide detectors near sleeping areas. Everything else is negotiable.
By Paul Blair | June 21, 2026
In nearly every escrow in Los Angeles, the same thing happens after the inspections are done.
The buyer's report comes in. A roof that has a few years left. An aging HVAC. Maybe active termite activity in the attic, drainage concerns on the hillside, or a collection of deferred maintenance items no one flagged at signing. Then a form arrives: the Request for Repair.
If you're selling a home in Los Angeles, this moment is one of the most misunderstood parts of the entire transaction. Many sellers either panic and agree to fix everything, or dig in and refuse anything. Neither extreme usually serves them well.
Here's how this actually works in California, and how to think through your response.
What the Request for Repair Is
California buyers use a specific form to communicate their post-inspection concerns: C.A.R. Form RR, the Request for Repair. It's a promulgated California Association of Realtors document, and it's how buyers officially request one or more of the following:
- That you complete specific repairs before closing
- That you give the buyer a closing cost credit for a specified amount
- That you reduce the purchase price
The seller responds using C.A.R. Form RRRR (Seller Response and Buyer Reply). You have three paths: agree to all requested items as written, offer a partial response (doing some repairs, offering a credit, or modifying the scope), or decline entirely.
One thing most sellers don't realize: you're not required to respond at all. Silence is legally treated as a decline. You won't lose the contract just because you said no to a repair request. What happens next depends on whether the buyer still has an active investigation contingency.
The investigation period in a standard California purchase agreement runs 17 days from the date the contract is accepted. During that window, contingency removal is what gives buyers their exit ramp. Once contingencies are removed, the dynamic changes entirely.
What You're Actually Required to Do
California law specifies exactly three things a seller must provide before close of escrow, regardless of what the buyer requests:
- Earthquake strapping on the water heater. The seismic brace is required by California state law.
- Smoke detectors on every level of the home. At least one per floor, including basements and attached garages.
- Carbon monoxide detectors near sleeping areas. Required for all homes with an attached garage or fuel-burning appliance.
That's it. Everything else on the inspection report is negotiable.
The roof, the plumbing, the HVAC, the drainage, the aging electrical panel, the pest damage in the attic: all of it can be addressed by repair, credit, price reduction, or nothing at all. You get to choose.
In Los Angeles luxury transactions, this matters more than sellers often expect. Buyers purchasing at $4 million or $7 million still submit repair requests. The items may be different (generator tie-ins, pool equipment, retaining walls, whole-home systems), but the process is identical.
Repair vs. Credit: How to Think Through It
This is where most of the real negotiation happens. After a buyer submits Form RR, the question is usually not whether to engage but how to engage.
Credits are almost always cleaner.
When you offer a buyer a closing cost credit, you're agreeing to contribute a dollar amount toward the buyer's allowable closing costs at escrow. No contractors. No scheduling access during the final weeks of escrow. No risk that a rushed repair creates a new dispute. The buyer closes, takes ownership, and handles the work on their own timeline with their own vendor.
That last part matters. A buyer who accepts a credit can hire anyone they want, at any scope they choose, and complete it when it suits them. A buyer who asks you to repair the roof before closing may still find something to complain about on the final walkthrough.
But credits have limits.
Fannie Mae guidelines cap what lenders will allow as a seller concession, based on the buyer's loan-to-value ratio:
- LTV above 90%: maximum seller credit of 3% of the purchase price
- LTV between 75.01% and 90%: maximum 6%
- LTV at 75% or below: maximum 9%
On a $2 million purchase with a buyer putting 20% down (LTV of 80%), the maximum allowable credit under Fannie Mae guidelines is 6% of the purchase price, or $120,000. That's the ceiling, not a target. The credit also can't exceed the buyer's actual allowable closing costs.
Repairs make sense in specific situations.
If the issue threatens financing or insurability, a credit may not work. Some lenders won't fund a loan on a property with active leaks, significant structural concerns, or conditions that fail their property condition requirements. In those cases, the repair may actually need to happen before closing (not because you're required to do it, but because the deal won't close without it).
The other situation where repairs make sense: small, discrete items where doing the work is genuinely easier than building a financial workaround. A broken GFCI outlet. Missing smoke detectors. A leaking angle stop under a kitchen sink. These don't need to become a credit negotiation. Just fix them.
How to Decline (and What Happens Next)
Sellers have every right to decline a repair request. On a home sold in its present condition, with full disclosures provided, the buyer agreed to the property as it was when they wrote the offer. A repair request is a reopening of the negotiation, and you're not obligated to re-trade the deal.
When you decline, the buyer faces a choice: remove the investigation contingency and proceed, ask for an extension (which requires your agreement), or cancel the contract and recover their deposit.
The real risk of declining everything is not legal, it's practical. If the issues on the inspection report are significant and you've left the buyer with no path to resolution, they may walk. In a slower market or on a home that took time to get into contract, that's a real cost.
The more common outcome: sellers respond to the most material items (safety-related items, anything that could affect financing or insurance) and decline the smaller cosmetic requests. That's where the actual negotiation lands.
If a buyer does back out after contingency removal, the situation looks very different. That's covered in more detail in what sellers keep if the buyer backs out after removing contingencies in California.
A Note on Pest Reports
Termite and pest reports generate their own version of this conversation. Section 1 items on a California pest report (active infestations, structural damage from wood-destroying organisms) and Section 2 items (conditions likely to lead to infestation) create separate disclosure obligations and separate repair discussions. The negotiation around who pays for pest work follows its own conventions in Los Angeles.
For a full breakdown of how the termite report works in an LA home sale, that's covered separately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to fix everything the buyer asks for in a California home sale?
No. California homes are sold in their present condition. Sellers are only legally required to provide earthquake strapping on the water heater, working smoke detectors on every level, and carbon monoxide detectors near sleeping areas. Everything else on a Request for Repair is negotiable. You can agree, offer a credit, counter with a partial response, or decline entirely.
Can I give the buyer a credit instead of making repairs in California?
Yes, and in most cases a credit is the cleaner path for sellers. You contribute a dollar amount toward the buyer's allowable closing costs at escrow, and the buyer handles the work after taking ownership. Lender guidelines cap the total credit based on the buyer's loan-to-value ratio, typically between 3% and 9% of the purchase price.
What happens if I don't respond to a repair request in California?
No response from the seller is legally treated as a decline. The buyer must then decide whether to remove their investigation contingency and proceed, request more time, or cancel the contract. The outcome depends on whether the buyer still has an active contingency and how significant the unaddressed items are.
How long does a buyer have to submit a repair request in California?
The standard investigation period in a California Residential Purchase Agreement is 17 days from the date the contract is accepted. Buyers typically submit the Request for Repair before that window closes. Extensions require mutual written agreement.
Do luxury home buyers in Los Angeles still ask for repairs?
Yes. Buyers at every price point submit repair requests. At $3 million, $7 million, or higher, the items tend to be larger in scope (whole-home systems, retaining walls, pool equipment, generators), but the process is identical. The difference is that credits on high-value transactions can be structured for more dollars, and the lender credit caps leave more room at the lower loan-to-value ratios common in luxury purchases.
The repair request is one of those moments in escrow that can feel confrontational but doesn't have to be. Most experienced sellers respond to the items that matter, decline the items that don't, and use credits when it's cleaner than managing contractors during escrow. The goal isn't to win the negotiation. It's to get to closing with the right outcome for your bottom line.
If you're selling in Los Angeles and want to think through how to position your property and handle inspection negotiations, I'm happy to walk through it. Get your home value estimate or reach out directly.
About Paul Blair
Paul Blair is the founder and broker of Grey Square, a virtual real estate brokerage representing buyers and sellers across Dallas and Los Angeles. With 22 years in the business and more than $200 million in closed transactions, Paul works the full range of the market, from luxury homes in the Park Cities and Preston Hollow to estates in the Hollywood Hills and across the Westside. Connect with Paul and the Grey Square team at greysq.com. TX TREC #9011505 · CA DRE #01792671.