Davis signs seven bills he says will help produce more low-cost housing
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Saying Californians should have a”decent roof over their heads,”Gov. Gray Davis on Friday signed a series of bills designed to produce more low- and moderately priced housing. The seven measures include a bill that supporters predict will spur condominium and town house development by helping avoid court battles over construction defects. The bill, by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, sets detailed liability standards for new housing and gives builders a time period in which to make repairs before homeowners can file lawsuits. In a benefit for homeowners, the bill essentially overturns a state Supreme Court decision that said home buyers have to suffer actual damage before filing a construction defect lawsuit. “They don’t have to wait until the roof actually caves in,”Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, a co-author of the bill, said in a conference call announcing the bill signings. The measure also requires builders to provide home buyers with at least a one-year warranty covering certain building components. Steinberg said the bill, which was worked out in lengthy negotiations, would bring some certainty to the market and”lead to the building of thousands of additional units of affordable housing in California.” More : rgj.com |