California · Davis-Stirling Act

The 48 hours before someone sprays.

One section, and it only bites in one situation: when the association or its agent applies pesticide without a licensed pest control operator. Then it owes written notice, in everyday words, containing a paragraph the Legislature wrote out in full.

When the section applies at all

§ 4777(b)(1) is conditioned on the pesticide being applied without a licensed pest control operator — defined in (a)(5) as anyone licensed by the state to apply pesticides. Hire a licensed operator and this section's duties do not arise; have the gardener or the maintenance staff do it and they do.

"Association" includes an authorized agent — (a)(2): any individual, organisation or entity that has agreed to act on the association's behalf. The management company is covered.

§ 4777(a)(7) defines "pesticide" broadly — any substance intended to control, destroy, repel or mitigate a pest — and excludes only antimicrobial pesticides as defined by federal law. A pest is a living organism causing property damage or economic loss, or transmitting or producing disease.

Who has to be told

Always the owner and, if applicable, the tenant of the affected separate interest. And where the work is a broadcast application — which (a)(3) defines as spreading pesticide over an area greater than two square feet — or uses total release foggers or aerosol sprays, the circle widens to the owner and tenant of an adjacent separate interest that could reasonably be impacted.

§ 4777(a)(1) defines adjacent tightly: directly beside, above, or below the separate interest or the common area. Not the whole building; the neighbours who share a wall, a floor or a ceiling.

What the notice must say

In words with common and everyday meaning, under § 4777(b)(1):

1. The pest or pests to be controlled.
2. The name and brand of the pesticide product proposed.
3. The statutory caution paragraph, set out verbatim in subparagraph (C) — it names the Department of Pesticide Regulation, the US EPA, the 24-hour symptom window, the California Poison Control System number, and where to ask health and regulatory questions.
4. The approximate date, time and frequency of application.
5. The sentence: "The approximate date, time, and frequency of this pesticide application is subject to change."

How a tenant is reached, and how the wait is waived

§ 4777(b)(4) gives three ways to notify a tenant: first-class mail, personal delivery to a tenant 18 or older, or electronic delivery where the tenant has provided an email address. Any one will do.

The 48 hours belong to the resident, so the resident may give them up. § 4777(b)(5)(A): after receiving the written notice, the owner or tenant may agree in writing — or electronically, if that is how the notice came — to an immediate or an agreed-upon application.

Subparagraph (B) covers the case where the request comes first. The association may agree orally to an immediate application if the resident asks for it before the 48-hour notice has gone out — but then, no later than the time of application, it must leave the written notice in a conspicuous place in or at the entrance of the separate interest, where a reasonable person would find it. Any adjacent owner or tenant who must also be notified gets the notice as soon as practicable after the oral agreement, and in no case later than the start of the application.

And it ends up in the minutes

§ 4777(b)(6), one line and easily overlooked: a copy of the written notice shall be attached to the minutes of the board meeting immediately following the application. So the notice is not merely delivered — it becomes an association record, in the minutes, available to any member who asks to see them.