Understanding California Accessibility Compliance Requirements
Can anybody share some insight on accessibility requirements in California? I am mainly trying to figure out when modifications/upgrades to a property/premises need to be made if they are non-compliant. Not looking for legal-proof advice, just a better understanding as a commercial agent. 

I found an FAQ from the state. It seems there is no "grandfathering" if a building is old, and ALL buildings should ALWAYS be accessibility compliant. It seems that if you make any modifications to the space, you must make the altered area, the path-of-travel to/from, and the restrooms compliant. Or if you have any  public access or visits from clients, the building must be compliant. 

Is the law basically saying the property always need to be compliant with ADA and state accessibility laws (if it is being used)?  Are the tenant/landlord liable if someone comes in and finds a non-compliance? It seems like a difficult practice to ensure a building is constantly compliant.
[{"id": "gr2vqdu", "text": "ADA access is incredibly important in todays society, but there are many out there who are suing building owners as a means of making money rather than a means of access.  Tenants and landlords are liable. Our buildings have run into this issue, mostly with exterior work. We were sued because we did not have the truncated domes (yellow bump mats) to dictate that the sidewalk is changing to the parking lot. A tenant ran into an issue with counter height not being ADA accessible. Both the tenant and landlord were named in the lawsuit. You do not get a warning or time to correct, you simply have to hire a lawyer and mediate. \n\nA good option for correcting before this happens is to hire a CASp (Certified Access Specialist) to come to your property and give you a report of the things that need changing. After receiving the report, you hire a contractor who has dealt with repairs like this in the past in order to bring your property up to code as much as possible. There are work arounds for certain things, for example, if you cannot have a door that a person in a wheel chair can open, you can install buzzers so an employee can assist the customer. I would suggest getting contractor recommendation from the CASp inspector.\n\nWhile doing this work can be expensive, getting sued for not having your property up to date for ADA access will cost you for the settlement for the lawsuit and you will still have to make the corrections. Additionally, if you are ADA certified according to the requirements of your city or county, you might not be certified Federally and a CASp report helps to protect from this. Lastly, I believe if you have the  CASp report, you get a certain amount of time to correct any deficiencies that your property may have if you do get sued.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gr2xx5t", "text": "&gt;  It seems that if you make any modifications to the space, you must make  the altered area, the path-of-travel to/from, and the restrooms  compliant. \n\nThis is also my understanding. \n\n&gt; Is the law basically saying the property always need to be compliant  with ADA and state accessibility laws (if it is being used)? \n\nOpen to the public, generally. Class A retail vs 50 year old warehouse. \n\n&gt; It seems like a difficult practice to ensure a building is constantly compliant. \n\nUsually only enforced during a new permit pull or change of business.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gr37tuw", "text": "Chris Taylor is the one to call https://ada-pros.com/", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gr3ylaq", "text": "\"Are the tenant/landlord liable if someone comes in and finds a  non-compliance?\"\n\nIn their space.  Landlord; outside the tenant space.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gr4spro", "text": "Thanks for the responses everyone! Shoutout to u/arrowtoe for the detail response and sharing their story.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "grh2unj", "text": "I can provide some insight here having been in similar situation in California.\n\n1. As another poster mentioned you should retain a CASp consultant to provide a formal CASp Report.  That will give you a defined list of all current existing conditions which are not compliant.  I would also recommend you consider hiring this through counsel so if necessary it can be a privileged document.\n2. There are some requirements which must be compliant regardless of planned renovations.  Those should be identified in the CASp report.  Mostly items that are considered \"readily achievable\" and usually these are not significant dollar values.\n3. Most other Accessibility upgrades are triggered based on dollar value of capital improvement.  Going from memory, I think that is a 10% threshold of dollars spent, must be allocated to remediate any accessibility deficiencies.  I think this is also based on a rolling calculation so something like \"within a 5 year period\" so if you are a recent owner you need to be careful from capital improvements prior to your ownership period.\n4. As it is the jurisdiction of each local permitting authority to enforce/manage this state code provision you do get varying levels of feedback or attention to detail depending on your specific building department.\n5. Depending on alterations you may be making that can also require full compliance either due to the nature of the work or that crossing of a dollar value threshold.\n6. One of the benefits of the CASp report is that it does grant the property owner some relief from accessibility lawsuits.  Typically that involves filing a formal remediation plan with timelines for repair/updates.  A local attorney or CASp consultant can provide more information and how that may impact your particular property.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]