Property Records
The 3R report, and the gap it leaves open
San Francisco requires a Report of Residential Building Record before a home sale. It is useful, it is misunderstood constantly, and the warning printed on its own face is the most important thing on it.
By Paulo Serna, San Francisco Real Estate Agent, Compass | Level Up Group · CA DRE# 02150409 · SF resident since 1995 · Updated August 2026
The short version: a 3R report tells you what the City's records say a property is authorized to be. It does not tell you what the property physically is, it does not cover plumbing or electrical permits, and it does not certify that anything is legal. The report says so itself, in bold, on its own face. That gap between authorized and actual is where most of the risk in an older San Francisco building lives.
What it is, and why you cannot skip it
A 3R is a Report of Residential Building Record, compiled by the Department of Building Inspection from City records. San Francisco Housing Code Section 351(a) requires the owner, or the owner's authorized agent, to obtain one before selling or exchanging any residential building, and to deliver it to the buyer before the sale is consummated. Selling without doing so is unlawful. There is one exemption: a first sale within one year of the Certificate of Final Completion.
The same section places a separate duty on licensed agents: any person licensed to sell property in California must provide a copy of the 3R on request to a prospective buyer, for any residential property the broker has listed. The code assigns the duty to obtain and deliver to the owner. Who actually pays for it is a negotiated term of your contract, not something the code decides.
What is on it
Section 351(c) lists what DBI must include, qualified every time by the phrase "insofar as ascertainable from City records": present authorized occupancy or use, condominium status, residential hotel guest room status, zoning district, Building Code occupancy classification, any nonconforming use expiration date from Planning, the building's construction date, its original occupancy or use, construction and conversion and alteration permits issued, active Franchise Tax Board referrals and abatement proceedings, the number of residential structures on the property, energy inspection compliance, soft story retrofit program status and completion, and whether the property sits inside the SFPUC 100-year storm flood risk map.
Worth knowing: there is no discrete "number of legal units" field. Unit count reaches you through the authorized occupancy line, which is why that line deserves a careful read rather than a glance.
The warning printed on the report
The code dictates the disclaimer word for word, and requires it in bold on the face of every report. Read it as the operating instruction it is:
Beware. This report describes the current legal use of this property as compiled from records of City Departments. There has been no physical examination of the property itself. This record contains no history of any plumbing or electrical permits. The report makes no representation that the property is in compliance with the law. Any occupancy or use of the property other than that listed as authorized in this report may be illegal and subject to removal or abatement, and should be reviewed with the Planning Department and the Department of Building Inspection.
Three separate limits sit in that paragraph: no physical inspection, no plumbing or electrical history, and no representation of compliance. The report also states that errors or omissions in it do not stop the City from enforcing building and zoning codes against the seller, the buyer, or any later owner. A mistake in your favor on the report is not a shield.
Cost, timing, and shelf life
The fee is $379 for each residential building on a lot, set by the DBI fee schedule effective July 12, 2026. Paying online by credit card adds 2.5 percent, for a total of $388.48. DBI states it issues a report in seven to ten business days, allows no refunds or changes once payment is submitted, and caps requests at six per person or company per day. A 3R is valid for one year from issuance, and carries both dates on its face. If your listing runs long, check the expiration.
Older figures still circulate widely, including on pages that look official. If you see $148 or $286 quoted for a 3R, the page is stale.
Why I still pull the permit history separately
Because they are different products answering different questions. DBI is explicit that the 3R contains building permits only, and that seeing plumbing, electrical or commercial permits requires a separate public building records request. That request is cheaper, at ten cents per page, and slower, at up to fifteen days. It also reaches further back: building permits from 1906, job cards from 1933, certificates of final completion from 1945, electrical from 1986, plumbing from 1976. DBI's free online permit tracking system only goes back to the 1980s, so an online search that comes up empty on a 1920s building has told you very little.
On a house with obvious additions, a converted garage, or a downstairs unit, the plumbing and electrical record is usually where the story is. That is exactly the record the 3R omits.
The mistake I see most
Treating the 3R as a certificate of legality. It is not one, and it never claims to be. It is a summary of what the City authorized on paper. If the paper says two-family dwelling and you count three kitchens on the tour, the 3R has done its job by showing you the discrepancy, not by resolving it. Resolving it is a conversation with Planning, DBI, and in most cases an attorney.
Who to ask, and what I am not
Discrepancies between authorized use and what is physically there go to DBI and the Planning Department, which is the routing the code itself prints on the report. Questions about legal exposure, disclosure duties, or whether an unpermitted unit can be legalized go to a California real estate attorney. Physical condition goes to a licensed inspector. I am a real estate agent, not a lawyer, inspector, or building official, and nothing here is legal advice.
Sources
- SF.gov, Request a Report of Residential Building Record (3R), for fee, turnaround, and the building-permits-only scope.
- SF.gov, Request building records, for the separate permit-history channel and its date coverage.
- San Francisco Housing Code Chapter 3.5, Sections 351 and 352, for the requirement, the contents list, the mandated disclaimer, and the one-year validity.
Figures verified against the sources above on August 1, 2026. City fees and code provisions change. Confirm anything you plan to rely on.
- A 3R is required before a residential sale, and the duty to obtain and deliver it sits with the owner.
- It reports authorized use from City records only. No physical inspection, no compliance guarantee.
- Building permits only. Plumbing and electrical history takes a separate records request.
- $379 per residential building, seven to ten business days, valid one year.
- The gap between authorized use and actual condition is the thing to investigate, not the report itself.
Related reading
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