The Hottest Real Estate Issue for 2012

This is the first time I greet residents of Malibu in this grateful new year. It's a time for letting go of stale, old ways and ideas. It's a time of celebration as we grab hold of the fresh and new, so we can have amazing accomplishments this year.

There is a major issue in Malibu that is real estate-related. It pertains to property values and disclosures that agents will be required to make to city of Malibu property buyers. This issue is the city's View Restoration Ordinance.

This is a 168-page document that most people will never have time to read; therefore, it's important to learn what you can about this ordinance and how it may affect current and new residents. Its purpose is to restore expansive ocean views for the many homeowners who bought in this city, since it's a real estate consensus that buyers have paid and will pay more for a property based on the level of expansiveness of the views of the Pacific.

Last month, the debated several aspects of this ordinance. This topic highly interested me as it relates to real estate and mediation, both areas of my expertise. It was interesting to hear the council members strongly and persuasively articulating their opinions. 

The council has been divided on this topic. At this meeting, there was a surprising reversal and the majority voted in favor of proceeding with the view restoration ordinance. The 3-2 vote directed staff to prepare the final version of the law. It is expected to be voted on at the council's Feb. 13 meeting.

This new law is not a view protection ordinance, rather a view restoration ordinance, which will grant the property owners the right to claim any views that existed in March 1991 when the city was incorporated or when they purchased the property, whichever is more recent.

Much of the discussion surrounded the fact that Malibu residents voted in 2008 in favor of a city ordinance, clearly demanding that their neighbors be required to trim trees to restore primary views. A few terms in the ordinance are significant to its understanding.

Per the city's Website, the purpose of the ordinance is to establish a right for property owners to restore a primary view that has been significantly obstructed by foliage, while striking an equitable balance between the right to reasonable use of one's property, including the maintenance of privacy and the right to protection against unreasonable loss of views.

Foliage is defined as a woody plant with potential to obstruct primary views. It includes trees, shrubs, hedges and bushes.

Primary View means visually impressive scenes of the Pacific Ocean, offshore islands, the Santa Monica Mountains, canyons, valleys or ravines.

Restorative action means conduct undertaken to eliminate a significant obstruction of a primary view.

One focus of the council debate regarded the date that the terms of the ordinance would begin. Some members wanted it to begin when the ordinance goes into effect and not retroactive to the dates that were finally agreed upon as listed above. Another issue was the evidence that must be presented to the city to prove a home's pre-existing views. As real estate professionals, I must recommend to my colleagues new procedures for selling property within the city of Malibu. On day of close, agents should create a time stamp set of photos, which demonstrate the primary view of the residence upon the purchase of a property.

For those real estate professionals representing buyers who bought after 1991, your help may be needed by your clients in order to provide proof that would establish the view upon their purchase. Perhaps, there are flyers and brochures of the property at the time of sale in your files. The city will only accept time-stamped photos. Those that have any evidence of being enhanced by software will not be accepted. Other pieces of evidence would be reports from arborists that may include a projected age of the trees.

At its meeting, the council also agreed that this view determination should run with the land, so that the views agreed upon within the process by the city staff, mediators, arbitrators or a court shall pass to any subsequent buyers. Property owners may want submit to the County Recorder any final documents that stipulate the primary view so that new property owners will retain the right to the determined view.

The final issue is the method of resolving the neighbor-to-neighbor disputes. The ordinance stipulates that the property owners must first discuss their dispute over primary views with their neighbor. If the neighbors cannot resolve their conflict, then they should enter a mediation process. If this still does not work, then the issue should be taken to the courtroom.

As a certified and trained mediator and arbitrator from the Straus Institute, I am supportive of these elements of the ordinance. I believe in mediation as the process that uses a third party to assist people in communicating and resolving conflicts. Mediators are trained to assist people in making decisions that are good for themselves in an environment that is not threatening and where all options can be laid out so that both parties understand one another's interests and issues.

Since the future relationship of the neighbors is important, mediation is the most economical and amicable method so that in the end, neighbors can maintain a friendly relationship as neighbors are meant to have when they live in a community.

This is the longest column I have ever written for Malibu Patch, but it's my opinion that this is the hottest and most important issue to understand that will affect past and future real estate transactions in this great world-famous, little city called Malibu!

Beverly Taki is a California-licensed real estate broker who has represented clients in Malibu for 22 years. She is a Malibu resident and president/broker of . Taki has earned a certificate in dispute resolution from Pepperdine University, specializing in mediation. She can be reached at beverly@beverlytaki.com or 310-456-4843. Her website is beverlytaki.com.