Week in Review : Ventura County : Builder Bars Radon Tests by Potential Home Buyers

In a move that raised state regulators’ eyebrows, a major developer selling nearly 1,000 new houses in the Camarillo and Oak Park areas is prohibiting prospective customers from testing for radon gas before closing their house purchases.

Pardee Construction Co. is also requiring all California customers to sign a contract agreeing not to hold the company responsible if the cancer-causing gas is found after the sale is completed.

According to officials with the state Department of Real Estate, Pardee is the first major California developer to place restraints on potential buyers since the radon gas danger was revealed two years ago. And, as state health officials continue studying the radioactive gas, they say they expect that the number of developers asking customers to sign radon disclaimers to rise, especially in Ventura County, where the highest levels of the hazardous substance in the state have been identified.

In the first statewide residential radon study, state researchers monitored 385 houses in California, including 15 in Ventura County.

On a statewide basis, only 1% of all the houses surveyed exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended maximum radon concentration of 4 picocuries per liter. But in Ventura County, it is estimated that between 10% and 15% of the houses could exceed that level. That estimate is based on sampling over a 12-month period.

Using standard statistical techniques, researchers say, they are able to extrapolate the statewide results with a fair degree of accuracy.

A more extensive yearlong survey of 1,000 homes in the Ventura region is scheduled to be completed by the state in June.

The gas, which seeps up from the ground, is believed to be the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the nation.

Bernie Yantz, Pardee’s assistant vice president of California sales, said his company began asking customers to sign the radon disclaimers about a year ago after an East Coast developer was sued by a homeowner.

“We have every right to dictate our terms,” Yantz said. “So far the disclaimer has not hurt us.”

Pardee’s Ventura County developments requiring customers to sign the contract include the Capri subdivision on Lindero Canyon Road in Oak Park, and the Montelena and Fairfield subdivisions in Camarillo, near Santa Rosa Road.

Although Yantz said no one has challenged Pardee’s radon disclaimer in court, lawyers with the state Department of Real Estate, the state attorney general’s office and the California Assn. of Realtors all questioned the validity of the contracts.

“It seems unreasonable for the developer to say, ‘I won’t test for radon and you can’t test, but if you find it later, I won’t be held liable,’ ” said Gail Ruderman Feuer, a deputy attorney general. “We need to look at it further.”

Barry Barfield, an attorney with the California Assn. of Realtors, agreed.

“This could open up a brand new area of law” and set a state precedent, Barfield said.

Les Bettencourt, a managing deputy commissioner with the Department of Real Estate, said he would discourage buyers from signing the contracts.

“I would have a problem with it,” Bettencourt said. “The consumers should be allowed to test for radon. It’s almost like the developer is saying, ‘Hey, we know there’s a problem, but we don’t want you to find out about it.’ ”