Selling a Home in Malibu Could Soon Require a Fire Inspection

The Public Safety Commission wants tougher brush rules than the state's new law.

Holly Bieler · September 6, 2026

Malibu homeowners may have to pass a fire-safety inspection sooner than the rest of the California, after the city's Public Safety Commission voted unanimously last week to recommend stricter brush standards for the city than the state’s new laws.

The proposal is Malibu's answer to a state rule that has been years in the making. In 2020, California lawmakers ordered fire officials to write standards for brush clearance zones that homeowners in fire country would have to maintain.

After years of delay, and an outcry from homeowners over an early draft that would have banned every plant in that five-foot band, the state Board of Forestry [approved a softened version on August 19](https://www.eenews.net/articles/california-approves-landmark-zone-zero-wildfire-rules/).

Malibu's public safety staff think the state went too soft.

"It's a little on the diluted portion of the spectrum," one staff member told the commission last week. "We would like to go a little bit above and beyond."

The new state rules ban material like firewood and wood chips from within five feet of a house, as well as construction like wood fences, and plants against walls. Dry leaves also can’t be within five feet of a house, but trees can stay in that parameter, if their limbs are trimmed clear of the roof.

Owners of existing homes get three years to clear combustibles and five to replace fences, while new construction must comply right away.

Malibu’s version would go back toward the stricter draft: Public Safety Director Susan Dueñas has [asked the commission to consider banning all plants](https://malibu.fm/story/public-safety-commission-to-weigh-zone-zero-plant-ban-20260805) within five feet, with a possible exception for small potted plants in non-combustible containers.

Malibu’s standards also call for beginning enforcement sooner. The California laws call for a three to five year educational probationary period, before enforcement begins. Under Malibu’s rules, enforcement would begin after two years.

But the commission can only recommend. Its 5-0 vote sends the package to the City Council, which would have to write the rules into a city ordinance, settle the enforcement details with the city attorney and add vegetation to the nuisance code; no date has been set.

Whatever the council does, Malibu homes will be subject to the state's zone zero rules once they clear a final legal review in Sacramento.