Throughout California City Attorneys and Code Enforcement Divisions are increasingly seeking effective remedies to address protracted code enforcement issues for real property posing a severe threat to the health and safety of their communities.  Citizens find it inequitable for a property owner in their community to consistently maintain a property with serious code violations, inviting crime, creating blight, and depressing property values and demand action from their municipal officials.  California’s Health and Safety Code offers cities and municipalities a powerful tool address such recalcitrant noncompliant properties – receiverships.  Receiverships under the Health and Safety Code offer cost-efficient abatement methods for properties where owners are continuously unwilling or unable to abate violations and perform required corrections to bring a property into safe, complaint, and serviceable condition.

California Health and Safety Code § 17980 et seq. offers a comprehensive tool to nominate and seek appointment of receivers to take full possession and control of nuisance and dangerous properties.  A Health & Safety Receivership is a form of police power authorized by law.  While seen as a drastic remedy, it is often the only way for a city or municipality to remedy these perpetually hazardous properties, enforce its laws, and ensure public safety.  It stems from the concept:  “what’s yours is harming others in the community”.  In a Health & Safety Receivership, the court puts the receiver, who is considered its agent, in full control of the nuisance property effectively taking it away from the hands of the ineffective owner.  This then allows a neutral third-party to address the situation based on the property’s condition and circumstances.  A receiver will make recommendations to the court on the best course of action based on economically viable solutions and then get to work implementing them if the court agrees.