In 2017, the City of Placentia decided to consider taking legal action on a property that had code enforcement issues dating back to 2010. The property was severely dilapidated and uninhabitable even after numerous attempts were made to work with the owners to correct the issues.
The firm got involved with the case in early 2018 and conducted a full inspection of the property along with code enforcement officers. They found boarded-up windows, overgrown vegetation, an empty pool in the backyard, and many other structural issues that needed to be addressed. The list of code enforcement issues and problems were given to the property owner with a reasonable amount of time to get the property into compliance.
After a continued lack of response from the property owners, the City moved forward to file a court action for a receiver. In January 2019, the property was sold and the new owner was given ample time as well as numerous extensions to correct the issues with no success. This process continued into 2020 and in May an appointed receiver got involved to expedite the corrections.
A big challenge with this property was a lien agreement recorded around 1982 that required an adjacent roadway expansion. This lien agreement caused the process to take much longer than expected. Finally, in September of 2020, everything was completed, and the property was rehabilitated.
“For me, it’s more about making sure that the city gets compliance with its code for its benefit, and the benefit of the community”
–Of Counsel, Daniel K. Ohl