California City Municipal Code Art. 1A Abandoned, Accessible and Distressed Real Property

Footnotes:

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Editor's note— Ord. No. 09-679, adopted on Aug. 4, 2009, added Art. 1A.

The City Council hereby establishes a mechanism to protect residential neighborhoods from becoming blighted through the lack of maintenance and security of abandoned, accessible or distressed real property, to establish a property registration program, and to set forth guidelines for the maintenance of abandoned, accessible or distressed real property.

(a) Each beneficiary and trustee, who holds a deed of trust on real property within the City, shall inspect the property to determine if it is abandoned, accessible or distressed, prior to recording a notice of default or similar instrument. As used herein, "abandoned" means a building, structure or real property that is vacant or occupied by a person without a legal right of occupancy, and subject to a current notice of default or notice of trustee's sale, pending tax assessor's lien sale or any real property conveyed via a foreclosure sale resulting in the acquisition of title by an interested beneficiary of a deed of trust, or any real property conveyed via a deed in lieu of foreclosure/sale. As used herein, "accessible" means real property or structures not secured or open in such a way as to allow public or unauthorized access. As used herein, "distressed" means property subject to notice of default or notice of trustee's sale, pending tax assessor's lien sale or real property conveyed through a foreclosure sale to an interested beneficiary of a deed of trust, or real property conveyed through a deed in lieu of foreclosure, regardless of vacancy or occupancy.

(b) Within ten (10) days of identification of an abandoned or accessible property, and annually thereafter, the beneficiary and trustee must register the property with the Chief of Police. A person who has registered a property under this Article must make a written report to the Police Department of changes of information contained in the registration within ten days of the change. For convenience, property described in this section shall be called "registered property."

(c) If the property is lawfully occupied but distressed, the trustee and beneficiary shall inspect the property each month until the trust deed default is remedied.

(a) It is a public nuisance for a person to cause, permit, or maintain registered property contrary to this Article. The following maintenance standards apply to registered property.

(b) The property shall be kept free of weeds, dry brush, dead vegetation, trash, junk, debris, building materials, accumulation of newspaper, circular, flyers, notices (except those required by federal, state or local law), discarded personal items, including, but not limited to, furniture, clothing, large and small appliances, printed material or any other items that give the appearance the property is abandoned.

(c) The property shall be maintained free of graffiti, tagging or similar marking.

(d) Visible front and side yards shall be landscaped and maintained to the neighborhood standard. As used herein, "landscaping" includes, but is not limited to, grass, ground covers, bushes, shrubs, hedges or similar plantings, decorative rock or bark or artificial turf/sod designed specifically for residential installation. Landscaping does not include weeds, broken concrete, plastic sheeting, indoor-outdoor carpet, or any similar material. As used herein, "neighborhood standard" means the condition of real property that prevails in and through the neighborhood where an abandoned building, structure or real property is located. When determining the neighborhood standard, no abandoned or distressed building, structure or real property shall be considered.

(e) Pools and spas shall be kept in working order so water remains clear and free of pollutants and debris, or alternatively, shall be drained and kept dry. In either case, properties with pools and/or spas must comply with the minimum security fencing requirements of the State of California.

(f) Within the sole and reasonable discretion of a duly authorized enforcement official, this maintenance requirement applies to property subject to the registration requirement under construction or repair, not less than three business days per week, undertaken in compliance with applicable law.

(a) Registered properties shall be secured and inaccessible to unauthorized persons. If the property is owned by a person located more than twenty-five (25) road miles from the property, a local property management company shall perform weekly inspections to verify compliance with this Article.

(b) Registered property shall be posted with the name and 24-hour contact phone number of the person responsible for property management. The posting shall be no less than eighteen (18) inches by twenty-four (24) inches, shall be of a font that is legible from a distance of forty-five (45) feet, and shall contain the following verbiage: "THIS PROPERTY MANAGED BY _______," and "TO REPORT PROBLEMS OR CONCERNS CALL (name and phone number)". The posting shall be placed on the interior of a window facing the street to the front of the property so it is visible from the street, or secured to the exterior of the building/structure facing the street of the front of the property so it is visible from the street. If no such area exists, the posting shall be on a stake of sufficient size to support the posting, in a location that is visible from the street to the front of the property, and to the extent possible, not readily accessible to potential vandalism. Exterior posting must be constructed of, and printed with weather resistant materials.

Fees for implementing this Article shall be established from time-to-time by resolution of the Council.

(a) Violation of this Article is a strict liability offense. A violation occurs regardless of a violator's intent.

(b) A person, partnership, association, corporation, fiduciary or other legal entity, that owns, leases, occupies, controls or manages property subject to the registration requirement and causes, permits, or maintains a violation of this Article is guilty of a misdemeanor.

(c) The remedies in this section are cumulative to, and not in place of, other rights and remedies available to the City pursuant to this Code. The City Attorney or designee may pursue other rights or remedies, including, but not limited to, commencement of a civil or administrative action to abate the condition as a public nuisance.

(d) If the City takes administrative action to abate the condition of a property subject to the registration requirement and beyond the rights and remedies specified in this Code, the following administrative penalties shall apply.

(1) On the administrative penalty due date, each party subject to an abatement order shall pay an administrative penalty of $1,000.00.

(2) If a violation of this Article addressed by an abatement order has not been abated, cured, remedied or eliminated to the reasonable satisfaction of a duly authorized Enforcement Official by the thirtieth day after the administrative penalty due date, each party subject to said abatement order shall pay a supplemental administrative penalty of $5,000.00.

(3) If a violation of this Article addressed by an abatement order has not been abated, cured, remedied or eliminated to the reasonable satisfaction of a duly authorized enforcement official by the sixtieth day after the administrative penalty due date, each party subject to said abatement order shall pay a second supplemental administrative penalty of $25,000.00.

(e) In each instance when a party becomes subject to an administrative penalty specified in this section, an enforcement official shall issue an order providing written notice of that party's obligation to make payment of said administrative penalty. Each such order shall constitute a special assessment against the property in question having the same legal status as an order determining the cost of abatement of a public nuisance.

(f) In each instance, when a party becomes subject to an administrative penalty, and the order providing for the administrative penalty issues when that party is seeking to perfect its interest in the subject property subsequent to the recordation of a notice of default, or is the property's owner of record, that party is not relieved of its obligation to pay an administrative penalty based upon the sale of the property in question to another.