Looking Back on 20 Years at California Receivership Group
California Receivership Group celebrated its twentieth-anniversary on August 2nd, 2019. On that date in 1999, a judge signed an order appointing me to address code violations at a 66-unit apartment complex in Los Angeles. Although receivership was an available remedy, listed in the State of California's Health and Safety Code to address substandard properties, this marked the first time it was used to tackle a nuisance abatement issue.
On learning of the receivership remedy from a local college professor in the early 90s, I felt that this was the answer for nuisance properties where no other code enforcement strategies had been successful. Over the past two decades, we’ve become the most experienced health and safety receiver in the state, working on over 220 projects in over 100 cities and 30+ counties throughout California. We’ve also mentored or trained many of the other receivers operating in this field.
California’s first health and safety receivership came in the wake of a tragic death: a baby had caught a respiratory infection after living in a severely dilapidated apartment building. The infection was likely due to the deplorable conditions onsite, which included leaking plumbing and a carpet that struggled to stay dry. Her passing mobilized a coalition of organizations, including local law students and one of LA's premier law firms, to act to have the dangerous Health and Safety Code violations addressed. The owner to this point had ignored code enforcement efforts to fix scores of issues; in addition to plumbing problems, the building had a broken elevator, rat and roach infestations, and an inoperable fire alarm system.
Our first project was not easy, and we encountered multiple setbacks. The most pressing was the inability to find a financial institution willing to fund a Receiver's Certificate to finance the emergency work needed onsite. In response to this challenge, we developed a financing plan that we've used on almost every project since. So far we've funded over $40 million in abatement work with no loss to our lenders to date.
Through health and safety receivership, we were able to ensure that California’s first health and safety receivership property was completely rehabilitated without displacing the tenants. Additionally, receivership allowed us to enact a plan for the long-term maintenance of the property before we were discharged and the case came to a close.
Read more about our first receivership in this article I wrote for the LA Times