BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE HOUSING & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny, Chair
Bill No: AB 1034Hearing:June
16, 2003
Author: MullinFiscal: Yes
Version: April 10,
2003Consultant: Mark Stivers
ENFORCEMENT OF BUILDING CODES
Background and Existing Law :
Under the State Housing Law, all residential dwellings are
subject to building standards as adopted by the California
Building Standards Commission in the California Building
Standards Code (Title 24 of the California Code of
Regulations).
Building codes are generally enforced by local building
officials, often as local ordinances. When violations are
discovered or a nuisance conditions exists, a building
official sends the owner a letter notifying him or her of
the deficiency. Owners are then generally given at least
30 days to correct the violation. If violations remain
uncorrected after 30 days, the code officials may institute
any appropriate action or proceeding to correct building
code violations or abate nuisances.
Among the various remedies for non-compliance, if the
violations are so extensive and of such a nature that the
health and safety of residents or the public is
substantially endangered, the enforcement agency, a tenant
or tenant association may petition the court to appoint a
receiver for the property. Under an alternative code
section a court may also appoint a receiver if an owner has
violated orders, including orders to retrofit a building to
current codes, to correct conditions that endanger the
immediate health and safety of residents or the public in
the event of an earthquake. A receiver effectively takes
control of the property, collecting rents, paying debts and
expenses, and making the necessary repairs to the property.
The receiver is discharged by the court when the
violations have been remedied and a complete accounting of
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all costs and repairs has been delivered to the court.
Proposed Law :
Assembly Bill 1034 makes a number of changes to statutes
governing the enforcement of building standards under the
State Housing Law. Specifically, the bill:
Clarifies that local governments may collect any fees,
costs or charges incurred to enforce local ordinances
that implement state building and fire safety codes, in
addition to the codes and regulations themselves.
Clarifies that local governments shall permit use of
original materials and the use of original methods of
construction are in compliance with building codes in
place at the time of initial construction.
Allows local building officials to maintain a list and
make referrals to public [or publicly-funded] private
agencies that finance or assist an owner in
rehabilitating or repairing residential property.
Allows local building officials to institute any
appropriate action to abate a nuisance after less than 30
days notice if necessary to abate or prevent an imminent
threat to health and safety.
Requires building officials to give tenants notice of
substandard conditions as described in the Health and
Safety Code, as opposed to untenantable conditions as
described in the Civil Code.
Allows local building officials to seek a receiver for
uncorrected building code violations under provisions
currently limited to seismic safety violations if the
code violations are "potentially hazardous to life or
health."
Allows a court to deem a receiver acting under the
direction of the enforcement agency to a public officer.
Allows local governments to hold hearings related to the
costs of nuisance abatement actions in accordance with
state regulations, in addition to Uniform Housing Code
adopted by the International Conference of Building
Officials.
Allows a local government to require an individual or
corporate owner to provide a social security number or
tax identification number and other identifying
information if the agency anticipates that it will seek a
court order to deny business deductions on the property
for state tax purposes.
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Clarifies that the sale of a property does not render
moot any administrative or judicial actions, including
those initiated by a receiver, to enforce the State
Housing Law.
Requires an owner, within 5 days of the sale, recordation
or conveyance of a cited property, to record a Notice of
Conveyance of Substandard Property that includes the name
and address of the new owner and to provide the
enforcement agency with the name, address, and driver's
license number of all buyers and sellers with an interest
in the property greater than 5%.
Requires an owner of a property with outstanding
citations to provide the enforcement agency with the
name, address and driver's license number of buyers and
sellers within five days of the sale or transfer.
Provides that a buyer of a cited property is subject to
all recorded notices of violation in addition to recorded
notices of pending court actions.
Comments :
1. Purpose of the bill . According to the sponsor, the
Department of Housing and Community Development, AB 1034 is
intended to assist in preserving the stock of housing, in
providing adequate protection of renters, and in improving
the ability of local governments to obtain reimbursement
for their code enforcement efforts. The bill is a result
of HCD's discussions with local code enforcement officials
over the last few years on how best to improve the
enforcement of building codes. It identifies and corrects
various laws that are either out-of-date or which requires
strengthening because they no longer deter code violations.
2. Receivers . Under current law, a court may appoint a
receiver for substandard property in two separate
circumstances and under two separate code sections. Health
and Safety Code Section 17980.1 allows for receiverships
when a property poses substantial seismic hazards. Section
17980.7 allows for a receiver whenever the property
substantially endangers public health and safety. This
bill allows local enforcement agencies to seek a
receivership for both types of substandard properties under
the procedures for Section 17980.1 which are currently
applicable only to seismic hazards. While the two sections
are similar in most regards, building officials are
generally more familiar with the seismic safety procedures.
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In addition, Section 17980.1 allows the enforcement agency
to impose a priority lien on the property.
In expanding the seismic safety receivership provisions to
cover other substandard properties, however, the bill sets
a lower legal threshold than currently exists with respect
to what conditions must be present for a jurisdiction to
seek a receivership. Under current law, a property must
"substantially endanger public health and safety." Under
the bill, the standard is only that the property be
"potentially hazardous to life or health." Given the
seriousness of a receivership, maintaining the higher
standard may be more appropriate. The committee may wish
to consider an amendment to maintain the requirement that a
property eligible for receivership "substantially endanger
public health and safety."
3. Receiver as a public officer . One provision of the
bill allows a court to deem a receiver working under the
direction of an enforcement agency a public officer. The
primary benefit of this provision is to exempt such
local-government appointed receivers from bonding
requirements.
4. Technical corrections .
On page 4, line 9 strike the first "2" and insert "1".
On page 4, line 20 strike ", if" and insert ". The city,
county, or city and county may collect any fee, cost, or
charge incurred in any of the foregoing, if that"
On page 6, line 5 strike "structure," and insert
"structure subject to this part"
On page 6, line 11 strike the comma.
On page 6, line 21 before "private" insert "publicly
funded"
Renumber the second Section 17980.8 and subsequent
sections.
Previous Actions :
Assembly Floor: 73-0
Assembly Appropriations: 24-0
Assembly Housing and Community Development: 9-0
Support and Opposition : (6/11/03)
Support : Department of Housing
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and Community Development (sponsor)
California Apartment Association
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Opposition : None received