What is a Code Violation?
All incorporated cities have municipal codes and a Code Enforcement department. In most cases, you get a code violation filed when neighbors call in a complaint against your property for being “a nuisance,” such as the property appearing unkempt or the occupants being too noisy.
Common complaints include:
- Disabled vehicles
- Overgrown lawn
- Illegal garage conversion
- Vacant or abandoned homes
- Noise violations, such as a loud party or barking dog
The Process
A neighbor calls and complains and someone from Code Enforcement gets tasked with checking it out and verifying it. They will probably document it with taking photos and notes.
If they find and document a defect that is in violation of city codes, they will file a code violation and the property owner will be notified of the violation. Notification is typically by both mail and posting notice on the property itself. The city can also place a lien against the San Diego real estate in question and require the owner to correct it.
This means if your grass is too tall and unmowed and you don’t get it promptly cut after being notified, they may come do it and then stick you with a big bill. This will cost more than if you handled it yourself.
There is an appeals process but most owners can’t really respond fast enough to remedy the matter or deal with it legally. This is especially true for out of state property owners.
This means a lot of people fail to comply. At that point, things start getting a lot uglier and you can be subject to:
- Abatement
- Civil Penalities
- Judicial Remedies
Abatement means that the city can hire someone else to remove junk or debris, mow the lawn or even demolish the building. Civil Penalties are fines. In San Diego, this can be up to $10,000 per day (capped at a total of $399,999).
Judicial Remedies means a court case. You may be subject to either criminal or civil proceedings. In the worst case scenario, they may simply seize the property so its better to opt to ‘sell my house fast San Diego‘.
You Can Do A Quick Sale!
We buy San Diego properties with code violations and remedy them. If you can’t afford to lose the property outright, take care of the violations and/or potentially also have large fines levied against your property, let us take it off your hands as-is and remedy the issues in question.
We can readily deal with your unkempt lawn, illegal garage conversion, abandoned house or other code violation. We can even deal with serious issues like squatters, unpermitted additions, older homes, repairs and structural defects.
If you have been notified of a code violation and wish to offload the property and get fast cash rather than deal with it yourself, contact I Buy SD today!
