Griswold Receivers

A distressed property can threaten occupant safety and disrupt the surrounding community.

Five warning signs that may indicate that a property needs intervention:

• Abandonment
• Severe disrepair or dilapidation
• Health and safety code violations
• Criminal or nuisance activity
• Loan default or missed mortgage payments

When dangerous conditions remain unresolved, a court-appointed receiver serves as a neutral third party under court authority. For qualifying substandard properties in California, a Health & Safety receivership under § 17980.7(c) provides a path toward rehabilitation and resolution.

An income-producing property still requires management when litigation begins.

When obligations under a deed of trust or mortgage are not met, a secured creditor may request the appointment of a rents and profits receiver. The court determines the appointment and defines the receiver’s authority through the appointment order.

Once appointed, the court-appointed receiver may take control of the property, collect tenant rents, pay operating expenses, maintain insurance, and address code or safety conditions.

As a neutral officer of the court, the receiver preserves the property’s value while litigation proceeds.

Read the full article in the first comment.

Richardson “Red” Griswold will speak at the 2026 CodeComply Virtual Summit on September 22, 2026.

His session, Inside the Receivership: The Role of the Court-Appointed Receiver, examines what happens after the court appoints a receiver and the court-supervised work that follows.

The one-day virtual summit offers nine courses for code enforcement professionals. Each course earns ICC CEUs, and session recordings remain available after the live program.

Register through Red’s speaker page in the first comment.

Repeat calls to police and fire departments often point to property conditions that remain unresolved.

While a complete enforcement record documents the history of a chronic nuisance property, the record alone does not secure the building or remove the hazards affecting the surrounding community.

When statutory requirements are met, a Health & Safety receivership gives a court-appointed receiver authority to act under court supervision. The receiver secures the site, clears hazardous conditions, coordinates rehabilitation, and moves the substandard property toward code compliance.

By acting on the property itself, receivership addresses the conditions behind repeat emergency calls and supports long-term public safety.

Read the full article in the first comment.

Restoring a nuisance property requires coordinated action under the court’s supervision.
In Chino, a vacant, red-tagged home continued to deteriorate and pose a threat to the surrounding neighborhood. The San Bernardino County Superior Court appointed Richardson Griswold as the Health & Safety receiver to bring the property into compliance.

Griswold Receivers coordinated with city inspectors, law enforcement, and contractors to secure the property, clear the debris, complete the rehabilitation, and bring the home into code compliance.

Through this coordinated response, the property returned to productive use and no longer posed a threat to the community.

Before seeking a receiver, municipal attorneys need a clear understanding of the property, its enforcement history, and the risks it poses to the community.

Principal factors to consider are:

• Documenting the property's condition and outstanding code violations
• Establishing the need for receivership
• Identifying all stakeholders and notice requirements
• Defining the receiver's powers and duties
• Nominating a qualified receiver

Careful planning can chart a clearer course toward rehabilitation, compliance, and enhanced public safety.

A vacant single-family home in Chino sat under active code enforcement since 2022 before being red-tagged. The registered owners had died, their heirs couldn't remediate it, and squatters kept cycling through despite the red tag.

Inside, the house had unpermitted electrical work, exposed extension cords standing in for real wiring, a failing roof, and a rodent infestation active enough to leave droppings throughout.

Richardson Griswold was appointed receiver under the California Health & Safety Code. His team cleared the property and completed a full rehabilitation, then sought court authorization to sell once it was determined that was the best path available.

The property is now in the hands of a new owner, and the neighborhood has one fewer vacant house drawing squatters back in.

Watch the transformation: https://na2.hubs.ly/H07tpR30

Red-Tagged and Abandoned: A Health & Safety Receivership in Chino, CA Learn more about Health & Safety Receivership services: https://www...

Some substandard properties remain unsafe despite repeated notices and enforcement efforts.

A Health & Safety receivership provides a court-supervised process for addressing conditions that threaten occupants and the surrounding community.

After the court appoints a receiver, the receiver takes control of the property and carries out the responsibilities defined by the appointment order. Depending on the property, the work may include securing the site, arranging temporary relocation, removing hazardous materials, correcting unpermitted construction, restoring essential utilities, and supervising rehabilitation.

The process creates a path toward code compliance, safer conditions, and the productive use of the property.

By the time a city considers receivership, it may have already spent significant resources on inspections, citations, legal action, and police, fire or EMS responses. Despite those efforts, the property may still remain unsafe and out of compliance.

A Health & Safety receivership allows cities to recover the fees and costs spent toward bringing a property into compliance, and it is this element of cost recovery that makes receivership sustainable for municipalities.

Once appointed, the receiver manages the day-to-day work of securing the property, overseeing repairs, and restoring compliance under court supervision. The rehabilitation is funded through the property, not through taxpayer dollars, shifting the financial burden from the public to the property itself.