{"id":167416,"date":"2026-02-06T23:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T23:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/167416\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T23:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T23:57:08","slug":"long-beach-says-absentee-landowners-have-ignored-citations-let-their-properties-decay-new-penalties-may-change-that-long-beach-post-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/167416\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach says absentee landowners have ignored citations, let their properties decay. New penalties may change that. \u2022 Long Beach Post News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pressed by mounting concerns about vacant buildings that harbor blight and empty lots abandoned to decay, the Long Beach City Council on Tuesday overhauled its rules<\/a> for dealing with absentee property owners.<\/p>\n

City leaders say the sweeping changes replace an outdated system kneecapped by delays and loopholes. They hope to halve the amount of time it takes to fix problems when those responsible ignore warnings and refuse to abate hazardous conditions.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not crabgrass fascism, they say, but rather recognizing how to best address a growing trend of absenteeism among a minority of property owners who have, especially since the pandemic, resigned themselves from the process and left their properties to be eyesores.<\/p>\n

In the past five years, complaints to code enforcement have steadily increased. In the final quarter of 2025, residents filed more than 1,800 complaints \u2014 reports of abandoned vehicles, illegal dumping, trespassing and other indicators of negligence. Compounding the problem, the time it takes to solve the most stubborn issues has skyrocketed, according to Community Development Director Christopher Koontz.<\/p>\n

Under previous abatement laws, the city needed to wait about two months between issuing a citation and then following up with an order for the property owner to remediate it. Then, required public hearings, which officials say are rarely attended by the property owner, gum up the process.<\/p>\n

Notices are often ignored, as are liens placed against the property. The city can file charges, but it knows most judges are reluctant to pursue them under the crush of more severe cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cCourts are very crowded, and the dockets are long,\u201d said Koontz. \u201cWhen a judge has robbery and more serious crimes on their docket, it\u2019s hard to get the court system to take seriously someone who won\u2019t cut waist-high weeds out of their front yard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The changes<\/a> are mostly centered around abandoned properties, which can take at least a year to remediate. The 900 block of Pine Avenue, for example, has three properties \u2014 911 Pine Ave., 917 Pine Ave. and 937 Pine Ave. \u2014 that have repeatedly caught fire in recent years and forced a response from firefighters \u201cdozens of times,\u201d according to Koontz.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community at large deserves better than for buildings that catch on fire over and over again because there\u2019s no control of the property,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Changes include removing part of the city\u2019s appeals process, including the review of substandard declarations by an appeals board. Fences around vacant lots must now be at least 6 feet tall \u2014 up from 3 \u2014 and made of wrought iron or chainlink. A requirement for removal of weeds or debris will be shortened to 15 days (previously 20) and boarded-up buildings must be more tightly secured, with vents, windows doors and any other openings blocked off.<\/p>\n

\"\"The building at 937 Pine Ave. in Long Beach has been vacant for years, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

Lot owners are also now required to enroll in the city police\u2019s No Trespassing Program, which allows officers to remove trespassers from the property without needing to contact the owner first.<\/p>\n

Officials say they hope the result will be a faster turnaround; what is done in a year can now be done in four months, Koontz said.<\/p>\n

There is also an issue with making sure property owners cannot avoid paying liens against the property.<\/p>\n

There are a number of cases citywide where people have \u201cracked up thousands and thousands in fines, penalties and just not paid them,\u201d Koontz said, instead selling the property to another owner who likely feigns ignorance of the matter.<\/p>\n

A new law will now tack a history of violations onto the lot\u2019s title, putting any buyer on notice. The city can also now hold any controlling entity, not just the owner, liable for violations. This includes property managers, banks and trustees.<\/p>\n

Residents in the Willmore City neighborhood, which is 86% renters of mostly multi-family buildings, say they\u2019ve suffered acutely from the presence of dilapidated buildings and lots that attracted dumping, illicit drug use, squatting and crime.<\/p>\n

\"\"A fenced lot at 917 Pine Ave., where a building burned down years ago, in Long Beach, on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

Complaints raised to the city were often unremedied, said Ryan Wolfe, with the neighborhood\u2019s association. Often, he was told by city officials that Long Beach lacked the mechanisms to compel owners to fix their properties.<\/p>\n

Wolfe said most issues were caused by a small group of owners. He laid the blame on conglomerates that each control 13 to 14 properties that have been havens for gangs, drug use, vermin infestations and illegal dumping.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was clear this was kind of their business model,\u201d Wolfe said. \u201cGet these buildings to make cash flow \u2026 wait until property values start to rise through gentrification, and then seek to sell out. But in the meantime, they weren\u2019t investing in those buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n

The issue, which improved before the time of Covid-19, has since regressed following the pandemic, he said. He\u2019s hopeful stricter penalties make a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the city can hone in on some of these properties and find a variety of ways to hit them with these and also work with other departments to go after them, that can make a huge difference,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pressed by mounting concerns about vacant buildings that harbor blight and empty lots abandoned to decay, the Long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-167416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-long-beach","9":"tag-long-beach-headlines","10":"tag-long-beach-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}