{"id":366449,"date":"2026-06-19T00:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T00:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/366449\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T00:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T00:22:12","slug":"jd-home-rentals-sues-fresno-over-code-enforcement-fines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/366449\/","title":{"rendered":"JD Home Rentals sues Fresno over code enforcement fines"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

An apartment complex in Fresno owned by JD Home Rentals is shown on Monday, June 15, 2026. JD Home Rentals, one of Fresno’s largest landlord companies, has filed at least seven lawsuits against the City of Fresno this year. The company is arguing in court documents that code enforcement officers sometimes accessed its properties without consent when they filed citations.<\/p>\n

CRAIG KOHLRUSS<\/p>\n

ckohlruss@fresnobee.com<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

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Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

JD Home Rentals filed at least seven lawsuits this year challenging Fresno code citations.Court records mention leaking ceilings, crumbling foundations and unpermitted work.Attorney says landlord company is trying to frustrate city by making enforcement costly.<\/p>\n

JD Home Rentals \u2014 a company long-criticized<\/a> by tenants\u2019 rights advocates \u2014 has launched a flurry of lawsuits against the city of Fresno in an attempt to have various code enforcement citations voided by a judge.<\/p>\n

JD\u2019s related business entities have filed at least seven lawsuits against the city this year in Fresno County Superior Court. They are challenging fines \u2014 most worth $250 \u2014 issued against them in recent years for various alleged violations found mostly at their south Fresno properties.<\/p>\n

Court documents show a code enforcement officer reported water leaking through a hole in the laundry room ceiling at one JD apartment property<\/a> in May 2025. Six months prior, another officer reported a crumbling garage foundation at a JD-owned house<\/a>. One property mentioned<\/a> in court documents was fire-damaged and observed in a completely blighted state.<\/p>\n

Bryce Hovannisian, a company manager, and Ryan Porte, the company\u2019s attorney in the suits filed this year, did not respond to The Bee\u2019s multiple requests for comment for this story.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s complaints say it shouldn\u2019t have to pay the citations because, in some instances, the suits contend officers conducted property inspections without first obtaining consent. In other instances, the suits contend that city code enforcement officers broke promises they had made to continuously grant JD more time to correct violations as long as the company was making progress.<\/p>\n

The company filed the lawsuits after the city\u2019s independent appeal hearings upheld each penalty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen JD (Home Rentals) and their representatives go to great lengths to delay any proceedings that would allow tenants to receive some semblance of justice and safe living conditions,\u201d Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz told The Bee.<\/p>\n

\"An An apartment complex in Fresno owned by JD Home Rentals is shown on Monday, June 15, 2026. JD Home Rentals, one of Fresno’s largest landlord companies, has filed at least seven lawsuits against the City of Fresno this year. The company is arguing in court documents that code enforcement officers sometimes accessed its properties without consent when they filed citations. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com Tenant advocate \u2018not impressed\u2019 with JD\u2019s arguments against city<\/p>\n

JD, which is owned by the Hovannisian family, operates through multiple business entities registered in California, including BDHOV L.P., LEHOV L.P. and JHS Family L.P., among others. Controlling thousands of units, it is one of Fresno\u2019s largest landlords and has become known for its legal problems related to accusations of substandard housing conditions.<\/p>\n

More than 100 tenants sued JD in 1997<\/a> alleging infestations, repair refusals and unjust evictions. The company in 2021 settled a class action tenant suit<\/a> filed in 2014 that accused JD of allowing dangerous living conditions. Today, its properties remain a focus of Fresno\u2019s Anti-Slum Enforcement Team, according to a city report<\/a> from last month.<\/p>\n

Leah Simon-Weisburg<\/a>, a tenants\u2019 rights attorney who helped launch the 2014 class action suit, told The Bee that she believes JD\u2019s recent suits look like an attempt to frustrate the code enforcement by making it expensive to monitor its properties.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe disappointing part of this is that the whole reason the (2014) case was originally filed against them was that they had turned the entire code enforcement department into their management company,\u201d she said of JD. “The pattern that was observed is that they never made repairs unless the city called.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simon-Weisburg said she is \u201cnot impressed\u201d with JD\u2019s arguments against the city. But if the company wins its current suits, it could \u201cundermine\u201d processes intended to make housing safe, she said.<\/p>\n

\"A A shuttered Fresno home, apparently burned in a fire, that is managed by JD Home Rentals is shown on Monday, June 15, 2026. JD Home Rentals, one of Fresno’s largest landlord companies, has filed at least seven lawsuits against the City of Fresno this year. The company is arguing in court documents that code enforcement officers sometimes accessed its properties without consent when they filed citations. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com Landlord alleges unauthorized inspections, broken promises by Fresno officers<\/p>\n

JD has beaten the city in a case similar to those recently filed. Last year, it alleged a code enforcement officer broke Fresno law when he accessed a JD property<\/a> in south Tower \u2014 where he had previously reported serious violations \u2014 without consent or a warrant.<\/p>\n

A Fresno County judge agreed in January and voided the city\u2019s citation. The decision prompted the City Council<\/a> to change local law, so officers can access parts of private properties considered public, such as driveways or porches, for code enforcement without obtaining warrants or consent.<\/p>\n

The company is arguing the same in several of the suits it\u2019s filed against the city this year. The inspections it is disputing took place before the city bolstered its officers\u2019 inspection powers.<\/p>\n

JD is also arguing in some of this year\u2019s cases that officers broke promises the company had relied on. In a case involving a house near Highway 180 and Fresno Street, where an officer cited the company for a crumbling garage foundation and deteriorated weather protection, JD says the weather and the city\u2019s own building requirements delayed the work.<\/p>\n

In August 2024, the officer on the case \u201cpromised that as long as the property is making repairs to some of the violations, he can extend the deadline to allow additional time for remaining repairs,\u201d JD says in that complaint.<\/p>\n

In December, the officer determined the company had made no progress on remaining violations and ignored its request for a third extension, according to court documents. He issued a citation in January 2025, and the violations have since been corrected, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

In his decision against JD\u2019s appeal, the city\u2019s independent hearing officer noted that extensions are not required and are a \u201ccourtesy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janz told The Bee that code enforcement officers do not have the authority to \u201cmake promises and bind the city in terms of the municipal code.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An An apartment complex in Fresno owned by JD Home Rentals is shown on Monday, June 15, 2026. JD Home Rentals, one of Fresno’s largest landlord companies, has filed at least seven lawsuits against the City of Fresno this year. The company is arguing in court documents that code enforcement officers sometimes accessed its properties without consent when they filed citations. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com \"A A home in Fresno owned by JD Home Rentals is shown on Monday, June 15, 2026. JD Home Rentals, one of Fresno’s largest landlord companies, has filed at least seven lawsuits against the City of Fresno this year. The company is arguing in court documents that code enforcement officers sometimes accessed its properties without consent when they filed citations. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com \"A A home in Fresno owned by JD Home Rentals is shown on Monday, June 15, 2026. JD Home Rentals, one of Fresno’s largest landlord companies, has filed at least seven lawsuits against the City of Fresno this year. The company is arguing in court documents that code enforcement officers sometimes accessed its properties without consent when they filed citations. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com
\n Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Erik Galicia<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Erik is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, where he helped launch an effort to better meet the news needs of Spanish-speaking immigrants. Before that, he served as editor-in-chief of his community college student newspaper, Riverside City College Viewpoints, where he covered the impacts of the Salton Sea\u2019s decline on its adjacent farm worker communities in the Southern California desert.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An apartment complex in Fresno owned by JD Home Rentals is shown on Monday, June 15, 2026. JD…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-366449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366449","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=366449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}