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A successful health & safety receivership restores order to a long-neglected residential property. After years of unresolved code violations and deteriorating conditions, a single family home in Fresno is now secure, cleaned out, and poised for sale—thanks to the use of a health and safety receivership.

In August 2023, the City of Citrus Heights filed a petition in Sacramento County Superior Court to appoint a receiver for a severely substandard single-family home. This case highlights how cities across California, Arizona, Nevada, and beyond can use Health & Safety Receiverships to address dangerous, abandoned, or uninhabitable properties that threaten public health and neighborhood stability.

Receivership serves as an essential tool in the financial and legal landscape, particularly in states like California, Arizona, and Nevada. This process allows courts to appoint an independent individual or entity, known as a receiver, to take control of assets in dispute. While receiverships may sound daunting, they can provide a structured framework for resolving disputes and protecting the interests of creditors and stakeholders. In this blog, we will explore the different types of receiverships, focusing on their specific applications and benefits.

A receiver is a court appointee who temporarily takes control of a property or company to stabilize it. Under the court’s authority, the receiver can be empowered to operate a business, investigate violations, negotiate terms, pursue remedies, sell assets, satisfy debts, and more.

Receivers and Partition Referees each play an important role in California’s court system. However, they don’t have the same responsibilities.

How did Richardson “Red” Griswold make the city of Chino safer through his work as a court-appointed receiver? It started when Mr. Griswold was appointed by the San Bernardino County Superior Court as receiver over a single-family home in a neighborhood within the City of Chino, pursuant to the California Health & Safety Code sections 11573.3(f)(2), 17980.7(c) and Code of Civil Procedure section 564(b)(3).