Yesterday I had the privilege of teaching Advanced Legal Aspects of Code Enforcement for Property Maintenance Inspectors for the Missouri Association of Code Enforcement at Lake of the […]
Same old excuses
Having prosecuted many owner/landlords, I have heard lots of excuses for the violations on their properties but they are all very similar. I started pondering this after reading […]
Contempt of court – a powerful enforcement tool
What can be done when a defendant refuses to obey a court order, whether it’s fixing up properties or turning over documents? The solution is the contempt power […]
Creative use of electrical boxes
I was recently in Columbus, Ohio teaching a couple classes for a conference for OBOA and COCOA. One of the attendees sent me a photograph of a magnetic […]
Inspectors reach settlement in retaliation case
Moreno Valley, CA spent $1.2 million dollars in a settlement after employees alleged that they were retaliated against for following the law and pursuing code cases. A former building official and code […]
German architect sentenced to jail after firefighter dies
Criminal prosecutions are rare in the field of building code enforcement but when there is a high profile death that results from shoddy construction, indictments do happen. Recently […]
Cycle of complacency and outrage continues
In my last couple of Tweets, I pointed inspectors to articles involving the explosion of the fertilizer plant in West Texas and a tragic fire in England. It’s […]
Compliance Connections assists inspectors
The Illinois Association of Code Enforcement group does a lot of informative programming for its members. Recently I had the pleasure of attending a day of training and […]
HUD contact for property management
One of the inspectors I work with shared this with me about contact information for a property management company taking care of properties for HUD. HUD has established […]
Home owners gone rogue
Recently I was interviewed by MSN Real Estate for an article on working without a permit. The article just appeared online entitled “When Homeowners Go Rogue”. It’s a […]