Commentary: The helping hand of Costa Mesa code enforcement

I just had a run-in with Costa Mesa City Code Enforcement, and to my surprise, the encounter was quite pleasant.

Recently I represented a buyer for a property on the Eastside. Soon after the purchase agreement was signed, a code enforcement officer came by on a complaint about a second door made by an unnamed person.

He cited a few things, and I thought, “Aw geez, here we go. This deal will be locked up in government bureaucracy forever.”

Not at all. The officer worked proactively with the seller, buyer and me.

First, I was able to quickly set up a meeting with all parties involved in the purchase and the city.

None of the city representatives had the smug attitude or condescending tones that I had been led to believe came with code violations. Each, including people from the city’s building division, seemed to have expertise in their area and were solution-oriented.

We mapped out a plan and began to push forward.

The sellers wanted to take the easiest route and remove every violation, and the buyer wanted to bring everything up to code.

Once a violation is identified, the owner has to bring the building into compliance within a certain period of time or face fines.

We negotiated back and forth on what we wanted to keep, what would be the quickest, cheapest route and how much that affected value. Our back-and-forth stacked up the time.

Instead of just sitting back and enforcing the strict guidelines, the code enforcement officer called me personally to alert me to approaching deadlines. After just about every call, I had a clear path to move forward. He really put in the extra effort.

A Costa Mesa Building Division representative accompanied the inspectors and enforcement guys just to make sure we were getting the advice we needed. I have to say, this was nothing like I expected.

I really would like to thank code enforcement and acknowledge the officers’ hard work. They are not villains in dark capes and stove-pipe hats. They turned out to be professional, courteous, knowledgeable and outright helpful.

JOHN LEFFLER is in real estate and lives in Costa Mesa.