The Buster Preliminary Correction List is a placeholder list tied to an inspection demand, and the April 12th, 2023 Notice and Order is a separate document that should rest on completed findings; the produced record shows no signed consent, no inspection warrant, no completed inspection report, and no condition-specific findings before that order issued.
The April 12, 2023 Notice and Order against 4880 T Street states on its face that the property was inspected and determined to be substandard, but the produced record contains no signed consent, no inspection warrant, no completed inspection report, and no condition-specific findings dated before that order issued. The City's own earlier letter — the Buster Preliminary letter dated March 21, 2023 — told the owner to contact the inspector within ten business days to schedule an inspection, and its attached Correction List stated that "neither interior nor exterior has been completely inspected." The order was issued for "lack of contact from the Owner and failure to obtain an HDB permit" rather than for specific conditions found at the building, and "HDB permit" is not a recognized permit class. The only observation in the record before the order is an exterior view from a neighbor's backyard, where the inspector saw an addition to the detached garage and took pictures from where he was standing. An April 4 email stated that "30 days have passed" since a card was left at the property, though the record dates that visit to March 20, 2023 — fifteen days earlier — and the City added an enforcement condition to its Accela file on April 11, 2023, one day before the order, producing only the word "Added" as the condition text.
The Buster Preliminary letter M117 did not document a completed inspection; it told the owner to contact the inspector to schedule one. Its attached Correction List says, "Neither interior nor exterior has been completely inspected" M125, making it a placeholder list rather than the final, property-specific violation list. Yet the April 12th, 2023 Notice and Order M123–M132 recites that the Chief Building Official caused the property to be inspected and determined it substandard or dangerous, while the produced record lacks the signed consent, inspection warrant, completed report, condition-specific findings, or order attachment that would make that recital true M001–M631 R.26-1965. The inspector's own issuance note gives the reason as "lack of contact from the Owner and failure to obtain an HDB permit" M024; neither is a building condition, and "HDB permit" is not a recognized permit class C07.
The surrounding records sharpen that same gap without changing the core point. The April 4 penalty email claimed "30 days" had passed since a March 20 card-left visit, though the record shows fifteen days E.1.3 M024 M013. The April 4 and April 14, 2023 Lovato emails refer to predicate events and photographs, but not as a complete standalone inspection, access, findings, or owner-facing photo-transmittal package E.1.3 E.1.5. Accela also shows an enforcement condition added on April 11, 2023, one day before the order face date, and the City's CPRA response produced only the word "Added" as the condition text M001. The point for later cards is narrow: the preliminary Correction List remained a pre-inspection placeholder, and the produced file does not show the completed violation list or lawful predicate that should have existed before a binding, fee-bearing order.
California and Sacramento law condition this kind of order on an inspection-based determination, lawful access when entry is not consensual, and an order that states the conditions found. SCC § 8.100.700 and HSC § 17980(c)(1) supply the inspection/determination predicate; SCC § 8.100.720 requires a "brief and concise description of the conditions found"; SCC § 8.96.130 is the dangerous-building parallel; and after non-consent, administrative inspection entry requires the warrant path reflected in CCP § 1822.50, CCP § 1822.51, and CCP § 1822.54, with Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523 and See v. City of Seattle, 387 U.S. 541 supplying the constitutional baseline.
The Buster Preliminary letter dated March 21, 2023 ordered the owner to contact the inspector within ten business days "to schedule an inspection of the property" M117. Its attached Correction List repeated the problem in plainer terms: "Neither interior nor exterior has been completely inspected" M125. That is the placeholder list, not the final violation list.
Across the produced record set reviewed for this card, the pre-order file contains no signed consent, no judge-signed inspection warrant, no completed inspection report, no condition-specific findings document, and no order attachment carrying actual found conditions and code subsections M001–M631 R.26-1965 R.26-1549 R.25-3549.
The neighbor-verification narrative appears as a 04/10/2023 Activities-log entry and as a 04/11/2023 Notes entry M001 M024 C05. It says the inspector met with neighbors to access their backyard, saw an addition to the detached garage, and took pictures from where he was standing. That is an exterior observation from an adjacent lot, not a completed inspection or a condition-specific findings record.
The same Notes page states: "Due to lack of contact from the Owner and failure to obtain an HDB permit I issued the Notice and Order" M024. Lack of contact is not a building condition, and "HDB permit" is not a permit class. The April 12th, 2023 Notice and Order is a separate document whose face page recites that the Chief Building Official "has caused to be inspected and has determined" the property substandard and/or dangerous and that the conditions are set forth in the attached list M124. But the attached Correction List still says the inspection was incomplete M125. The produced file does not contain the completed determination that recital assumes.
Lovato's April 4 and April 14, 2023 emails refer to a prior property visit, a card left at the property, an outbound letter, penalty-assessment escalation, backyard-access communications, and photos from neighboring properties E.1.3 E.1.5. Some items appear as case-log references or inventory entries, including the case-file document index entry for a March 20 card-left photograph M013, but the produced record set does not supply them as a standalone lawful-access, inspection, findings, and owner-facing photo-transmittal package. That is a reviewed-production gap, not proof that no City system anywhere could hold another file.
The April 4 email states the inspector "visited the property a month ago and left my card then," that "30 days have passed," and that "they are asking if penalties should be assessed" E.1.3. The case record dates the card-left visit to March 20, 2023, and the document index lists a same-date card-left photograph entry M024 M013. March 20 to April 4 is fifteen days, about half of the "month" or "30 days" represented.
This card does not depend on claiming that the City could never act on an exterior observation or could never investigate unpermitted work M001 M024 C05. The narrower record problem is that the Buster Preliminary letter and its attached Correction List show inspection was incomplete M117 M125, the produced record lacks consent, warrant, completed inspection, and findings records M001–M631 R.25-3549 R.26-1549 R.26-1965, the only pre-order observation is a neighbor-yard exterior entry logged under two dates M001 M024, and the separate April 12th, 2023 Notice and Order was issued for lack of contact and an "HDB permit" rather than for stated found conditions M024 M124 M125. The strongest City answer is that the neighbor-yard view of a garage addition, plus owner non-response, was enough to justify the order. That answer does not supply the missing predicate. The order itself recites a completed inspection and determination M124, the code requires found conditions HSC § 17980(c)(1) SCC § 8.100.700 SCC § 8.100.720, and the produced record does not show the lawful access, completed inspection, findings, or full Accela condition text that would bridge the gap M001–M631 M001. The corrective question is direct: produce the pre-order predicate record or correct the enforcement consequences that depend on it.
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