Board OKs Land Sale Reform Plans

Responding to allegations of fraud involving controversial developer Marshall Redman, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to enact sweeping public-interest reforms that will provide buyers of undeveloped land broad new protections.

Following the recommendations of a task force study commissioned by Supervisor Mike Antonovich, the county board approved an ambitious early warning system for fraud that includes public education programs, new communication avenues between county agencies and disclosure laws designed to give purchasers crucial information before they buy.

The board also referred to the county Planning Commission three proposed ordinances for a public hearing. The new laws would require sellers to disclose zoning information to would-be land buyers and document all sales with county officials.

However, real estate industry members were critical of the suggested laws, calling them confusing and misleading proposals that would be ignored by land swindlers and make honest land transactions more costly and time-consuming.

Supervisors assured critics that their concerns would be addressed in the public hearing process and called the recommendations a good place to start.

“This being the Christmas season, I think these proposals are timely for any Scrooge who would cheat real estate clients out of their money,” Antonovich said. “Land fraud is a problem endemic to this county and to the entire country. And I think these are good initial steps to solve a very pressing problem.”

The task force was one of two created by the Board of Supervisors in response to a series of land sales by Redman, a millionaire developer who between 1978 and 1994 sold more than 2,500 parcels of Antelope Valley land to unsophisticated buyers. Many of the properties were illegally subdivided and plagued by legal entanglements, authorities say.

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In some cases, properties were not zoned for residential use. In others, the land was not owned by Redman or already had been sold to other buyers, prosecutors say.

Citing a Times series on Redman’s activities, the county has sought ways to immediately assist victims who live in the High Desert.

Dozens of Redman customers relocated to far-flung parcels only to find that water was costly to obtain. Others were removed from the land by county officials because they could not obtain permits to build on the property.

The panel has helped some receive water, and is developing a plan to help Redman purchasers buy foreclosed government-owned homes at a discount.

Also on Tuesday, Carlos Jackson, head of the county’s Community Development Agency, met with members of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to explore ways in which Redman purchasers could buy foreclosed properties at discounts of up to 30%.

Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) last week called for swift action by the federal government to help dozens of Spanish-speaking families living on land purchased from the Santa Monica-based Redman in McKeon’s High Desert district.

The 68-year-old Redman has been charged with fraud in connection with the sales and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing next week.

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In a 35-page report, the county’s Land Sales Fraud Task Force listed a host of recommendations that include an aggressive public education program featuring an anti-fraud tip sheet in Spanish and English to be circulated at county agencies, public libraries, title offices and other outlets.

Under the task force plan, the county’s Department of Consumer Affairs would be the designated contact group to collect complaints and monitor any pattern of fraud. It would also maintain better communication among county agencies about such crimes.

“We believe we’ve come up with the perfect working blueprint for other counties to follow,” Pastor Herrera Jr., director of the county department, told supervisors. “These measures should go far to alert the public that there are people out there who would like to rip them off.”

The task force report also suggests several changes in county law, including an amendment that would require land sellers to provide documentation to buyers that land was legally subdivided before it was sold. The laws would force developers to meet “truth requirements” when dealing with buyers and advertising outlets such as television and radio stations.

Most of Redman’s 2,500 property sales were made by “invisible” contracts that were not reported to county agencies until years after the sale, when buyers finished making long-term payments to the developer and received a deed, prosecutors say.

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The alleged fraud went undetected, officials said, because no single agency had responsibility for handling fraud reports, and there were no legal requirements for sellers to disclose zoning information to buyers.

In what officials believe would set a precedent nationwide, the task force report recommends that the county require all land sale contracts to be recorded with government officials so agencies can track developers such as Redman.

Task force members said they will recommend that the proposed ordinances, once approved by the Planning Commission, be incorporated into state law.

In approving the recommendations, Antonovich suggested that a toll-free number be established so would-be victims could contact investigators free of charge from anywhere in the county.