Home»All Photographs»Sterling Ranft Fights Code Compliance in Lompoc

Sterling Ranft is a 27-year-old man who inherited one of Lompoc's oldest houses located at 219 North L Street. After being raided by the police last April 7 due to a suspected butane hash oil lab, Ranft was kicked out of his own home after the fire department found various unsafe living conditions during a safety inspection. Living in a trailer next to his house, Ranft is getting by without water, gas, or electricity utilities while trying to get his property in compliance with building code regulations.

City records and local historian Karen Paaske indicate the house was built in 1875, although Ranft contends it was built years earlier. Before she passed away, Dolly Cole (Ranft's grandmother) was being hounded by Lompoc code compliance for the numerous trailers on her property. After Cole died, she bequeathed the house--along with another property directly next door--to Ranft, also becoming a landlord in the process. Ranft says the $950 he gets in rent money each month isn't enough to pay for the $1,800 water bill and the repairs the city wants for the house. He grows a medical cannabis garden with the hopes that the proceeds will generate the income for cleanup.

In the meantime, Ranft lives in a trailer next to the house--which is also prohibited--until he gets things figured out.