City establishes rules for maintaining foreclosed homesA new city ordinance requires banks to maintain homes that have entered foreclosure with fines totaling as much as $1,000 a day.
City Councilman Bernard Parks explains the new city ordinance requiring banks to be responsible for maintaining foreclosed homes to a group of South Los Angeles residents at a Saturday morning press conference. Attending with Parks was City Council President Eric Garcetti. (Photo by Gary McCarthy) Angelenos are being urged to report foreclosed properties that have fallen into disrepair, so the city can fine the banks that own them. Under an ordinance that took effect July 8, banks can be fined $1,000 per day for failing to maintain a foreclosed home. The maximum fine is $100,000 per year. Banks will have 30 days to fix problems before being fined. City Council President Eric Garcetti, who co-authored the ordinance with Councilman Greig Smith, met last Saturday with members of a South Los Angeles neighborhood hard hit by the recession and urged them to call 311 to report foreclosed homes that are not being maintained. “If you see a home that is in your neighborhood, that is full of weeds and maybe broken windows, beginning to be neglected, and you know it's because it’s going through a foreclosure, contact the city,” he said. “We have inspectors who will come out and we will fine banks who are taking over these homes. Many [banks] claim that they don’t fully own [the homes] yet but they are responsible for them,” Garcetti said. Councilman Bernard Parks, whose district includes part of South Los Angeles, said banks must be held accountable. “We can no longer allow banks to act solely in their own financial interest while disregarding the consequences for the community,” he said. The ordinance calls for creating a registry of foreclosed properties, whose owners will be instructed to keep them “clean and free from accumulation of debris, rubbish, garbage, trash, overgrown vegetation and other similar material.” Garcetti and Parks said residents living near foreclosed homes should call the city’s 311 line if they see: • Criminal activity on the property. • Accumulated garbage. • Overgrown yards. • Unlocked, open or broken windows, doors and walls that could allow entry. • Flammable or hazardous materials. • Pools or hot tubs that have not been drained or are not being kept clean and in working order. • Failure to post 24-hour contact information for reporting problems on the property. • Failure to post a sign saying “This property is closed to the public.” • And occupancy without water, electricity or other utilities. “These dilapidated homes can drag down an entire neighborhood’s quality of life and property values,” Garcetti said. “This ordinance is about stopping banks from neglecting seized homes to the point that they become magnets for trash, vermin and crime.” Los Angeles’ 2010-11 budget depends on the fees and fines from this program to generate at least $5 million, which would help prevent layoffs of city employees. said on Tuesday, Jul 27 at 9:06 AM Atlas - the article mentions "And occupancy without water, electricity or other utilities" which I took to mean squatters who have broken into a vacant house. Does the ordinance specifically stipulate that if the borrowers are there legally the lender is responsible for utilities if the resident can't afford them? That's screwy!!! Inappropriate? Alert Us! said on Tuesday, Jul 20 at 7:44 AM The ordinance also requires lenders to maintain utilities on the residences even if they are still legally occupied by the borrowers. In essence, the lender is responsible to pay the non-paying borrowers electricty and water or get fined? This is insane. Apparently the City of LA eiher doesn't even understand the foreclosure process or, they're just looking for a quick buck by creating a law no one can legally comply with. It's a violation of foreclosure law for teh lender to assume control of the utilities before they have taken possession of the property. LA is off it's rocker once again. Inappropriate? Alert Us! Add a commentMost Popular
|
Local SectionsOn Demand
|
This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled.
Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.
Most Popular
|
RSS Feeds 
You have indicated this comment should be removed.
The comment has been submitted for review. Thank you .