“Summerville town officials say they have been aware of the home and are monitoring it. Town code enforcement staff still need to determine what bank owns the foreclosed home. Town spokesperson Mary Edwards said staff will not know who owns it for another three to six months.”
This is a quote from a media report in South Carolina earlier this week.
Within hours of discovering the article, MuniReg provided Summerville code enforcement with the name of the bank and phone number/emails of individuals (decision makers) at the bank.
Another quote from the report – “If the home is not cleaned up after six months then town can issue fines.”
Summerville code enforcement was provided by MuniReg with proof of transfer of title. The timeline was just moved up by 6 months!
After watching the frustration of neighbors (and I’m sure the code staff had similar frustrations) we were ecstatic and honored to help.
This was without a formal partnership and a vacant property registration ordinance in place! Imagine the possibilities!
Real results! Real solutions! Real relief!
Let us be a resource and solution for you and your community.
What a great way to mobilize the community! Click here for an article from the Oakland Press promoting the initiative.
The best part is the clear webpage created by the Township outlining the program including commitments and benefits.
Direct oversight and involvement by the township Supervisor is a great community engagement approach.
To access the Township’s website please click here.
A recent report from the Peoria Journal Star discusses their resident officer program.
“The officers are located in strategic areas around the city. They work from their city-owned homes to establish close connections with the neighborhood, rather than reporting to the station for routine patrol duties. The job entails various ratios of patrol, traffic enforcement, detective work, public relations, neighborhood cleanup, code enforcement and landscaping duty.”
This program is conducted in several areas in Illinois including:
Elgin Police Dept. Web Page
Rockford – Governing Magazine
Dekalb Web Page
In September of 2018 the Greater Ohio Policy Center issued a report “Misconceptions About Vacant Property Registries”.
The report provides an overview of Vacant Property Registration Ordinances along with guidance for communities seeking to implement the program.
MuniReg has completed an analysis of this important report and provided commentary by way of footnotes.
To view MuniReg’s analysis please click on the following link GOPC-VPR-Overview-Analysis
To view the GOPC report please click here
In an attempt to further get my arms around this issue I’m seeing more and more contradictions and disparity. Yet one similarity to the VPR space gave me a major flashback.
Take this report from the Miami Herald.
Specifically this quote “Short-term rentals also generate a lot of tax revenue.” That is not the case in the vast majority of other areas. Clearly this is one of several areas that have an agreement with the AirBnBs etc. What about the ones that don’t?
- So the City declares short-term rentals illegal, allocates significant resources to address, issues significant fines, recoups only a small percentage, yet the County received over $8mm in taxes just from AirBnB alone. I’m going to assume a significant amount from that is going to the City. It seems like there must be a better way!
- Efforts were made to protect the property owner with no indication that the motive (owner declaring they were not aware tenant was sub-letting as a short-term rental) is valid, but nothing to protect the end user (in most areas this is the primary concern). Here’s a quote from the article “Simmer, from Charlotte, explained how he and his wife paid $600 for a three-night stay at a different apartment building — 1619 Jefferson Ave. — and were directed to go to a “welcome center” at a hostel at 236 Ninth St. when they arrived from the airport. There, he said, someone told them the apartment they booked had a plumbing problem so they would be staying at 1518 Drexel Ave. Apt. 9A instead, which was not nearly as nice as the apartment they’d been promised.”
Santa Monica wins in court and can hold the two of the largest hosting companies responsible for booking rentals of residences that aren’t licensed by the city.
One section gave me a serious case of déjà vu. “Airbnb and HomeAway argued that the Santa Monica ordinance makes it impossible for them to operate, particularly if other municipalities adopt similar laws, because it would require them to monitor and remove listings for unregistered residences.”
As I wrote in my first blog posting, I basically said the same thing regarding mortgage servicers and “VPR” ordinances a number of years ago. Mortgage servicers adapted and figured it out, I have no doubts the AirBnBs of the world will too.
An interesting article that discusses a logical and positive approach to addressing the universal concern of squatters, ends by discussing troubling legislation being proposed in the Hawaii Legislature. From the preamble in the legislation one can see the good intentions, but the outcome I believes brings more questions than answers.
A homeowner who is delinquent on their mortgage (for likely a significant amount of time) receives a notice of foreclosure and will then be liable for significant fines if they abandon the property and do not rent it out!
Instead of educating homeowners that they have the legal right to stay in the home until the sale is finalized, they now are threatening daily fines. We know the mindset of a homeowner in this circumstance, are they more likely to oblige or just throw their hands up and say I’m losing the house, let them fine me too etc.?
If they don’t have the funds to pay the mortgage will they have the resources to pay thousands in fines?
Even if they do rent it out, their personal financial issues are not addressed, are they going to be conscientious landlords and an asset to the community?
If the bank cancels the sale for legitimate reasons (homeowner declares bankruptcy, files litigation) should they be fined daily simply for “vacancy”, especially if they are actively maintaining the property?
The proposed bill I am referencing is HB 1557 and can viewed by clicking here.
Perhaps I’m missing something but the recent enactment in Windber, PA of a rental registry struck me as odd.
Rental registration ordinances are commonplace throughout the country. For the most part the programs and required information to be submitted is standard.
Rarely if ever do you see the requirement to have the owner/landlord submit the social security number of the tenants. With an increase in data breaches, what value does having this information provide?
Instead of social security numbers request (or require?) the submission of a background check or certification one was completed, typically done by conscientious landlords anyway.
Requiring tenant information is valuable especially when shared we other city departments, however it increases the needed resources to ensure compliance.
Windber adding rental registration laws
On February 7th, A-5005 was introduced in the New Jersey Legislature by Assembly Democrats John Armato, Carol Murphy and Benjie Wimberly.
Following is the summary of the proposed bill. Is this the issue regarding zombie foreclosures? Is the delay in the Sheriff’s office or the court system? Everything I’ve heard or seen it’s mostly the latter.
Can’t see this getting a smooth ride. Should the bank incur additional costs (application to the court for an order appointing a Special Master or judicial agent to hold the foreclosure sale) as a result of failure by the sheriff’s office to meet its requirements (requirement to sell the property within 60 days of the sheriff’s receipt of any writ of execution issued by the court)??
To view a press release from the bill’s sponsors, please click here.
To view the current text of the bill, please click here.
Statement (Summary)
This bill amends the summary action foreclosure process under the “Fair Foreclosure Act,” to ensure that foreclosure sales of vacant and abandoned properties are conducted within 60 days of a foreclosure judgment. Under current law, if the court makes a finding in a foreclosure judgment that the property is vacant and abandoned, the sheriff is required to sell the property within 60 days of the sheriff’s receipt of any writ of execution issued by the court. The law further provides that if it becomes apparent the sheriff cannot comply with that provision, the foreclosing plaintiff may apply to the court for an order appointing a Special Master or judicial agent to hold the foreclosure sale.
This bill amends current law to provide that when a sheriff cannot conduct a sale within 60 days, the foreclosing plaintiff will be required to apply to the court for an order appointing a Special Master or judicial agent to hold the foreclosure sale. The bill provides that the foreclosure sale would be held within 60 days of the date of application to the court.
Mortgage foreclosure filings across New York state dropped 46 percent between 2013 and 2018 according to a report issued by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, titled, “Foreclosure Update: Signs of Progress”
Interestingly, local communities have not stopped looking at vacant property registration ordinances as we see in Ulster.
Whether it’s the realization that it’s a valuable tool regardless of statistics or its preparing for the eventual cyclical downturn in the housing market, well done.
To view a report from Globest.com, please click here.
To view Comptroller DiNapoli’s press release, please click here.
To view the report, please click here.
A recent article discusses the challenges Canton is facing garnering compliance with their commercial property registration ordinance.
Eerily similar to an earlier article regarding San Francisco. See following quotes.
Canton – “However, several vacant buildings are conspicuously absent from Building Department records obtained through a public records request. Only the Renkert Building is listed in downtown Canton.
San Francisco – “Vacant storefronts have gained attention in recent years as local groups survey their own neighborhoods to counter the mere 25 registered by the Department of Building Inspection in 2016 and 40 in 2017. In April, Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer led a crowdsourced count that spotted 156 vacancies in the Richmond.”
Outsourcing creates the needed incentives which will improve compliance. As I say in my blog, time to get off the hamster wheel and embrace creative solutions.
To view the Canton article, please click on the following link;
Alliance Review: Is Canton’s Commercial Registration Working
To view the San Francisco article, please click on the following link;
San Francisco Seeks to get a Handle on its Inventory of Vacant Storefronts