Melrose Planning to Punish Lenders Neglecting Foreclosed Houses
The Board of Alderman of Melrose is mulling over plans to pass an ordinance that would financially penalize lenders by imposing an annual fine to the extent of $3,000 for neglecting foreclosed properties. The ordinance suggestion is being given a review by Appropriations Committee of the board. Its target is to clear the neighbourhood of foreclosure blight like unkempt gardens, boarded windows and stagnant pools.
Alderman of Ward 7, William Forbes said, “Our goal here is not the vacant property. Our goal is to protect the rights of abutters.”
Dexter Road is cursed with three foreclosed houses and the residents are worried about these eyesores. It is having an effect on all those living in the street. Joseph Arcadipane a resident on Dexter Road said that these deserted units have become a question of public safety. He said, “We need something that will force them to maintain properties.”
The suggested ordinance will be applicable to all the lenders holding mortgages. It will enable the city authorities to better track the lenders who live in outside states. The ordinance would make it mandatory for the lenders to register the empty property with the Inspectional Services Department within a fortnight of the foreclosure. A registration fee of $250 would be charged. But from then the fee scale would spike relating to how long the unit would lie vacant. The charges would range from $500 for a property kept vacant for less than a year to $1,000 for a unit lying vacant from one to two years. For those lying vacant for two to three years the charge would go up to $2,000 and $3,000.
The ordinance if passed would impose a fine of $300 for three types of offenses – failure to have the property registered, failure to give proper details of the management company maintaining the estate and the failure of looking after it.
City Solicitor Rober Van Campen drafted the ordinance and is still going over the language to ensure that it does not infringe upon state and the federal banking laws or the laws relating to the rights of tenants.
Peter Mortimer, the Alderman of Ward 6 and chairperson of the Appropriations Committee said, “We want it crafted so that it will be effective. We don’t want it to be subject to a legal challenge.” He clarified that the ordinance would be applicable only to those units that were vacant and foreclosed and not to those foreclosed houses that were occupied by tenants even after auction. He said, “There are two prongs – it must be vacant and foreclosed.”
