Incomplete NY Foreclosure Creates Confusion As To Who's On The Hook For Code Violations On Abandoned House

In Lockport, New York, the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal reports on a legal tussle between homeowner David Stewart and mortgage company Investors One Corp., which is owed approximately $60,000 on the home Stewart abandoned three years ago. Apparently, Investors One doesn’t want the property either.

• Stewart was summoned to court this past November to answer four charges of violating state building code at 31 Elmwood Ave. He’s still the owner of record of the house he lived in for 17 years, then reportedly abandoned three years ago when he stopped paying the mortgage. In monthly appearances, Stewart has explained to the court, he was foreclosed on by Investors One Corp. and left the house long ago.

• In the meantime, city Prosecutor Matthew Brooks said, Investors One did not complete the foreclosure by taking title to the property. The Tuesday conference call was about getting Investors One’s attorney to acknowledge its ownership interest in the house. The attorney balked, initially, according to Brooks, but after the state definition of “owner” was read to him, he acknowledged the mortgage company technically might be on the hook.

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• The case is complicated by the fact that the property appears on the City of Lockport’s annual tax foreclosure list. If back taxes totaling about $9,000 are not paid by April 30, the city will move to take the title and put it on the auction block this summer.

For more, see Housing court tries new tactic to get violations resolved.

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