As Code Enforcement Caseload Grows In One Upstate NY Municipality, Prosecutors Seek Foreclosed Owners' Help In Going After Lenders

In Lockport, New York, the Lockport Union Sun & Journal reports:

• A fresh batch of housing cases involving financially strapped property owners has emerged in Lockport City Court. [...] Nearly half the new cases involve property that is being taken by a lender or was deserted by an owner for lack of means to maintain it.

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• [D]efendants claiming their mortgages were foreclosed must bring proof of that, so the city can see lender identities and contact information and start hitting them up for repair commitments. [...] Initially [local prosecutor Michael] Brooks took the prosecutorial stance that the owners of problem properties remain responsible for code violations even if they’ve been ousted by a foreclosing lender or don’t have the financial means to deal with them.

• Now Brooks is asking foreclosed owners’ help to secure justice from lenders, who arguably have some ownership interest in property even if they don’t possess the titles. He’s doing so at the direction of Mayor Michael Tucker, who objected strongly to the outcome of a recent case involving an impoverished owner and a reluctant bank.

For more, see HOUSING COURT: City is seeking lender information.

Go here for other posts on code violation problems associated with homes in legal limbo; when a foreclosing lender is reluctant to complete a foreclosure action or fails to record its deed after foreclosure sale to avoid getting clipped with housing fines. responsibility code violations foreclosure