Oakland law would pressure banks over blight
Source: SF Chronicle
The Oakland City Council unanimously expanded an aggressive blight program late Tuesday to include homes in the earliest stages of the foreclosure process.
Banks would be required to register homes in a city blight database the moment they send homeowners a notice of default, which is typically issued after three months of missed payments.
Banks would have to visit the homes once a month and gauge from the outside whether the house is occupied. If vacant, banks would be forced to pay a $568 annual registration fee, hire a property manager, secure the premises and maintain the home and yard. The city hopes to use some of the fees to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.
"Once you have a blighted house on a block, it brings down the value of all the houses on the block," said Councilwoman Jane Brunner, the measure's sponsor. "It is the bank that gave the notice of default, so they triggered the whole process."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/16/BAU21OGJ31.DTL
