Vacant Homes: 8 Ways to Make Sure They’re Maintained

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Published: September 30, 2010
By: Mariwyn Evans
1Comment

Living near a vacant home doesn’t have to mean putting up with overgrown grass and unshoveled snow. Does your community use these eight common local laws, programs, and regulations to force owners to maintain vacant homes?

Effort: Med 2-3 hrs calling local officials

With the foreclosure crisis, you may have noticed a vacant home or two on your block. Rather than see the home free-fall into disrepair, push local officials to take action before the untended house lowers the value of your own home.

Here’s a list of common vacant-home laws, rules, and programs. Call your local elected official’s office to find out what your community has in place and how you can get those laws enforced:

Special assessments charged to owners of vacant homes to cover the cost of added police and fire protection.

Mandatory fire, safety, or code inspections of vacant homes.

Laws forcing a foreclosing lender to maintain vacant homes during the foreclosure process—especially important in states where foreclosure takes a year or more.

Rules that let your local government make repairs to vacant homes and charge the owner for the work.

Vacant-home registries listing contact information for owners of vacant properties.

Housing courts that hear cases filed against owners of vacant homes.

Programs that transfer vacant homes to community development corporations, housing nonprofits, or government housing agencies.

Property codes that make owners of vacant homes secure their properties and add exterior lights.

Mariwyn Evans

Mariwyn Evans has spent 25 years writing about commercial and residential real estate. She’s the author of several books, including Opportunities in Real Estate Careers, as well as too many magazine articles to count.

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The #1 things a local government can do to make sure a vacant home is maintained is to pass a vacant property registration ordinance. Searching Google for "Vacant Property Registration" will lead you to a number of good solutions. The trend the last couple of years has shown that more and more local governments are putting this ordinance in place. It becomes a win-win situation for the city and for HOAs.
Posted by David on May 02, 2012