SB 1291 was introduced on March 26, 2008* and referred to the Senate Committee on Urban Affairs. The comprehensive bill covers commercial, industrial and residential properties. It is intended to “eliminate neighborhood blight caused by property owners who fail to maintain their property or to comply with municipal property maintenance codes.”  SB 1291 would amend Title 53 (Municipalities Generally) providing for neighborhood blight reclamation and revitalization. The legislation adds the Neighborhood Blight Reclamation and Revitalization Act, which includes chapters providing for actions against owners of blighted property, responsibilities of mortgage lenders, conservatorship, state and local government permit denials, state blight data collection system, grants, and sale of blighted and abandoned properties.

1.    A property would be considered “blighted” if it fits one of 8 descriptions contained in the bill:

• Premises regarded as a public nuisance at common law or have been declared so in accordance with local ordinances.
• Premises that are considered an attractive nuisance to children. 
• Dwellings that have been designated as unfit for human habitation.
• Structures that are fire hazards or are otherwise dangerous to the safety of persons or property.
• Structures, from which utilities, plumbing and other facilities have been disconnected, destroyed or rendered ineffective so that the property is unfit for its intended use.
• Vacant or unimproved lots in built-up neighborhoods that have been neglected and have accumulated trash and debris, or become a haven for rodents and other vermin.
• Unoccupied properties that have been tax delinquent for two years. 
• Vacant properties that have not been rehabilitated within one year of receipt of a notice to rehabilitate.

2.    The bill creates the Neighborhood Blight Reclamation & Revitalization Act and contains provisions that provide for:

• Actions before magisterial district judges against record owners of blighted properties by municipalities, other aggrieved owners or tenants, and attachment of the assets/liens of an owner of un-remediated blighted property following such an action. 
  • Requires property owners that created the blighted conditions to pay the local costs of demolition, or to secure a blighted property. This would be done by giving the municipality the legal authority to pursue financial assets, in addition to being able to place a lien on their other properties, as well as the property where code violations exist.
• Extradition for criminal prosecution of out of state owners whose Pennsylvania properties have been cited for municipal code violations.
• Liability of mortgage lenders, following foreclosures, for serious violations of all exterior municipal housing, building and property maintenance code requirements.
• The appointment of a conservator over blighted properties. A conservator would have the authority to take possession of bank accounts, collect accounts receivable, use income from the property to maintain it and, if court approved, sell the property.
• State departments, boards or commissions to deny a permit, certification or license to anyone who owns a property with a serious code violation, or delinquent taxes.
• Denial of building permits, zoning permits, variances, or municipal licenses if the applicant owns any Pennsylvania property which is in serious violation of housing, building, property maintenance or fire safety codes, or for which taxes, water, sewer or refuse fees are delinquent. 
• The creation of a statewide Property Maintenance Code Violations Registry to maintain code violation reports, to be disseminated upon request to municipalities with pending permit applications.
• Additional duties of corporate owners upon transferring title by deed or other instrument of writing. Deeds or other instruments must include an attachment with the names and addresses of each officer and a photocopy of the officers’ current driver’s license or other photo identification.
  • The bill streamlines the judicial process by helping to clarify who owns the property if in corporate ownership.
• Blighted abandoned property with development potential could be sold differently from other tax delinquent property. This expedited process would result in new development in a mandated time frame, via a development agreement with the purchaser. 
• Mortgage lenders would be responsible to maintain properties, which they financed and where a default occurs, until there was a new owner so the property doesn’t become blighted. 
• Educational programs would be developed for Pennsylvania’s judiciary; teaching the significance of the economic crime that blight represents. 
• Expand the ability of redevelopment authorities to assist municipalities with blight remediation, and allow enforcement of municipal property maintenance codes by private right of action on the part of individuals and non-profits, where municipal code enforcement personnel is limited