A city councilman in Cleveland, Ohio recently introduced legislation requiring that owners of vacant properties register with the city. 

The vacant property registry has been proposed to aid the city's efforts to track down owners, assure that properties are being maintained, and recover funds expended by the city to repair or maintain neglected vacant properties.  The city currently does not currently have a system in place for tracking vacant properties; they are usually come to the city's attention only when neighbors complain.

If approved, the new legislation would require that property owners register within 15 days of transfer of title.

The text of the Cleveland Plain Dealer article is pasted in below, and a link to the article appears at the end.

Vacant-home registry considered

Friday, July 16, 2004
Olivera Perkins
Plain Dealer Reporter

City Councilman Zack Reed believes Cleveland can better track abandoned houses, which are festering eyesores in many neighborhoods, by requiring the property owners to register with the city.

Reed introduced legislation this week to target vacant properties, including those that become empty because of foreclosures or those in probate.

He said the registry would make it easier for the city to track vacant properties and to monitor whether the owners - usually investors, mortgage companies and banks - are maintaining them.

The proposed law would require the city to send letters to owners annually telling them they must take care of their properties, including cutting the grass and securing empty structures. Owners of foreclosed, vacant or probate estate property who don't register with the city could be charged with a low-level misdemeanor. Each day an owner is out of compliance would constitute a separate offense.

"It is meant to be proactive," Reed said.

City Council will consider the proposed law next month.

A sluggish economy and predatory lending have caused home foreclosures in Cleveland and other cities to climb during the past few years. Other cities have devised strategies to redevelop or find new owners for foreclosed properties.

Cleveland has no citywide system for tracking vacancies. Council members or nonprofit community groups usually find out about them when neighbors complain.

The city spends millions boarding and demolishing these homes and even cutting the grass.

The city is supposed to recoup the costs from property owners but often does not. Reasons range from poor recordkeeping on the city's part to the often daunting task of determining who the true property owner is when a house is in foreclosure.

Reed said his law would help resolve ownership issues because it would require a property to be registered within 15 days of a title being transferred.

Council President Frank Jackson said he supports the legislation because vacant homes often languish for years. He said the city has a similar procedure to make sure vacant lots are maintained.

"It will make the citizens happy while at the same time addressing the issue of compiling an accurate database . . . instead of relying on a complaint-driven system," he said.

Howard Eisenhardt, a lawyer for Charter One Bank, said his bank routinely cuts grass and maintains vacant properties. He has not seen Reed's proposal but wondered whether it would raise legal questions about the city imposing a law on banks that are federally regulated.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
operkins@plaind.com, 216-999-4868

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