AN ACT CONCERNING NEIGHBORHOOD PROTECTION.

This bill imposes property maintenance standards on anyone who obtains title to a one-to-four family dwelling by strict foreclosure or foreclosure by sale, if the property is uninhabited.

The bill creates a registration system for tracking such owners and properties and, if an owner violates the bill's maintenance standards, allows a municipality to repair such a property and fine the owner for actual costs. The bill also allows the municipality to place a lien on the property for unpaid fines.

Outside of these requirements, the bill prohibits municipalities from otherwise regulating the property maintenance activities of a person who obtained title by foreclosure. This includes, but is not limited to, the repair, maintenance, restoration, alteration, removal or demolition of any part of real property. However, municipalities can enact or enforce ordinances or regulations that apply generally to all property owners.

The bill requires a registrant to meet two property maintenance standards after he or she acquires the property. The registrant must maintain it in a manner comparable to neighborhood standards (which the bill does not specify. ) Additionally, the person must (1) maintain landscaping on such properties; (2) remove or paint over graffiti with an exterior paint that matches the existing color of the structure; and (3) replace broken windows.

The properties must be registered with the town clerk of the municipality in which they are located or with the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) (see BACKGROUND). The deadline for doing this depends on when the property becomes vacant. If the property is vacant on the day title vests, then it must be registered within 10 days of that date. If the property becomes vacant after title vests due to an execution of ejectment, then it must be registered within 10 days after the property becomes vacant. The bill specifies no deadline for properties that are vacated after title vests for reasons other than execution of ejection.

If the registration is with the municipality, the registrant must pay a $ 100 fee and provide (1) the registrants name, address, telephone number, and electronic mail address (contact information) and, if the registrant is a corporation or an individual who resides out-of-state, the contact information for a direct contact; and (2) the contact information for the local property maintenance company responsible for the security and maintenance of the vacant residential property. (The bill does not explicitly require registrants to hire property management companies. ) The registrant must indicate whether it prefers to be contacted by first class or electronic mail and the preferred addresses for such communications and must report any changes in the registration information within 10 days following the date of the change. Those registering with MERS must provide the information it requires.

If the registrant violates the bill's maintenance requirements, the municipality can issue a notice to the person citing the conditions that violate the bill. The notice must be sent by first class or electronic mail, or both, and must be sent to the preferred address or addresses identified on the registration. A copy of the notice must be sent by first class or electronic mail to the identified local property maintenance company. The notice must also meet the same standards as notices to remedy a health, housing, or safety code violation.

If the registrant does not repair such conditions within 10 days from the date the notice was mailed, the municipality can enter the property to repair the conditions and may fine the registrant for the actual cost of such repairs, as long as it adopts the statutory procedure for hearing citations.

Any fines that remain unpaid and uncontested after 60 days from the date the municipality issued notice of the fines to the registrant must be doubled. Unpaid fines constitute liens on the property in the same way as unpaid fines for violations of municipal blight ordinances. This means each lien may be continued, recorded and released in the manner the statutes provide for continuing, recording, and releasing property tax liens; it takes precedence over all other liens filed after July 1, 1997 and encumbrances except taxes and may be enforced in the same manner as property tax liens.

The bill allows the municipality to use another existing lien mechanism. This mechanism allows the municipality to recover the expenses it incurred for the inspection, repair, demolition, removal, or other disposition of any real estate to secure it or to make it safe and sanitary. Unlike the lien mechanism for blight, this approach allows the municipality to place a lien on any insurance policy associated with the property. Under current law, the insurance provision does not apply to single or two family dwellings, but the bill expands it to include these dwellings if they are vacant foreclosure properties as discussed above.

According to its website, MERS is an online system, created by the real estate finance industry, that “simplifies the way mortgage ownership and servicing rights are originated, sold and tracked. ”

Yea

Nay

(03/10/2009)