The Los Angeles City Council on Friday passed the ordinance that allows the city to fine financial institutions up to $100,000 for not adequately maintaining the homes they seize through foreclosure.
The 14-1 vote came after a brief public hearing in which residents living near foreclosed homes testified about the impacts of poor maintenance on the surrounding neighborhoods.
No representatives from financial institutions spoke at the hearing.
The city will create a registry of foreclosed properties, whose owners would be told about requirements for keeping the property “clean and free from accumulation of debris, rubbish, garbage, trash, overgrown vegetation and other similar material.”
City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said the ordinance would serve as “a mechanism to protect residential neighborhoods from becoming blighted through the lack of adequate maintenance and security of abandoned properties as a result of the foreclosure crisis.”
But based on the budget approved by the council last week, the city also is hoping thee fees and fines will generate about $5 million in the coming fiscal year.
• Read an earlier Los Angeles Daily News story.
