How do I report an abandoned house?
In New Jersey, any interested party can ask the town's public officer in writing to put a property on the abandoned property list, giving its street address, block and lot number, and the reasons. In New York, you can report a vacant and abandoned house to the Department of Financial Services by its toll-free hotline or online complaint portal.
In Austin, Texas, for example, you can report a code violation to Austin 3-1-1 by phone, through the app or online. The state sections cover each state's own rules.
Who do I call about a vacant house next door?
In an emergency, call 911 right away. For a run-down house in Texas, it's the city inside city limits: state law lets a city, by ordinance, order a run-down, substandard building that's a hazard to be secured, repaired or torn down, and make owners keep their land free of weeds, brush and certain public nuisances.
Your local police may also have a separate phone line or online system for crimes that are not emergencies. Most local police departments accept anonymous tips or crime reports online or by phone.
The state sections cover each state's own rules.
What is a vacant property registry?
In New Jersey, state law lets each town pass an ordinance creating a registration program for homes and commercial properties in foreclosure, and under such an ordinance, the lender that filed the foreclosure must register the property with the town. In New York, the lender, assignee or loan servicer must send the Department of Financial Services the information it requires about a vacant and abandoned home within 21 business days of when it learns, or should have learned, that the home is vacant and abandoned.
Fannie Mae's expense limits let its loan servicers be repaid the actual cost of registering a property under local rules.
Can a vacant house lower my home value?
The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond cites a study that found abandoned housing lowered the prices of nearby properties in Baltimore from 1991 to 2010.
A 2008 Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland report on Columbus, Ohio, put the effect of a nearby vacant or abandoned house on a home's sale price at about 3.5 percent within 250 feet, less than 1 percent in the next band out, and not significant farther away.
Who takes care of a vacant house in foreclosure?
For a Fannie Mae loan, the loan servicer: while the loan is behind, including during foreclosure, the servicer must keep up the property's condition and appearance.
That includes protecting it against vandals and the weather and making sure no apparent lawbreaking, such as drug activity, is going on there. For a Fannie Mae loan, the servicer must inspect a house as soon as possible after learning it may be vacant or abandoned. Once the house is found vacant, the servicer must right away arrange to protect it from vandalism and the weather, as far as local law allows. Once the servicer confirms the house is abandoned, it must inspect the inside every month until the foreclosure sale.
For a Freddie Mac loan, the servicer must protect an abandoned house from waste, damage and vandalism, and keep utilities on where needed. Freddie Mac lists vacancy, waste, deterioration and lack of utilities as signs that a house has been abandoned.
For an FHA-insured loan in default, the lender must inspect a vacant or abandoned house at least once a month. If a payment is 45 days late and the lender cannot reach the borrower by phone, the lender must look at the house to see if it is vacant. The FHA lender must take reasonable steps to protect and preserve a vacant or abandoned house until it is handed over to HUD, as long as that is not illegal trespass.
In New Jersey, if a home in foreclosure becomes vacant before the lender or anyone else takes title, and its outside is a nuisance or breaks a state or local code, the town notifies the lender, which then has to fix the problem in the same way, and to the same extent, as the owner would. In New York, state law makes the first-lien mortgage holder inspect, secure and maintain a vacant and abandoned one- to four-family home. Once a lender or servicer there files to foreclose on a home that is vacant, or becomes vacant during the case, it must maintain the home until title passes at the foreclosure closing, or by another disposition, and the deed is recorded.
Can I report it here too?
Yes. Tell me where it is, and I'll find out who owns it and reach out about buying it and fixing it up.
This isn't a government website, so a report here doesn't take the place of a call to your town. The owner may not want to sell, and that's their call.