Do lenders have to register homes in foreclosure in Los Angeles, California?
Yes, inside the city of Los Angeles. A lender whose notice of default on a home there is still active after 30 days has to register the property with the city. Registration is due within 30 days of the recorded notice of default, lasts to the end of the calendar year, and must be renewed by January 31 each year while the ordinance still applies.
Los Angeles set up its Foreclosure Registry in 2010 to protect neighborhoods, including abandoned properties, from blight caused by poor upkeep and security.
A lender that takes the house back, through a trustee's deed after the sale or a deed in lieu of foreclosure, has to register it as well. If the city's housing department sends a notice of non-compliance and the problem isn't fixed within 30 days, the penalty is $250 a day until it is.
Who has to keep an eye on a vacant house in foreclosure in Los Angeles, California?
The lender or trustee. From the time a notice of default is recorded, it has to inspect the house every month until the default is cured or the foreclosure ends, and report to the city each month.
A vacant property covered by the Los Angeles ordinance must be secured against break-ins, and a declaration that it is and will stay vacant must be recorded with the county recorder.
If the lender ends up owning the house after the foreclosure, the monthly inspections and reports continue.
When the vacant house is yours and the loan has gone unpaid, this plain-English look at California foreclosure is a good next read.
How can a California city like Los Angeles make an owner secure or tear down an abandoned building?
Los Angeles can declare the property a nuisance or a hazard after a public hearing. If the owner then ignores orders to clean, secure, repair or demolish it, city-hired contractors do the work.
Los Angeles's Department of Building and Safety has a Contract Nuisance Abatement Division that deals with open, vacant, abandoned and vandalized buildings, a process it calls Vacant Building Abatement.
Can a California court put a receiver in charge of a neglected property?
Yes. California's Rules of Court spell out how a receiver gets appointed, and they make the receiver an agent of the court who stays neutral and acts for everyone with an interest in the property.
Within 30 days of being appointed, unless the court sets another time, a receiver must file a detailed list of everything it has taken possession of.
Sacramento's City Attorney treats a Health and Safety receivership as usually the last option for a dangerous, substandard property, once every other effort has failed. Abandoned and unsecured structures are on the list of conditions Sacramento's City Attorney weighs when deciding whether to seek a receiver, along with fire danger and crime tied to dangerous conditions.
Where do you report a vacant, run-down house in Los Angeles, California?
In Los Angeles, a code enforcement complaint about a house goes to the Department of Building and Safety through its online Report Violation page.
The department says it ranks code enforcement complaints by their impact on public health, welfare and safety, so other complaints can take longer.
You can also tell me where it is. I'll find out who owns it and reach out about buying it and fixing it up.