They're called "zombie properties" — dilapidated, abandoned and overgrown with weeds because the lending institutions inheriting them through foreclosure fail to maintain them.
And like the creatures from a "Walking Dead" episode, these zombies are multiplying rapidly — a whopping 154 percent increase in such properties last year in Erie County alone.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman introduced legislation in 2014 to protect communities against zombie properties, but the effort never gained traction in the Legislature.
Now Schneiderman is trying again, and he points to the worsening situation as the reason. He plans to submit a bill this week with backing from key members of the Senate and Assembly that would require mortgage lenders and servicers to notify homeowners of their right to stay in foreclosed properties until a court orders their eviction.
It would also require mortgage companies to secure and maintain vacant and abandoned properties much earlier in the foreclosure process, and help municipalities track the problem by creating a registry of properties before they fall into disrepair.
"Leaving zombie properties to rot is unfair to municipalities and unfair to neighbors who pay their taxes and maintain their homes," Schneiderman said. "This week, my office will resubmit to the Legislature our bill that would require banks to take responsibility for maintaining properties much earlier in the foreclosure process, take that burden off of towns and cities, and allow local governments to more easily identify the mortgagees of these properties to make sure they maintain them."
Any fines collected as a result of violations, he added, will help towns and cities pay for hiring more code enforcement officers.
The attorney general noted the problem has only intensified since last year's unsuccessful effort to pass his bill. He cited these statistics:
Erie County noted at least 99 zombie properties and 305 foreclosures in 2014, up from 39 and 257 respectively in 2013.
Erie County experienced a 19 percent hike in foreclosures in 2014.
Zombie foreclosures increased almost 50 percent statewide in 2014, to approximately 16,700.
In 2013, 15 percent of foreclosures took place on properties considered zombies; that increased to 32 percent in 2014.
The problem is at its worst in Central New York and the North Country, where 42 percent of properties in foreclosure are abandoned before the process is complete.
Zombie properties are not limited to big cities like Buffalo, either; communities such as Amherst, Cheektowaga and Lackawanna have also been saddled with houses that banks fail to maintain but upon which they pay taxes, preventing municipalities from foreclosing and selling them at auction.
Now Schneiderman hopes to address the situation with his Abandoned Property Neighborhood Relief Act, which he said will discourage homeowners from abandoning property in foreclosure by re-enforcing the right to remain in the home until a judge declares the foreclosure process complete.
The bill also establishes a periodic inspection requirement for mortgagees and loan servicing agents to determine if property subject to a delinquent mortgage is occupied. In addition, the new registry the bill would require is designed to provide a database on vacant and abandoned residential properties to local officials, and set up a hotline to report abandoned properties to the attorney general.
While the bill failed to pass either the Assembly or Senate last year, Schneiderman points to support from Sen. Jeffrey D. Klein of the Bronx, leader of the Independent Democratic Caucus and former co-leader of the Senate majority. The Assembly sponsor, meanwhile, is Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein of Brooklyn.
Sen. Timothy M. Kennedy, D-Buffalo, noted that Schneiderman's 2014 effort — essentially the same bill as he will submit this week — never made it out of committee. But he sees a brighter chance of passage this year because of the problem's increasing severity and a clamor for action among voters around the state.
"This is a statewide epidemic, and it hits Buffalo and Western New York hard, too," he said. "It's upstate, it's downstate, and in every socioeconomic background and neighborhood.
"Anytime you have someone like the attorney general making it a top priority," he added, "it begins a cycle of momentum here in Albany to bring attention to the matter."
Assemblyman Michael P. Kearns, D-Buffalo, has also emerged as a leading voice in Albany to combat the problem. He was unavailable for comment.
©2015 The Buffalo News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency
