Getting rundown or blighted properties renovated to meet safety codes and restored to the tax rolls is the goal of a program known as receivership, a report about which was presented to the Holyoke, Mass., City Council this week.
The city's Problem Property Group is working with the Massachusetts Housing Court on a dozen properties here in receivership, officials said.
"The work that the Problem Property Group has done so far is exactly what we need to move the city in the right direction," Mayor Alex B. Morse said.
In receivership, the city petitions the court regarding a property that is rundown but salvageable whose owner has refused or been unable to maintain it. After a hearing, the judge appoints a receiver from a certified list that can include local contractors or management companies.
The receiver is responsible for rehabilitating the property. In return, the receiver collects any rent paid by tenants and recoups money that has been invested in the form of a lien placed on the property that requires such payment when the property is sold.
The Problem Property Group has been meeting monthly since December 2015. It consists of representatives of the mayor's office and the Building, Fire, Board of Health, Office of Community Development, city treasurer, Department of Planning and Economic Development, Redevelopment Authority and the Law and Purchasing departments.
With all of the departments represented in one room, the Problem Property Group meetings have improved the city's capacity to identify problem sites and determine the right step, whether receivership, code enforcement, fines or foreclosure, Assistant City Solicitor Paul Payer.
For example, in late 2015, the property at 73-75 Belvidere Ave. was in disarray. It was littered with trash, the roof was unstable, walls were unfinished and the building was uninhabitable, Payer said.
JJS Capital Investment LLC was appointed receiver of 73-75 Belvidere Ave. and completed renovations in January. The receiver foreclosed on its receiver expenses lien, listed the property for sale and completed the sale in March, he said.
Current properties in receivership are at 137 North East St., 193 Sycamore St., 190 Essex St., 65 Waldo St., 1373-1377 Dwight St., 50 Beacon St., 294 Cherry St., 58 Taylor St., 393-399 Main St., 1106 Main St. and 44 Ridgeway St., he said.
Receivership cases that have been completed and dissolved were at 235 Oak St., 140 Beech St., 73-75 Belvidere Ave., 178 Brown Ave., 94 Beacon Ave., 31-33 Lincoln St., 157-159 Oak St., 56 Francis Ave. and 25-27 Royal Ave., he said.
