Relates to penalties for failure to comply with maintenance and reporting of vacant and abandoned properties, and reporting and release of information

• Democratic6
• Republican2

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Brian Kavanagh says this is needed

When a residential property enters into foreclosure, there is a risk that it will fall into disrepair if the homeowner facing mortgage arrears leaves the property and the lender or mortgage servicer holding the delinquent loan fails to provide upkeep and maintenance. Abandoned properties can have detrimental effects on a neighborhood, increasing blight and attracting break-ins or squatters. Left to deteriorate over months or years, these vacant and abandoned properties--sometimes called "zombie homes" -- can lead to a decrease in surrounding properties' real estate values while increasing the costs to municipalities to address hazardous conditions that result from extended periods of neglect. In June 2016, the State enacted the "Zombie Property and Foreclosure Prevention Act" (Chapter 73 of 2016, Part Q) to address the rise in abandoned homes, in the aftermath of the 2008 foreclosure crisis. The law directs the Department of Financial Services (DFS) to establish a vacant and abandoned property registry, among other provisions intended to combat the presence of abandoned properties. (See https://www.dfs.ny.gov/apps_and_licensing/mortgage_companies/zombie _prop_legislation.) Maintaining a registry is the first step to identifying the scope of property abandonment statewide and provides the necessary data to muni- cipalities to take action. For example, vacancy data collected by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development for the registry enables the agency to coordinate with the City's Law Department to pursue legal actions against banks and mortgage servicers where appropriate. (See https://www.nyc.gov/site/hpd/services-and-information By expanding the type of data collected for the registry and allowing for municipalities to share vacancy information with one another this bill would better enable localities' enforcement agencies to pursue property title holders who fail to properly maintain buildings while in foreclosure. Increasing penalties for mortgagees who fail to provide upkeep for abandoned properties they are responsible for would disincen- tivize willful neglect of vacant and abandoned properties. And directing DFS to publicly report data on vacant properties would ensure the data is made available in an accessible format so policymakers and the public in communities around the state can better assess the impact and status of these properties, and the efficacy of public programs intended to ameliorate the problem.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.