With 2020 fast approaching, the initial onslaught of the Great Recession continues to be pushed further into the past. Although there have been some major bumps on the road to recovery, substantial progress has been made overall on a number of economic fronts. Of course, in a world where old problems simply give way to new ones, there has not surprisingly been a rise of fresh challenges that remind us that things will never be perfect.
As the shroud of the recession-related housing crisis began to fall in 2007, abandoned properties became a festering plague that affected countless communities across the country. It didn’t take long before the staggering scope of the problem presented itself, and the years since have given birth to aggressive actions designed to battle it head on.
As a result, a cavalcade of property registration ordinances, fast-track foreclosure legislation and corporate regulations have assisted greatly in identifying/recording property stakeholders and managing related issues. Land banks and reutilization companies also have done their part to demolish blighted eyesores or sell/auction properties worth saving.
However, on the flip side of the situation, the ability to purchase multiple properties quickly and on the cheap from a seemingly inexhaustible well has paved the way for some would-be landlords to exploit opportunity — and ultimately add to neighborhood blight — by neglecting these investments and failing to conduct proper maintenance. They also have impeded progress made by property registration programs by blatantly refusing to comply with them, in turn leaving a number of abandoned assets unaccounted for and at risk of becoming nuisances.
To make things worse, the use of generic limited liability companies (LLCs) by these purchasers creates challenges for code enforcement officials in resolving active violations due to a lack of reliable contact information (outside of the occasional P.O. Box mailing address).
A recent article from Cleveland.com touches on one Northeast Ohio community that is actively dealing with this growing problem.