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Proposed law could address 'zombie' properties in Valley Stream

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State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced on Feb. 16 that his office would introduce legislation in Albany that would address “zombie” properties — vacant or abandoned properties that fall into disrepair after foreclosure — and could help Valley Stream officials deal with a persistent problem.

“Leaving zombie properties to rot is unfair to municipalities and unfair to neighbors, who pay their taxes and maintain their homes,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “In the next two weeks, 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 towns and cities, and allow local governments to more easily identify the mortgagees of these properties to make sure they maintain them.”

Mayor Ed Fare endorsed the legislation, saying it would help the village combat a problem that has proven to have few clear solutions.

“As someone who fought ‘zombie’ homes from day one of my administration, I support and commend Attorney General Schneiderman on his strong stance in spearheading this crucial legislation,” Fare said. “It provides villages like Valley Stream with a strong weapon in our arsenal against banks that show no concern whatsoever for our community, its aesthetic environment, and the safety and welfare of our citizens.”

Village Clerk Bob Barra said he sees firsthand how unoccupied and unmaintained homes can make problems multiply, and how difficult it can be for a local municipality to do anything about it. “These houses fall into disrepair, and it can become a really difficult situation,” he said. “Take the property on Cottage Street. It was abandoned, the home was a mess and there were raccoons living in the home and the garage. It was becoming a real problem for residents.”

Frank Farella lives next to that home, which he called a “nightmare” before the village pressured the bank that foreclosed on the property to take action. “It just sat without anyone touching it for maybe five years, maybe more,” Farella said. “The village was very receptive to the complaints raised by me and a few other residents, but there wasn’t much they could do. Luckily, they finally got it resolved, but between the rodents and other animals living there and just how much of an eyesore it was, it was just terrible.”

Barra said he worked for months to urge the bank to attend to the Cottage Street property, but even determining the legal owner was a difficult process.

“The bank says, ‘Oh, it isn’t our house yet, the foreclosure hasn’t been finalized,’” he said. “So we say, ‘OK, well, we’re going to condemn the house and demolish it because we think it’s unsafe,’ and they very quickly respond, ‘You can’t do that, it’s our house.’ It’s like the house only belongs to them when it’s convenient.”

Barra said that the property was finally cleaned up in recent months, after the village threatened to boycott the owner, Citibank. “We told them that we would never do a dollar’s worth of business with them in the future,” he said. “And not only that, we’d make sure that other villages knew we were doing that, and why we were boycotting them.”

Citibank eventually relented, formally foreclosed on the property, did repairs and put it up for sale. The house sold within two months, and is now newly renovated.

“Now it’s much better, and that home and that property look great,” Barra said.

Things don’t always work out so smoothly. Another foreclosed property, on North Corona Avenue, sat vacant for six years before an ad appeared on Craigslist and renters moved in. Without the home’s deed, the village lacks the authority to evict illegal tenants, and is relegated to looking for code violations. Identifying the legal owners and getting them to address those issues can be difficult because multiple companies often share ownership and responsibility — or a lack of it.

“We’ve tried different ways to get them out,” Barra said of the tenants. “We’ve tried to turn off the utilities, but it just doesn’t work. They eventually come in with a check and the utility company has to turn them back on. [The companies] don’t really have a choice. The law says if the bill is paid, the utilities must be on, and right now there’s no way to prove they’re squatters.”

The village, Barra said, is in eviction proceedings against the tenants, but state law makes eviction an uphill battle.

The village knows about 10 more vacant properties, according to Barra, though none are in as bad a state. In several cases, banks are providing sufficient maintenance. The measures included in the legislation would help solve the sorts of problems the village has experienced with the tougher cases, Barra said, adding, “What this legislation does is, it holds the banks accountable, and it helps with the squatters because we can see who really owns the house. Once we know who owns the house and who’s responsible for its upkeep, we can go after them and make sure the property is seen to.”

He said he is hopeful the legislation will pass, even though two previous attempts to address the problem through legislation has failed. “I think this has a lot of support from local officials and mayors who have to deal with this, both here on Long Island and upstate, where this problem can be even worse,” Barra said. “It won’t be easy, though. The banking lobby is fighting hard against it, and they’re one of the strongest lobbies out there … they’re definitely in the top three of the toughest lobbies to fight, but this has pretty wide support from local officials, state officials and the A.G., so we’ll see.”