New City Plan to Keep Foreclosed Houses From Getting Too Blighty

The city's foreclosure database might be off-limits, but there is a new user-populated database online that will be supplementing the city's efforts. Back in December the City Council asked for an ordinance that would mandate foreclosed houses be registered with the city and basically maintained. The City Attorney came back with a draft ordinance yesterday and it would require properties be registered within ten days of a transfer of a loan or deed of trust, with an annual registration fee of $155. It would also require utilities stay on if a house is occupied legally, and that properties meet basic maintenance requirements, including being "clean and free from accumulation of debris, rubbish, garbage, trash, overgrown vegetation and other similar material," with penalties increasing up to $1,000 per day and maxing out at $100,000. Violations can be reported through 311 or the new website, LA Hoodwinked, set up by "A coalition of residents, community groups, clergy and city workers including SEIU Local 721 and neighborhood based groups such as the Los Angeles Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE)." A rep for Council President Eric Garcetti tells Curbed that submissions to that database will supplement the city's own data.
· LA Hoodwinked [Official Site]
· LA Looking to Create Big List of Foreclosed Properties [Curbed LA]