The City Attorney’s office has sued U.S. Bank, one of the largest owner of foreclosed properties in Los Angeles for its alleged disregard of its legal duties and responsibilities as owner of these foreclosed properties resulting in a large number of vacant nuisance properties.
The lawsuit alleges that U.S. Bank has been repeatedly advised over the course of several years of its failure to take care of the properties as an owner is legally bound to do. This lawsuit is important on several levels but most importantly, the upkeep of foreclosed properties, owned by banks , is important in preventing blight and a decline in home values with respect to the immediate neighborhood.
The complaint alleges various common law and statutory violations perpetrated by U.S. Bank through their conduct in ownership of these foreclosed properties including public and private nuisances, (California Civil Code §§ 3479, 3480; California Gov’t Code § 38771; L.A. Municipal Code § 11.00(l)); violations of California’s Vacant Foreclosed Property Maintenance law (Cal. Civ. Code § 2929.3); Los Angeles’ Vacant Building Ordinance (L.A.M.C. § 98.0701); Los Angeles’ Foreclosure Registry Ordinance (L.A.M.C. § 164.01); California Health and Safety Code violations (Section 17920.3); common law habitability and quiet enjoyment violations; and numerous tenant protection laws including L.A.’s rent control ordinances and federal Section 8 tenant protection measures and various building code violations.
There are hundreds of violations alleged in the Complaint by City Attorneys and they can all be summed up as claims aimed to mitigate and eliminate widespread blight and nuisance properties, which have become the ugly bi-product of the mortgage and financial crisis.
Through this lawsuit, and others like it, City Attorneys are attempting to hold banks accountable for the maintenance and upkeep required by law. Of course, maintenance and upkeep requires the expenditure of resources, which banks are inherently adverse to, but the net result of a blighted community and the existence of nuisance properties, is the diminution in value of neighborhood homes.
Abandoned and foreclosed properties, which are not properly maintained invite, as alleged in the complaint, health hazards, gang activity and other problems plaguing innocent communities.
The City’s lawsuit against U.S. Bank can be found here: LASC No.: BC488436