Ohio May Force Banks To Be Accountable for Vacant Homes

Update from the Ohio Attorney Generals Office

With our neighborhoods suffering from neglected, vacant bank owned homes, Ohio is trying to make them liable under the law. I think this is a great idea. If they were challenged and threatened with action the banks would be more co-operative with Realtors and buyers in all facets of the process; foreclosure, short sales, etc. It is time for the banks to be held responsible for the aftermath of the sub-prime debacle.

July 1, 2009 ·

From the Office of the Ohio Attorney General, Richard Cordray:

"My office recently filed an amicus brief with the Ohio Supreme Court supporting an effort by the city of Cleveland to hold criminal trials of high-volume real estate wholesalers who fail to appear in court when facing housing code violations.

The case, City of Cleveland v. Destiny Ventures, LLC, arises from the city's efforts to hold banks and other corporate property-owners accountable for the large numbers of vacant properties they own and fail to maintain, contributing to the deterioration of our neighborhoods. At issue in the Ohio Supreme Court is whether holding a trial in a corporation's absence is unconstitutional because it violates the Sixth Amendment.

We have argued that it is properly constitutional to put an absent corporation on trial when it fails to appear in response to a criminal summons. In fact, 27 other states have statutes or rules similar to Ohio's law, and none has been found constitutionally problematic. This is one of the only tools available to hold lenders and real estate wholesalers accountable for the masses of vacant properties they neglect. Their behavior is devastating many Ohio communities, worsening the damage already caused by the foreclosure crisis."