City working on unattended home registry

Home

Osceola News

Osceola County

Other Sun Publications

FREE DELIVERY!
Get Free Delivery! Request your Osceola News Gazette Today.

Login Form

2013 Osceola Health

2013 Sexual Predator Sexual Offender List sexualpredatorcover13

Windows on the Classroom March 2013

School Calendar
2012-2013

View our other Special Sections

City working on unattended home registry

County News

Friday, 08 October 2010 14:59

By Brian McBride
Associate Editor
Saying they want to reduce eyesores from unattended homes in foreclosure, city of Kissimmee officials Tuesday moved forward with establishing an ordinance that would launch a contact registration system making a key person in charge of those properties.
If approved after a second public hearing, the ordinance would allow the city to hire a firm that would set up the system and require properties in default or foreclosure to be registered with the city and appoint the contact person. This would ensure that the city's concern for correcting code violations would be addressed and it would protect the banks and lending companies from unwanted liens, city officials said.
Oftentimes, properties in default or foreclosure are left unattended and result in code violations, city officials added. And difficulties arise when searching for a person to contact to have the violations corrected, since the owner often abandons the property or refuses to take responsibility because it is in foreclosure. In addition, the banks and lending companies often refuse to take action because they say they don’t own the property until the foreclosure is complete, officials said.
“When the neighbor's home gets infested with rats and the grass is two- to three-feet high, we need to at least do something,” Mayor Jim Swan said.
There would be a $200 registration fee, with the chosen registration company and city splitting that revenue.
Commissioner Cheryl Grieb, however, was an opposing voice in the 3-1 vote to move the law forward.
Grieb, who owns Olde Kissimmee Realty, said that of the more than 3,000 Kissimmee homes in foreclosure, there was only a “handful” of violating properties.
“I don't think there is enough of a problem to warrant a fee,” Grieb said.
Plus, there was no guarantee that people would willingly register with the city, Grieb said, and didn't see why those responsible for the homes already being maintained should have to pay a fee.
A better solution to handle such violations would be to significantly increase the code fines, Grieb said. It would be more of an incentive to bring the properties into compliance.
The Osceola County Association or Realtors also weighed in, saying that there were already city laws in place to handle code violations and this ordinance was not necessary even though the city said it would not ask any Realtors to pay the fees.
“The Osceola County Association of Realtors supports the city of Kissimmee in upholding and utilizing their current ordinances and codes to maintain the safety and value of properties located within the city limits,” Association President-elect Tim Weisheyer said Tuesday.
The second and final public hearing on the ordinance will be heard at the Oct 19 City Commission meeting.