[quote=ucodegen]Brad Ramos is barking up a dangerous tree that can turn around and wipe out his towns budget. He is trying to pierce the corporate veil, but the mechanism being used does not do it correctly. Ramos can hold the banks, as a legal entity, responsible for the upkeep. He can fine them too.. and then take possession of the property in question due to unpaid fines. What he can’t do is arrest the CEO or bank officers. They don’t own the property. The legal entity, the bank, does.
If he does, he will be hit with false arrest charges, abuse of authority charges and then hit for damages as well as effective lost wages of that individual. The sheriff will lose in court… very quickly and very badly.
The correct way is to fine the property and then when fines are sufficiently large, take possession of the property.
There is a nasty side effect on all of this to the individual home owner. This will be an army of people who check that you are properly keeping a property to their standards, and you could be fined and possibly your property taken. Pretty nasty extension of a HOA, but in this case the city is acting as an HOW but with no upkeep responsibilities on their side.
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Correct, UR.
I’d rather have the city enforcing the rules than have banks letting squatters move in and/or allow the houses to deteriorate like they do.
Yes, some of the problem lies with the former owner/occupant (who should also be fined, IMHO), but I’ve seen plenty of homes go downhill FAST simply because they are empty and neglected.
