New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced yesterday that the introduction of a newly expanded “Abandoned Property Neighborhood Relief Act,” legislation aimed at curbing the number of abandoned foreclosed homes, also known as zombie foreclosures, CollectionsCreditRisk.com reported today. The state bill requires banks and mortgage servicers to maintain vacant and abandoned residential properties throughout the foreclosure process, a responsibility that banks often neglect, Schneiderman said. Banks that fail to maintain the properties will be forced to pay penalties that local governments can then use to enhance their enforcement efforts under the Act. The bill, sponsored in the New York Senate by Senate Coalition Co-Leader Jeffrey D. Klein and in the Assembly by Judiciary Committee Chair Helene Weinstein, comes amid new data showing a troubling increase in the number of zombie properties statewide. According to RealtyTrac data, zombie property foreclosures increased by nearly 50 percent from 2013 to 2014, bringing the total number in the state to 16,701. As a result, almost one in five residential foreclosures is now considered a zombie property. On Long Island, the problem continues to grow with the number of zombie homes increasing by 62 percent between 2013 and 2014, bringing the total number to 4,048 — the highest in the state.
