Lenders Being Held Responsbile for Upkeep on Foreclosed Properties

As the foreclosure crisis deepens and more and more homes stay unoccupied for longer periods of time, municipalities, city officials and HOAs are starting to hold lenders — who the properties revert to when it is foreclosed on — responsible for the upkeep and maintenance until they can be resold or rented. They are doing this because, as the Newsweek article Dirty Deeds cites:

Orphaned properties quickly fall into disrepair, the deterioration sometimes hastened by vandals who trash the interiors, lighting fires and ripping out wiring and pipes to sell for scrap. Squatters or drug dealers may move in. . . . The impact goes far beyond the defaulting homeowner, as neighbors and entire communities confront a spreading blight.  

Eventually, whoever takes over the property oftentimes call a foreclosure cleaning or junk hauling company to clean up the property and get it ready for market (ie, to be sold or rented) again.