Mayor Menino has taken a stand against owners of abandoned properties. The Boston Herald reports that Mayor Menino has created an abandoned property task force to check on properties weekly in order to ensure that owners make "necessary repairs." Mayor Menino warns that if property owners do not cooperate, they will need to go to court with their Boston real estate attorney in order to fight an order to make repairs.
This is all part of an effort by the city of Boston to fight against blight and potentially dangerous properties. Mayor Menino told the Boston Herald: "We don't need buildings like this in our city." He was referring to the abandoned Roxbury warehouse that was engulfed in a fire over the weekend. The fire consumed a whole block of abandoned warehouses. The fire may have been started by fireworks set off by people who may have been illegally squatting on the block. One of the buildings in the blaze was on the city's fire department list as a dangerous building.
There is an estimated 147 abandoned properties that are listed as dangerous. While some of these properties have been on the list for over a decade, a majority of them have been on the list for at least four years. The Boston Herald reports that two of the property owners still owe the city of Boston around $74,000 in back taxes.
For example, the Roxbury warehouse owner owes the city close to $100,000 in back taxes. Mayor Menino is warning that he will file legislation that will shorten the amount of time it takes to let property owners pay off back taxes. A Boston real estate lawyer knows that it currently takes one year from the time a property owner gets taken to court to pay off back taxes to the city. Mayor Menino says that the city will not take the back taxes and abandoned properties any more. He said: "We're going after them."
The task force will have Boston real estate lawyers assigned to it in order to check on the property owners' backgrounds and see what can be done legally to get the properties back in order. If you have a property that potentially has back taxes owed to the city, you may want to call a Boston real estate attorney in order to get your property in shape. For more general information, please visit our Related Resources links.
Related Resources:
- Property Tax Bills Rise In Spite Of Dropping Home Values (FindLaw's Boston Real Estate Law News Blog)
- Find A Boston Real Estate Lawyer (FindLaw)
- Foreclosure Problems Can Affect Local Communities (FindLaw's Boston Real Estate Law News Blog)
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