For years, 38 Maplewood Avenue has been an abandoned property.
The property owners had neglected the lot, so the City of Everett stepped in in 2016 to address dangerous conditions on the property such as filling in an empty pool, erecting a fence, and replacing a retaining wall that was deteriorated posing a risk to surrounding properties. After a foreclosure by a mortgage company, the City filed for injunctive relief to hold the absentee bank accountable, and began the process of receiving the property. That action, coupled with the levying of fines for code violations, forced the bank to act to sell the vacant property in an expedited manner. Due to a COVID moratorium on foreclosures, that process was delayed, but constant attention to the case facilitated a sale of the property almost immediately after the moratorium was lifted.
“Having a new owner to a vacant property is important because it usually means that property will be renovated and put back into the housing stock. The City aggressively pushes banks to move quickly on sales, a process that can linger if not monitored. If we feel the process will be dragged out, then we will step in with Court intervention to restore the property as soon as possible. As part of the bank sale of the property, the City recovered all the costs of repairs, as well at $95,000.00 in fines that can be used to repair other properties in a similar situation,” said Mayor DeMaria.