Prince george's county - civil citation system (Hyattsville, Mount Rainier: short sale, 2015)

[emstone]

We have a neighborhood property that is blighted and falling down with around 30% of the rear siding down and the inside exposed. Raccoons have taken up residence in the property. The city code enforcement of Mount Rainier condemned the property last winter and issued a citation to the owner to repair it. The property couldn't be boarded up because of liability issues for the boarding companies.

A search of the court database shows that the there is a court date established for 08/10/2016. I'm sure the owner has no intention of repairing the property and the mortgage company is likely to start foreclosure proceedings.



My question is what outcome can I expect from the "trial" and what actions can I take to expedite the process? How short of a short sale would the bank likely accept given that in its current state, it's only worth a fraction of the mortgaged price?



I included the public court info below.

Spoiler

Court System: DISTRICT COURT FOR PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY - CIVIL CITATION SYSTEM
Case Type: MUNICIPAL INFRACTION
District Code: 05Location Code:01
Document Type: CITATIONIssued Date:07/30/2015
Case Status: ACTIVE
Defendant Information
Trial Date: 08/10/2016Trial Time:01:15 PMRoom:2
Trial Type:
Trial Location:4990 RHODE ISLAND AVE HYATTSVILLE 20781-2008
Charge and Disposition Information
(Each Charge is listed separately. The disposition is listed below the Charge)
Charge No: 001Description:FAIL TO REPAIR REAR OF HOUSE
Statute: Description:
Amended Date: CJIS Code:MO/PLL:XProbable Cause:
Incident Date From: To: Victim Age:
Related Person Information
Event Date Comment
DOCI 03/28/2016 CIT ISSUED 150730

[papichulo2]

Originally Posted by emstone

We have a neighborhood property that is blighted and falling down with around 30% of the rear siding down and the inside exposed. Raccoons have taken up residence in the property. The city code enforcement of Mount Rainier condemned the property last winter and issued a citation to the owner to repair it. The property couldn't be boarded up because of liability issues for the boarding companies.

A search of the court database shows that the there is a court date established for 08/10/2016. I'm sure the owner has no intention of repairing the property and the mortgage company is likely to start foreclosure proceedings.



My question is what outcome can I expect from the "trial" and what actions can I take to expedite the process? How short of a short sale would the bank likely accept given that in its current state, it's only worth a fraction of the mortgaged price?



I included the public court info below.

Spoiler

Court System: DISTRICT COURT FOR PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY - CIVIL CITATION SYSTEM
Case Type: MUNICIPAL INFRACTION
District Code: 05Location Code:01
Document Type: CITATIONIssued Date:07/30/2015
Case Status: ACTIVE
Defendant Information
Trial Date: 08/10/2016Trial Time:01:15 PMRoom:2
Trial Type:
Trial Location:4990 RHODE ISLAND AVE HYATTSVILLE 20781-2008
Charge and Disposition Information
(Each Charge is listed separately. The disposition is listed below the Charge)
Charge No: 001Description:FAIL TO REPAIR REAR OF HOUSE
Statute: Description:
Amended Date: CJIS Code:MO/PLL:XProbable Cause:
Incident Date From: To: Victim Age:
Related Person Information
Event Date Comment
DOCI 03/28/2016 CIT ISSUED 150730

call a attorney we dont do legal advice

[North Beach Person]

I'll take a shot, and this isn't legal advice.


As to what you "can do", the answer is "nothing". Unless you go to the trial as an observer and just watch.


The Judge will likely find the owner of record in violation of the repair order and can levy fines going forward of up to $1000/day/violation. That's rare.


More likely the Judge will issue an order that the owner proceed with repairs with all deliberate speed. What that does is start another clock. The owner can apply for and receive a permit to effect repairs. Those are usually good for 6 months. He won't have to do any work on the property. He can then re-apply for another repair permit towards the end of the 6 months for another 6 months. That can go on indefinitely.


What can, and should, happen is if the owner of the property starts to play permit roulette the Town can go to Court and request a demolition order from the Judge. Typically the owner is ordered to do the demo. He can then play permit roulette with that.


It's then back to Court for an order that the Town do the demo (with private contractors) with the cost back-charged to the property taxes.


We had a building here that the process took 5 years to have it torn down after a stolen tractor trailer ran into it. After TS Isabel we had a 2 year adventure with the owner of one of the homes along the waterfront which had been mostly blown off the foundation and destroyed.

[North Beach Person]

One thing I should have mentioned is that the Town will be represented by the Town Attorney.


There is likely going to be a legislative request to the Legislature in January from the Maryland Municipal League to change the Town Attorney requirement to allow the Code Officer to also represent the Town(s) in these kinds of municipal infraction cases.