I wrote this email on 8/20/13:
Ms. Haggerty:
Two weeks ago a group of squatters moved
into the foreclosed house next door to me and my family. We have
determined them to be squatters after talking to the previous owner, with whom
we are still in contact. He let us know that Bank of America had just
taken possession of the property this month through court proceedings. We
have since contacted Bank of America several times to confirm that the house
should in fact be unoccupied.
We also discovered that the same group of
squatters is occupying another foreclosed home on the next street over.
Bank of America has again confirmed that this house should be unoccupied. The
weekend they moved in, a fellow neighbor called the police to get them removed
from both houses. The squatters showed the officer a rental receipt and
the officer left. Common sense would indicate that anyone could create a
rental receipt. That same night the squatters broke into our car. I
assume they thought we had called the police. We of course did not
contact police regarding the break-in for fear of further retaliation. This
past Sunday night they attempted to break into another one of our neighbor's
cars.
At this point, I have contacted Bank of
America on a daily basis to report the squatters. I have also contacted a
company hired by Bank of America to protect the houses. Their hands are
tied because they cannot do anything until you, Bank of America tell them to do
so. All of the neighbors are aware of what is going on at this house and
no one is happy about it.
These are NOT the kind of people that we
want living in our neighborhood -- nor should you want them living in one of
your homes. They both have several arrests including methamphetamine and
heroin distribution and production, assault, forgery, harassment…the list goes
on and on. Cars are in and out of the residence at all hours of the night. I
would not be surprised if they were using the houses to manufacture meth.
Our neighborhood is extremely
family-friendly and all of our children stay out until dark playing in the
neighborhood during the summer. Since these people have moved in, I have
not seen one child outside – including mine. We have a teenager who
usually stays home alone during the summer and walks to her school to attend
summertime swimming and water polo practice. We do not feel safe having
her home alone anymore. We are fearful of leaving our home alone while we
are at work. We are even fearful for our dog who stays home alone during
the work day. We are afraid of our mail sitting in our mailbox for a few
hours each day before we get home.
We pay property tax to be protected and
right now, no one in our neighborhood feels safe. Every time we call the
police, the value of our homes plummet -- as does the value of the bank-owned
homes. We don’t know what else to do. We are all scared of
retaliation by these people. We just want them to leave so our
neighborhood can go back to normal.
Calls to Bank of America have proven
fruitless. We have seen no action on the bank's part. I was told today
that it could take weeks or months. I was also told that the bank has
done its due diligence and cannot give me any further information. Allow
me to be frank, but this sounds like the bank is trying to shirk its
responsibilities to our community and any liability if anyone is hurt or there
is a loss of property. The lack of action is unacceptable, especially
when our safety and well-being are at risk. Right now, Bank of America is the
only entity that has any power to help us. I beg of you to move quickly.
Please communicate with me and my neighbors to make us understand the steps you
are taking to protect your home and our neighborhood. We are not willing
or able to allow this to go on much longer.
Thank you for listening.
The response from them:
Good morning, Ms. Tell;
This issue just crossed my desk this
morning, and I wanted to reach out to you directly so that you have an
understanding about our involvement in this issue. It is unfortunate that
the properties in question are now being inhabited by undesirable occupants,
and I understand your frustration with what appears to be a lack of concern and
action by Bank of America. The reality of the situation is that Bank of
America does not own either property, despite both being vacant for some
time. As a result, Bank of America cannot legally take any actions to
remove occupants from these properties. The legal responsibility to do so
is that of the owners of the properties and/or local law enforcement.
Once the owners of the properties address this issue, and have the occupants
removed, Bank of America can go in and secure the property to help prevent this
from happening again. But, until this happens, or until the property
legally reverts back to Bank of America’s possession (or to that of a 3rd party
buyer), our hands are tied.
You mention in your email to Colleen
Haggerty that you know at least one of the owners of the property. I
encourage you to reach out to them to assist in removing the occupants if they
are there illegally. Once that is done, you can reach out to me directly
and I can then get a contractor out there quickly to secure the property.
If you have any questions, please feel free
to reach out to me, and I will answer questions I can. Be advised though,
that I cannot discuss loan-level details with anyone but the borrowers.
Thanks,
Tim Landucci
Servicing Manager
Centralized Property Preservation
High Risk Escalations
Bank of America
Liquidation Services
1757 Tapo Canyon Rd
Simi Valley, CA 93063
805-791-3688
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