GENEVA-ON-THE-LAKE — Village council is eyeing foreclosure actions on two properties, Geneva-on-the-Lake ad-ministrator Jim Hockaday said, in the hope of recouping funds owed to the village.
Council laid the foundation for such actions in October 2009 by passing an ordinance that gives the village more options when it comes to recouping money the village spends to maintain people’s properties, village solicitor Kyle Smith said. Council now is taking advantage of that ordinance and is looking at foreclosing on two properties, Hockaday said.
“These are properties that have been delinquent in income tax and property maintenance for years,” he said. “They are uninhabited and abandoned, and the property owners owe $10,000 or more in liens” to various jurisdictions.
The two properties — one on Lake Road and one on Broxton Road — are the second and third parcels of land the village is trying to acquire, Hockaday said. A South Geneva Drive property is also in foreclosure.
The village is asking the Ashtabula County Prosecutor’s Office to initiate foreclosure on the properties. This way, the village forces the properties onto the market, making the parcels available for purchase by the village through a sheriff’s sale. After two sheriff’s sales and a $2,000 fee, the village can use the land and buildings as council sees fit or simply sell the properties at fair-market value to pay off the liens, Smith said. Council is under no obligation to purchase the land even if it does go up for sheriff’s sales, Smith said.
Hockaday said he receives several complaints a week from village residents fed up with living next to run-down properties.
“They tell me that they offered to buy the property next door that hasn’t been maintained in years, but the owner won’t sell for a fair price,” he said. “This could be a way to get those properties onto the market through sheriff’s sale and give those neighbors the opportunity to purchase and maintain the property on their own.”
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