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24 | CANYON CORRIDOR CONNECTION
Communi t y Highl ights
by Maria Uhing
Is there a vacant house or other building on your
street that has been abandoned? Does it have
broken windows, open doors, graffiti, a stagnant
or unfenced pool, trash or overgrown grass and
weeds? Has it been broken into? Have you seen
homeless people or kids inside? Sometimes
homeless people go into vacant homes to find
shelter, steal the copper or appliances and/or
commit other crimes. Sometimes they break into
the neighbors’ homes as well while they are living
there. Kids are curious and may go inside to play.
However, you do not have to live with such
undesirable or dangerous property affecting your
family and your neighborhood. There are actions
you can take to get it boarded and cleaned up
or motivate the bank to sell it in order to get the
property occupied.
The first thing you can do is simply call or email
Neighborhood Services Department at the City
of Phoenix (see below). The city takes the next
step by sending a notice to the property owner
asking him to take action. You should do this
even if you do nothing else. Although the process
can take a long time, what is important is that
you get it started.
Contact Information:
NSD Code Compliance
200 W. Washington Street, 4th floor
Phoenix, AZ 85003
Phone 602-262-7844 • Fax 602-495-5567
Use the smartphone app “myPHXAZ”
If the owner has truly abandoned the property
and does not respond to the notice the city sends
them, this process can take between two and six
months to complete.
Don’t stop with this step. There are things
you can do as a resident or a community group
to speed things up to get the property secured.
Every bank or mortgage company who lends
money for a home or building has a statement
in their deed of trust that gives them the right
to do whatever is reasonable to protect their
interest in the property, including securing
and/or repairing the property. You can check
government websites for the information you
need to start. Find out the name of the bank or
mortgage company that holds the deed of trust
and their contact information.
1. Check the Maricopa.gov/assessor website
for
property ownership.
2. Go the Recorders office
maricopa.gov/recdocdata/), enter the owner’s
name and find the last Deed of Trust for
this property. Compare the address, legal
description or parcel number, such as 123-
45-124, to ensure you are looking at the right
deed of trust. Read the Deed of Trust to find
contact information for the mortgage holder
(the bank or mortgage company).
3. Take photos of the property, trash, open door,
broken windows, stagnant pool, etc. These
photos document the problems you are seeing
at the property.
4. Call the lender, explain the situation and get an
email address or mailing address for the person
whom you can send more information. If the
property is in foreclosure, they will tell you how
to contact the trustee for the sale of the property.
5. Write an email telling them this is notice
from the community that the property has
been abandoned, is open/vacant and is causing
danger to the children of the neighborhood.
Write a description of transient activity or
crime that may be happening at the property.
Tell them how long it’s been since the owner
left or abandoned the property and how long
it has been open, especially if there is criminal
activity, transients and if kids are going inside
or walking by the property on a daily basis
where they could be put in danger.
6. Ask the mortgage holder to invoke his rights
to preserve his investment before anyone gets
hurt, especially the children.
7. Ask the lender to sign an “Authority to
Arrest” and post “No Trespassing” to the
property. Unless this is done, the police can’t
arrest anyone found inside. .
phoenix.gov/policesite/Documents/
081378.pdf)
8. Send copies of the email to:
a. Owner of Record at the address on the
original deed or where the tax bill is being
sent (county assessor has a copy of bill
online). Sometimes the owner does not
know the property has become open and he
may take action.
b. Your community action officer. You can call
602-495-5009 to find out who that is and
get his or her email address.
c. Your Community Prosecutor (Elizabeth.
or 602-256-3506).
d. Neighborhood Services Inspector. You can
call 602-262-7844 and find out who that is
and their email address.
e. Neighborhood association or block watch
leader in your area.
f. If you can get the mailing address for a
statutory agent for the bank or mortgage
company, include them as well (Arizona
Corporation Commission).
9. Ask neighbors to send letters as well or
have them all sign the letter you write, so that
the issue is seen as serious to more than just
one person.
10. Ask your Community Action officer to call
them as well, asking for them to secure the
property as quickly as possible.
This process is very effective if residents band
together to fight this kind of ongoing danger in
their neighborhoods.
Here are other actions that may help them feel the
pressure to secure the property. You can call the
media consumer advocates such as Gary Harper
from “Three on Your Side” or a news organization
in the Valley to have someone report a story to
help residents solve issues. If they contact the
lender, things move very quickly.
What you can do when you have an open
or vacant property in your neighborhood