U.S. Bank Agrees to $13.5M Settlement Over Foreclosed Homes Upkeep

The L.A. City Attorney’s Office has reached a $13.5 million settlement with U.S. Bank to resolve allegations that the bank allowed hundreds of foreclosed properties in Los Angeles to fall into disrepair, officials announced Thursday.

L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer said that under the terms of the settlement, U.S. Bank will pay $11.9 million in civil penalties, the balance to resolve Municipal Code violations - and must maintain foreclosed properties as required by law for two years.

The fifth-largest commercial bank in the country also agreed to designate one full-time senior employee to serve as a point of contact for city agencies regarding code violations at foreclosed properties owned by the bank, according to a statement from Feuer.

Then City Attorney Carmen Trutanich filed the complaint in 2012, focusing on 170 of the over 1,500 properties U.S. Bank had acquired in Los Angeles through foreclosure. The complaint alleged that despite repeated notices to comply and hearing notices from various city agencies, the bank failed to respond and bring its properties, many vacant and in primarily low-income areas of South Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, into compliance, Feuer said.

The settlement still must be approved in court.

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