Boston City Councilor and mayoral candidate Rob Consalvo announced a plan Friday to charge steep fines to banks that neglect properties they own in the city.  

“Every neighborhood in Boston has neglected properties owned by big banks,” said Consalvo in a statement. Such properties become “a magnet for crime and graffiti – an ugly eyesore that drags down property values…These banks have a responsibility to the neighborhoods and people who live them, to maintain what they own, just like every homeowner,” Consalvo continued.

Consalvo pledged to make holding banks accountable a priority if he becomes mayor. His proposal would requiring the city’s Inspectional Services Department to notify banks of repairs needed for a bank-owned property to be restored to good condition. If banks do not undertake such repairs within three months of being notified, the city will hire contractors undertake them, billing the bank and placing a lien on the property if the bill goes unpaid, and potential take the property into receivership. 

Consalvo also pledged that any bank which allowed a property to be taken into receivership under the new law would no longer be allowed to handle the city’s own funds for investment purposes. 

In 2010, Consalvo passed an ordinance that imposed fines on banks for failing to keep up foreclosed properties they own in Boston’s neighborhoods.