HOLYOKE — Mayor Joshua A. Garcia has advice for property owners with outstanding fines for building code violation’s: Clear up or pay up.
“Landlords, property managers, and homeowners of units of three families and higher should know that the City of Holyoke is preparing to turn over to the Tax Collector those property owners who have been fined for non-compliance of the state building code and non-payment of the accrued fines,” Garcia said.
The Garcia administration announced in February that the city is determined to hold building code violators accountable to improve conditions and the quality of life for residents. Since the announcement, many of the property owners came forward and worked with the Building Department to get into compliance.
Fines on both landlords and private individuals reached $20,700,000 as of September 9.
Fines are assessed by the City’s Building Department or Board of Health after property owners neglect to resolve violations of the State Building Code. The City grants a grace period to allow time for property managers or individuals to achieve compliance, but many property owners have left problems unaddressed and allowed fines of up to $300 a day to accrue. The period for these property owners to respond and become compliant closes December 31, 2024. After this date, the City will turn over fines owed to the Tax Collector to piggyback code violation fines onto the January 2026 property tax bills of those in violation. This would be in addition to current enforcement mechanisms: denial of city-issued permits or licenses and recording municipal liens at the Hampden County Registry of Deeds.
Garcia said fines could be reduced once property owners fix the problem for which they have been cited. But once handed over to the Tax Collector, the opportunity to reduce will no longer exist.
A total of 634 individual violation letters were sent out to 424 property owners on the list. Of those, 67 properties were in compliance when the list was created. A total of 177 are now in compliance but fines are still owed to the City. If fines are not paid, they will be included on property tax bills. Owners of 185 properties have submitted an application with some also submitting part of the required documents. None of these are in compliance and do not have a valid certificate of inspection. This leaves 272 properties that have not responded in any way and are not in compliance.
“This effort is part of the larger initiative of the city — which includes the Flex Squad, the city’s receivership program, and the property preservation group — to improve the quality of life for every resident and business owner in Holyoke,” Garcia said.