Vacant buildings are a growing blight nationwide as a result of the foreclosure crisis, and finding someone to maintain them used to require St. Paul, Minn., city officials to weed through piles of mortgage documents. In response, the officials passed an ordinance on June 3 that holds all parties with an ownership interest in a property responsible for maintaining that property, such as a company acting as the nominee for a mortgage lender.

While city officials usually try to send a letter to the owner when a vacant building needs maintenance, the frequent trading of mortgages over the years on foreclosed properties has complicated that task. "It is not the responsibility of the city of St. Paul to sort the complex maze created by securitized mortgages," City Attorney John Choi wrote in a memo that was quoted by the St. Paul Star Tribune.

View more information on St. Paul's vacant building ordinance.