The suits seek about $100,000 in damages in addition to pursuing a large volume of code enforcement and debt collection cases against individual borrowers and banks amounting to $100,000 in damages. The Cuyahoga County Land Bank has managed to strike unique deals with Fannie Mae, Bank of America Corporation, Wells Fargo & Company and JPMorgan Chase banks. The mortgage finance agency and banks have agreed to give, or sell for $1, deteriorated homes valued at about $25,000 or less and cover all or part of the cost of demolition. The land bank has taken in more than 1,400 properties and sold, at a reduced cost, more than 500 of them.
Thousands of deteriorating, empty houses ripe with mold are being wielded in a lawsuit against the banks to get them to foot the bill for maintaining vacant homes.