Bankruptcy of ProChamps, company that tracks zombie houses, leaves Long Island municipalities scrambling
A house on Alhambra Road in Massapequa is torn down by Oyster Bay in April 2022 under its “zombie home” law, under which the town obtains court orders to demolish dilapidated homes. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
Long Island towns and villages are revamping their zombie-house tracking programs after the Florida company that maintained their databases filed for bankruptcy.
Property Registration Champions, known as ProChamps, closed two months ago, temporarily leaving Babylon, Brookhaven, Riverhead and Oyster Bay towns and at least two villages, Lindenhurst and Babylon, without a way to monitor houses whose owners are in danger of defaulting on their mortgages.
More than a half-dozen Long Island municipalities had hired ProChamps since 2015 as they dealt with a wave of so-called zombie houses — properties vacated during foreclosure proceedings. ProChamps, based in Melbourne, Florida, maintained registries listing those properties and checked court and real-estate records for foreclosure cases. .
Babylon Town officials said they started seeking bids Thursday for a firm to replace ProChamps. Brookhaven plans to use existing town staff to run its registry in-house.
Oyster Bay spokesman Brian Nevin said the town is evaluating bids from two firms interested in replacing ProChamps. Riverhead Town Attorney Erik Howard said officials are "investigating other administrative entities" to perform those services.
Lindenhurst and Babylon villages haven’t decided what steps they will take.
The City of Long Beach also was a client of the firm. Long Beach officials did not return calls and emails seeking comment.
A 2015 Newsday investigation found that Long Island communities collectively spent $3.2 million the year before to track, clean up, board up and demolish more than 4,000 zombie houses.
ProChamps appears to be one of the few companies nationwide that provide zombie home registry services. It was the only company that responded in 2018 when Long Beach sought a vendor.
The registries help town and village officials respond to complaints from neighbors about problems at unoccupied houses such as squatters, drug activity and vandalism.
"The houses that give us the biggest problem with enforcement [are] when they’re left vacant,” Brookhaven Town Attorney Annette Eaderesto said Tuesday, adding houses in default pose less of a problem because they often remain occupied during foreclosure proceedings.
“A lot of times, people who are losing their houses are still in there, so they’re staying in their house hoping that they can save it or can still live in it,” she said.
In papers filed in June in Orange County State Circuit Court in Florida, ProChamps sought permission to liquidate assets to pay unpaid debts. It wasn't clear from the documents how much the company was in arrears.
The papers list hundreds of clients including counties, cities, towns and villages throughout the eastern United States.
Attempts to reach ProChamps officials or the company's lawyers were unsuccessful.
ProChamps maintained registries listing properties as well as names of owners, mortgage holders, property managers and their phone numbers and email addresses.
Property owners paid annual fees, which were split between ProChamps and the relevant town or village. The fees and the amounts collected by towns and villages varied.
In Brookhaven, registrants were charged $75 annually, town spokesman Kevin Molloy said. The town kept 43% of the fee, or $32.25, and ProChamps was paid the remaining 57%, or $42.75, he said.
New York State law caps default registry fees at $75, Eaderesto said, adding she didn't know whether that played a role in ProChamp's bankruptcy.
Eaderesto said Brookhaven will merge its vacancy and mortgage-in-default registries. Town staff will track court filings, review Suffolk County real estate documents, contact banks and visit properties to update records of homes in default, she said.
With Ted Phillips and Tara Smith
Long Island towns and villages are revamping their zombie-house tracking programs after the Florida company that maintained their databases filed for bankruptcy.
Property Registration Champions, known as ProChamps, closed two months ago, temporarily leaving Babylon, Brookhaven, Riverhead and Oyster Bay towns and at least two villages, Lindenhurst and Babylon, without a way to monitor houses whose owners are in danger of defaulting on their mortgages.
More than a half-dozen Long Island municipalities had hired ProChamps since 2015 as they dealt with a wave of so-called zombie houses — properties vacated during foreclosure proceedings. ProChamps, based in Melbourne, Florida, maintained registries listing those properties and checked court and real-estate records for foreclosure cases. .
Babylon Town officials said they started seeking bids Thursday for a firm to replace ProChamps. Brookhaven plans to use existing town staff to run its registry in-house.
Oyster Bay spokesman Brian Nevin said the town is evaluating bids from two firms interested in replacing ProChamps. Riverhead Town Attorney Erik Howard said officials are "investigating other administrative entities" to perform those services.
Lindenhurst and Babylon villages haven’t decided what steps they will take.
The City of Long Beach also was a client of the firm. Long Beach officials did not return calls and emails seeking comment.
A 2015 Newsday investigation found that Long Island communities collectively spent $3.2 million the year before to track, clean up, board up and demolish more than 4,000 zombie houses.
ProChamps appears to be one of the few companies nationwide that provide zombie home registry services. It was the only company that responded in 2018 when Long Beach sought a vendor.
The registries help town and village officials respond to complaints from neighbors about problems at unoccupied houses such as squatters, drug activity and vandalism.
"The houses that give us the biggest problem with enforcement [are] when they’re left vacant,” Brookhaven Town Attorney Annette Eaderesto said Tuesday, adding houses in default pose less of a problem because they often remain occupied during foreclosure proceedings.
“A lot of times, people who are losing their houses are still in there, so they’re staying in their house hoping that they can save it or can still live in it,” she said.
In papers filed in June in Orange County State Circuit Court in Florida, ProChamps sought permission to liquidate assets to pay unpaid debts. It wasn't clear from the documents how much the company was in arrears.
The papers list hundreds of clients including counties, cities, towns and villages throughout the eastern United States.
Attempts to reach ProChamps officials or the company's lawyers were unsuccessful.
ProChamps maintained registries listing properties as well as names of owners, mortgage holders, property managers and their phone numbers and email addresses.
Property owners paid annual fees, which were split between ProChamps and the relevant town or village. The fees and the amounts collected by towns and villages varied.
In Brookhaven, registrants were charged $75 annually, town spokesman Kevin Molloy said. The town kept 43% of the fee, or $32.25, and ProChamps was paid the remaining 57%, or $42.75, he said.
New York State law caps default registry fees at $75, Eaderesto said, adding she didn't know whether that played a role in ProChamp's bankruptcy.
Eaderesto said Brookhaven will merge its vacancy and mortgage-in-default registries. Town staff will track court filings, review Suffolk County real estate documents, contact banks and visit properties to update records of homes in default, she said.
With Ted Phillips and Tara Smith
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