REALTOR® Association Pushes for Passage of Copper Theft Prevention Bill on Beacon Hill
If passed, bill would help preserve home values and make it more difficult to sell stolen metals
WALTHAM, MASS – September 17, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Massachusetts REALTORS® were on Beacon Hill today to testify on behalf of H.226 An Act regulating secondary metals dealings. While the foreclosure crisis has passed and the market is healthy, the problem of copper theft from vacant and occupied homes continues to be a problem that hurts neighborhoods their home values.
“It seems an improved market with fewer vacant homes and lower copper prices hasn’t stopped criminals from breaking into houses and stripping them of copper and other metals,” said 2015 MAR President Corinne Fitzgerald, broker-owner of FITZGERALD Real Estate in Greenfield. “This problem won’t go away if these criminals can easily unload their ill-gotten goods. We need this bill passed for the good of all homeowners and their neighborhoods.”
Once thieves strip copper pipes and other metals from a vacant home, conventional financing is more difficult to obtain and the sale price could plummet. As a result, the values of homes in that neighborhood also tend to suffer.
H.226 An Act regulating secondary metals dealings would create a second-hand metal dealer registry to give tools to law enforcement to fight scrap metal theft. The bill requires the registration of secondary metals dealers with the municipality’s chief of police or designee. It also requires the dealers to keep certain records and prohibits dealers from accepting certain kinds of metals. In addition, it requires dealers to hold onto certain identifiable property if it has been reported stolen by law enforcement.
About the Massachusetts Association of REALTORS®:
Organized in 1924, the Massachusetts Association of REALTORS® is a professional trade organization with more than 21,000+ members. The term REALTOR® is registered as the exclusive designation of members of the National Association of REALTORS® who subscribe to a strict code of ethics and enjoy continuing education programs.
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Editors and reporters: Please note that the term Realtor is properly spelled with an initial capital “R”, per the Associated Press Stylebook.
by Eric Berman – eberman (at) marealtor (dot) com – 781-839-5507
