According to Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia the city is owed $20,700,000 in fines from landlords and private individuals.
HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) – The City of Holyoke is warning property owners with outstanding fines for building code violations to pay or face the consequences.
According to Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia, the city is owed $20,700,000 in fines from landlords and private individuals. Garcia said in February that the city will be making more stringent efforts to enforce compliance and improve quality of life issues. As a result of that initial announcement, many property owners have been working with the city to become compliant and to pay fines.
“Landlords, property managers, and homeowners of units of three families and higher should know that he 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.
While the city offers a grace period after issuing a violation, some property owners and landlords still haven’t worked to make improvements, accruing up to $300 a day for noncompliance. They have until December 31, 2024 to respond and comply. If they don’t, the Holyoke Tax Collector’s office will add code violation fines to their January 2026 property tax bills. This would be in addition to current enforcement mechanisms: denial of city-issued permits or licenses and attaching a lien to the property.
Fines could be reduced once property owners fix the problem, but once handed over to the Tax Collector that option is no longer available.
According to a news release sent by the Mayor’s office, the city sent 634 individual violation letters to 424 property owners on the list. Of those, 67 properties complied when the list was created and 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 applied with some also submitting part of the required documents. None of these comply 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.
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