HB 110 sets forth procedures to which a county or city must adhere in developing registries for foreclosed and vacant real property. The intent of these registries is to identify responsible parties that can be held accountable for properly maintaining the properties so that surrounding neighborhoods are not adversely affected.  The bill defines foreclosed and vacant properties and imposes a cap on registration fees at $100 per registration and fines for noncompliance at no more than $1000. The bill also expressly allows local governments to require owners of the registered properties to update contact information for properties in the registry. While ACCG opposed earlier versions of the bill which were designed to make registries infeasible, HB 110 in its current form, with amendments adopted by the Senate, is acceptable.  The effective date is July 1, 2012 pending the Governor's signature.

HB 223 exempts structures on farms built primarily to store manure and dead animals from any building codes.

This bill would prevent homeowners' association from prohibiting solar energy devices from being mounted on homes except under limited circumstances such as when such a device would be in conflict with county or city historic preservation ordinances.

HB 795 changes the definition of "all-terrain vehicles."

This bill requires the superior court clerk to establish and maintain a postforeclosure registry.  Within 10 days of purchasing property at a foreclosure sale, the purchaser must file his or her mailing address and telephone number.  The purchaser is required to update this information with in five days of any change.  county code enforcement officers can use this information to send notices of ordinance violations.

The bill also provides that any property owner who does not correct a code violation within 48 days will be subject to a fine of $100 per day in addition to any other fine imposed by the county's ordinance. Failure to pay this $100 per day fine allows the county to file a lien against the property in the same way that a tax lien is created and foreclosed.