Posted: May 8th, 2015

Fixtures

Paper, Order, or Assignment Requirements

During the most recent economic crisis in the state of Arizona, home values decreased dramatically and homeowners began walking away from their homes in large numbers. This was largely due to the fact that they owned more on the home than it was worth and in many cases they could no longer afford to make the payments. Financial institutions foreclosed on large numbers of homes and forced the owners to leave. As they left their real property homeowners ofter stripped the home of anything valuable they could remove. Homeowners took appliances, window coverings, light fixtures, ceiling fans, water heaters, rugs and carpets,plumbing fixtures (toilets, sinks, showers, bathtubs etc.) electrical wiring, doors, cabinets and sometimes even windows and outdoor plants from property they no longer owned.

Given the understanding that many of these things qualify as “fixtures” that are attached and should remain with real property (the home), discuss in a 500+ word essay whether or not you think their decision to remove these items is ethical (or even legal?) How do you think some of these people justified taking these items? Do you agree or disagree with that reasoning? Should the financial institutions have pursued legal action against these people (either civil or criminal)?