MURRIETA - As a wave of rising mortgage payments washes more owners out of their homes, a city councilman wants new rules to keep the properties looking respectable until the next owners drift along.

Under California law, a house can be considered in default after three missed payments, and the lender can prepare to sell it after another three months. An owner who stops maintaining the house and yard in that time can turn the property into an eyesore or even a health hazard, Councilman Rick Gibbs said.

Virtually every street in Southwest County has at least one abandoned home, and the numbers are growing by the week, as evidenced by the increasing numbers of brown lawns and advertising fliers strewn about on front porches.

And Murrieta, which was a focus of first-time home buyers, risky mortgages and several groups of amateur investors from 2003 to 2005, has become something of an epicenter of foreclosures. Including neighboring areas that share its two ZIP codes, Murrieta has about 1,500 properties in the foreclosure process, according to foreclosures.com, an online database.

"You really just can't let your property go to pot in the city of Murrieta," Gibbs said. "You want to take action right away."

City Attorney Leslie Devaney said lenders already have some incentive to do basic maintenance after seizing a property, when they typically begin preparing for a sale.

The ordinance would encourage or require lenders to begin maintaining the properties at some point during the seven or so months before that, when owners move out or otherwise neglect the properties, Devaney said. Lenders almost never pick up where such owners leave off, even though the loan and then the default notice already make their legal status more similar to that of an outright owner, Devaney said.

An ordinance that takes effect next month in Chula Vista will require lenders to notify the city after recording a notice of default, the first step in the foreclosure process. Lenders must pay a $70 fee at that time and must hire property management firms to take care of vacant houses. The city's current budget estimates the fees will amount to $50,000, to be used to administer the program and complete any additional maintenance that becomes necessary.

In the Murrieta area, banks have seized about 500 properties, virtually all of which are vacant. Lenders have recorded notices of default on another 980, many of which have been abandoned by the residents or investors who own them.

Gibbs said he's concerned the foreclosed houses might make surrounding properties seem less attractive and possibly make it harder for any neighbors who must sell to avoid foreclosure.

But he said his concerns also go beyond property values to the dangers posed by abandoned backyard swimming pools. Curious children could fall in and become injured or drown, and stagnant pools can also serve as breeding grounds for mosquitos, which can carry the potentially deadly West Nile virus, he said.

The Riverside County Department of Environmental Health checks for mosquito eggs and larvae in 230 abandoned swimming pools in the central and southern part of the county that includes Murrieta, Temecula, Canyon Lake, Menifee and other noncity areas, agency supervisor Keith Jones said. Nine cities in the region contract with the county for mosquito control.

Though technicians sometimes make the rounds to locate brown lawns and peek over fences, they mainly rely on the city governments and individual residents of unincorporated areas to alert them to potential breeding grounds, said Kelly Kersten, a technician who serves Murrieta and surrounding areas.

An ordinance in Murrieta could make it easier for city employees to stay on top of the situation there, Gibbs and Devaney said.

Kersten visits each pool in his area every week or two, treating each according to whether it has eggs, larvae, pupae or adult mosquitos. Where he discovers eggs or larvae, he throws in handfuls of bacteria clusters, which multiply quickly in the larvae's tiny stomachs and eventually burst them. Where he sees clusters of pupae, he might also coat the water with an ultrathin layer of oil to keep them from breathing.

"In a pool like this, it's not even a matter of if, but when they're going to breed," he said as he tossed handfuls of bacteria pellets into the foot-deep green water behind a $700,000 house on Camino Monzon in Temecula, where he scooped up several day-old mosquito larvae Tuesday afternoon.

"One pool can affect an entire neighborhood," he said. "I try to stay on top of them."

- Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2615, or cbagley@californian.com.