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, as well as U.S. Bank, BNY Mellon and HSBC — three other major lenders that Los Angeles is investigating with an eye to suing, all said that loan servicers are responsible for property upkeep, as well as tasks such as sending default notices, modifying loans, selling homes, and collecting rent and mortgage payments. "We're there in name only," said Teri Charest, spokeswoman for U.S. Bank. "We're trustees. We have a very limited role." The real owners, the banks say, are the holders of the mortgage-backed securities — financial instruments comprising a pool of mortgage loans that are held in a trust and sold. The banks maintain they are simply distributors of the proceeds from the securities — the payments of a homeowner's loan principal and interest — to the investors. Although the bank contracts the loan servicer, the bank's role does not include pressing servicers to properly maintain the trust's assets on behalf of its beneficiaries, bank representatives said. U.S. Bank, however, has sent notices to loan servicers that they must maintain properties in accordance with applicable laws, a statement said. Loan servicers, however, usually have a contract loophole that allows them an easy out from the maintenance burden. Typically, they're only required to spend money on upkeep if they believe the outlay is recoverable, according to Laurence Platt, a Washington D.C. lawyer who has represented banks in foreclosure-related litigation. "Who pays for a pig in a poke?" he said. "This is a collateral issue of the whole foreclosure crisis." Calls to two of the country's largest loan servicers — Ocwen Financial Services of West Palm Beach, Fla., and Statebridge Co. of Denver, Colo. — were not returned. Houston-based Litton Loan Servicing declined to answer questions from The Associated Press. Many servicers are also owned by Wall Streeters such as Wells Fargo. The issue of loan servicers is an attempt to dodge responsibility, Figueira-McDonough said, because the banks are the owners of record, plus have a fiduciary duty to their trust beneficiaries. Officials in Los Angeles and other cities say they're infuriated with the back-and-forth finger-pointing while an epidemic of eyesores is devastating neighborhoods. "We're left holding the bag. Someone has got to be held accountable," said Robert Triozzi, law director for the city of Cleveland, which unsuccessfully sued Deutsche Bank over different foreclosure-related issues three years ago. "Not only have these institutions caused this mess, they have continued to perpetuate it." Silvia Lobato of South Los Angeles just wants repairs to the one-bedroom apartment she's been renting for the past 14 years — named as one of the neglected Deutsche Bank properties in the city's lawsuit. The kitchen sink plumbing has a leak that has caused the unit to rot and breed worms. The bathroom ceiling is covered with mildew. A city inspector told her the gas connection to the water heater is dangerous. Mice scramble in the walls. Everything was fine until the owner lost the duplex two years ago, said Lobato, who lives in the apartment with her three kids and another mother and her three children. Since then, she's been unable to get the landlord to make repairs. "I call and call. They say they don't have the money. I pay $680 a month in rent,"