The foreclosure crisis in Nevada has led to a rash of what lenders and real estate agents call vandalism. People are taking everything — tiles, electrical fixtures, bathtubs, wiring and, yes, even kitchen sinks — down to the drywall.

That may sound like a crime, but it isnÕt in Nevada if the soon-to-be former owner is the one stripping the house bare. As The New York Times recently reported, many states with high foreclosure rates — such as Nevada and Florida — donÕt have laws against it. Mortgage contracts require homeowners to keep properties in good condition, but it is a matter of civil, not criminal, law.

In Arizona, which prohibits an owner from stripping a home before foreclosure, law enforcement officials have charged people with crimes, but criminal convictions can be difficult. Investigators essentially have to catch the people in the act. ÒOnce homes are abandoned, arguably any number of people can get access and strip the fixtures,Ó said Julie Halferty, an FBI special agent in Phoenix, who heads up a mortgage fraud task force.

In Maricopa, a distant Phoenix suburb that had rapid growth before the crash, new developments were stripped one after another, often in the order they were built, according to Shawn Schlegel, a real estate broker who publishes a weekly newspaper.

ÒThe same way they built the city is the same way the city got stripped out,Ó Schlegel said. ÒItÕs gone through every neighborhood.Ó

People in Las Vegas can certainly identify with that. The area has been among the leaders in the nation in the foreclosure rate. Banks and mortgage companies should understand their role in all of this. Their risky loans helped fuel this crisis and their actions since — such as allowing thousands of homes to be foreclosed without working with buyers — havenÕt helped. Kenneth Thomas, a Miami banking consultant, told the Times: ÒIf banks focused more on prevention, everybody would be better off, particularly them.Ó

Lenders should be doing more to help borrowers fend off foreclosure — that would certainly help ease the crisis. But that does not excuse homeowners who decide to trash their homes. They have a personal responsibility to take care of their properties, and their actions have created a serious problem that has greatly affected Nevadans.

Stripped homes have pushed down property values and lowered the quality of life in many neighborhoods. Mortgage companies may leave them vacant for months and when they sell them, they do so Òas is,Ó and all of that drives down property values.

The current remedy for stripped homes — civil court — hasnÕt stopped people from stripping homes. Investigators in Arizona have been building cases by searching Craigslist ads. They have staged stings, buying from disgruntled homeowners who want to sell air conditioners, kitchen cabinets and other fixtures, often openly noting they are facing foreclosure. After publicly announcing a handful of cases, law enforcement officials noted a dramatic decrease of ads for home fixtures taken from foreclosed homes on Craigslist. ÒThat was our objective — to get the word out that stripping a foreclosed home is illegal,Ó Halferty said.

The bottom line is that the act of selling fixtures to cash out before foreclosure — and leaving a home gutted — should be illegal in Nevada.