Question about the house next to mine, foreclosure

[wantout]

Long story, folks move in, trash the house, stop paying, move out. When I say trashed, I mean it. Dogs were left inside for a month, owners came back to feed and water, they dumped food on the floor and left the cans and bags on the floor as well.
Dogs crapped and pissed everywhere inside, the owners used the house as a dumping ground, they brought trash from other places and dumped it in the yard and along side the house. The back porch has old furniture and trash piled up to the ceiling.
The yard is a freaking mess, over grown with weeds and vermin.

Is there any recourse I have with the lender about cleaning that place up. The smell is bad, along with trash being dragged over and bown over into my place by the wind and animals. Add to it the place being broke into often now. The owners left the doors and windows wide open when they came and got the dogs.
The bank did come out to winterize and left a notice that the place had been winterized, only to have the "owners" return and un winterize the place.

Any advice on this?

[AngelinaCat]

Depending on where you are, this certainly is a code violation as well as a health hazard. First thing in the morning you need to contact the proper city/county officials. Also get your local health department involved, and see what the advise.

Please keep us posted. Good luck!

[AngelinaCat]

I would also report this house and situation to your local law enforcement agency, as with the people you describe trashing this place, it could easily become a drug house. They need to be aware of its existence so that they can watch it.

[brokeinal]

I would've called to report the animals being left inside the house when I was first made aware of it. Poor things.

But otherwise, I would call the city...I'm sure the high grass/weeds and garbage are all code violations. And let them know it's unsecured and people are breaking in. I guess they could board it up. I doubt you'll get anything out of the lender.

[wantout]

I did not know they left the dogs in there until after the fact. If I had known what was going on then I would have called the sheriffs dept. We live in the county, and the city will not help, so far I cannot find anyone with the county willing to help. A couple other neighbors and myself will keep trying to get something done. I am almost to the point of just doing it myself.

[brokeinal]

We purchased a foreclosure and also were not under a specific city jurisdiction. We have a pool that was full of trash, nasty water, mosquitoes, fish, snakes, etc. It was a cess pool and smelled so badly that our neighbors said they complained to multiple sources, before finally just taking it upon themselves to clean it out so they didn't have to deal with it (before it was sold at auction and cleaned up by the new owners and then sold to us).

It stinks, but that might be your only option and then otherwise I would just let the police who have jurisdiction know that it is being broken into.

[wantout]

One nieghbor and myself spoke on Saturday about cleaning it up ourselves, but he said he was concerned with what the bank or who ever has possession of it might say, if something was broken and we got the blame for it or even a trespassing issue..I will make a few more calls this week and see what I come up with.

[Flamingo]

Contact your State Board of Health as all the trash dumped in the yard can attract dogs, cats, raccoons, etc. and is a public health violation. The house could also be an attractive nuisance to kids (look it up) as it is vacant with trash and junk everywhere. Also write a letter to the Editor in your main newspaper for that area describing the situation and that no one is doing anything about it - I bet they will after that...best of luck to you...

[BrokeinMD]

You can call your county representative and complain about it. I had to deal with that a few years back, but I was able to call my City Hall and complain. They came out and cleaned it, and sent the last owners a bill.

[AngelinaCat]

Our county will send warnings, then if nothing is done, they will send a crew and clean it up. At the same time, code violation notices will go to the owner on the 'deed of record', and they will start imposing heavy duty fines per day.

Now, if the poor owner on the 'deed of record' is the one that gets the notices and the fines, and is NOT the perpetrator of all of these crimes and misdeeds, that is very unfortunate. This is one of the reasons we (most of the members here) keeping preaching to get your names off the 'deed of record'.

Now, in extreme cases, the county can come in and condemn the house. That happened in the Tampa area in 1999. A woman and her 40+ daughter lived in a house and hoarded rats as pets.

YES!!!! You DID read the above correctly.

A woman and her daughter thought these rats were pets and even fed them. Neighbors complained; Code Enforcers went out. The women would clean a little, but nothing ever really changed. Finally, after enough complaints came in, Codes went and condemned the house. The women were evicted, and the local fire station burned the place down as a hazard.

[AngelinaCat]

Well... ugh {{{{shudder}}}} and {{{{barf}}}} I just went googling to try to find this news article, and did not really need to. There is a newer case:

***WARNING***, have your barf bags ready. I don't know how some of these people can actually live and be considered a sentient, rational being:

ETA: Sorry about the wrong link. I found the original one I was looking for, and the newer one I thought I posted last night. Here they are:

http://www.pet-abuse.com/cases/8109/FL/US/

http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=178766&catid=250

[keepsmiling]

Angelina, wrong link?

[tobee43]

i'm so sorry for your trouble wantout.

when we were looking to buy another house after bk, we went to see many foreclosures and holy cow...some we couldn't even step inside as the smell was so bad. one actually they did bond fires i guess on the living room carpet and you can see they cooked on the fire!!!

it was horrible!! also one had concrete poured down the toilets and one had not only the entire kitchen ripped out to the behind the sheet rock, but the entire air conditioning unit was also ripped right out...what people do is unreal.

if i were you, i would start with the town, as most towns now a days have co's and codes via dwellings. most towns can issue violations or even contact the lender and even fine them, if something doesn't get down. the fact of the matter though, is many areas of the country handle it differently, some it's the town, other it's the county....but i would still start with town hall....and they may best be able to direct you on the correct path to get someone out there.

good luck with it!!

[wantout]

Well I called the city, and they cant do anything, since they cannot enforce code out of city limits, so I called the county department of health, there is nothing they can do, they told me to call the sheriff....and on and on, pass the buck...I will see if I can find out who has the mortgage and call them

[Flamingo]

Well I called the city, and they cant do anything, since they cannot enforce code out of city limits, so I called the county department of health, there is nothing they can do, they told me to call the sheriff....and on and on, pass the buck...I will see if I can find out who has the mortgage and call them

Again, write a Letter to the Editor of your local paper...contact your area TV station and describe the situation - many newspapers and TV stations have help lines that you can contact to have situations reviewed where one cannot get any help. If the smell is bad and a health hazard is brewing and there are people breaking into the house, it affects the entire neighborhood and it's time to get vocal beyond police department. Contact your own personal attorney to see what rights you have as to this situation. Did you contact the Sheriff as suggested? Someone mentioned calling your Representative for your area - another good idea.