Abandoned and dilapidates houses (water, soil, tractor, cost)
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Why do small towns allow dilapidated structures to remain standing? At least 10% of the houses in my small town are totally beyond repair, and in many cases, have been so for decades. This holds true for a lot of small towns I've visited.
In my small town, there was no ordinance penalizing a neglectful owner....until recently it seems. Town managers are mindful of the close knit structure of their small town...that neglectful owner is someones aunt, cousin or brother.
Why do small towns allow dilapidated structures to remain standing? At least 10% of the houses in my small town are totally beyond repair, and in many cases, have been so for decades. This holds true for a lot of small towns I've visited.
Go to the next Town Council meeting and ask.
To somewhat answer there may be several reasons:
1) Cost for the Town to demo it. That can be recaptured on property taxes or upon sale in most cases.
2) Legal requirements. The property owner can be cited but typically there are time limits to complete the demo. All the property owner has to do is pull a demo permit and he's good to sit for six months or a year. When the permit expires the whole process restarts.
3) The property owner ties the demo up in Court. That can take years to go through the process. We had one property owner here whose investment property caught fire. It took seven years to have her clean up the property. Finally a Judge did the order and the Town still had to pay for it to be done.
Another property, a commercial one, had a stolen tractor trailer go through it, no insurance on the building. That was a five year ordeal with the Town again paying for the demo and cleanup.
I do have to add that in both cases the Town was reimbursed through a property tax assessment on the properties.
EDIT: I should have mentioned that these are all, in most places, governed by one or another state or local law.
For where I live, the property owner for a demo has to receive three separate citations of 45 days duration before we could take him to Court. The Court orders the owner to pull a demo permit. He gets to pull three of those, each of 6 months duration, before we can go to Court again, so we're now at almost two years since the original citation.
Typically the Judge will give the owner one more bite at the demo permit apple, keep in mind that we had to wait several months for a Court date, for one more 6 month permit so we're now at almost three years since the original citation.
Last edited by North Beach Person; 07-07-2021 at 08:46 AM..
Well, in my state, it's not illegal to own a piece of rural property with a dilapidated structure on it. So "The Town" has no authority to "let them remain" or not let them remain.
Why do you think that your aesthetic judgement should over-ride the property owner's property rights?
Well, in my state, it's not illegal to own a piece of rural property with a dilapidated structure on it. So "The Town" has no authority to "let them remain" or not let them remain.
Why do you think that your aesthetic judgement should over-ride the property owner's property rights?
Rural areas will have different property maintenance code requirements than even the smallest town.
Well, in my state, it's not illegal to own a piece of rural property with a dilapidated structure on it. So "The Town" has no authority to "let them remain" or not let them remain.
Why do you think that your aesthetic judgement should over-ride the property owner's property rights?
It's not so much aesthetics as safety. If the property is structurally unsound, someone could get hurt if they fall through the floor or off stairs, ect. Or if it falls down.
It's not so much aesthetics as safety. If the property is structurally unsound, someone could get hurt if they fall through the floor or off stairs, ect. Or if it falls down.
Someone could get gored by a bull, too. Someone could fall in my pond and drown. You're talking about TRESPASSERS getting hurt. Someone could pull the concrete well cover off my well and jump down in it, too.
Someone could get gored by a bull, too. Someone could fall in my pond and drown. You're talking about TRESPASSERS getting hurt. Someone could pull the concrete well cover off my well and jump down in it, too.
Another reason for allowing it in rural areas is the misconscrewed interpretation of “freedom” on one’s own property.
It’s all just aesthetics unless there is also contamination into the soil or water, proliferation of vermin, squatters, drug dealing, fire hazard, and assorted other negative stuff.
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