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My coworker is going through something similar. She bought her place super cheap last year in a sketchy neighborhood and said she feels like she made a big mistake.
Said that the neighbors are really noisy and there are drug deals going on all the time. Well things got worse after she tried to get the situation under control. They vandalized her car, hang out on her stairs, throw trash everywhere and basically make life miserable for her. I think she should move, but she said in this economy she will take a serious loss.
She parks her car blocks away to keep it from being messed up now. When she gets home, the neighbors don't even move off her step to let her in her own house! It's crazy..... I feel for her, but think she is foolish. I would be out of there!
You'd think the owner could get more rent if the place wasn't a crack house. I wonder if the owner is a drug dealer (or maybe the guy the owner rents to who pretends he's the real owner is the dealer)? Who else has any interest in owning a crack house?
I guess the question is, what would make people abandon a crack house? What would make the crackheads abandon it, or what would make the person holding it together (the dealer?) move to another location? Attention from law enforcement would be one thing, but you aren't getting anywhere with that so far. Hmm. I don't know what the answer is, but I think that's the way to think about it. Either you have to move, or something has to make them move. Short of burning them out (you'd think they'd manage to burn themselves out sooner or later, wouldn't you?) or buying them out (and that's an expensive can of worms) I'm not sure how to get them out of there.
You'd think the owner could get more rent if the place wasn't a crack house. I wonder if the owner is a drug dealer (or maybe the guy the owner rents to who pretends he's the real owner is the dealer)? Who else has any interest in owning a crack house?
I guess the question is, what would make people abandon a crack house? What would make the crackheads abandon it, or what would make the person holding it together (the dealer?) move to another location? Attention from law enforcement would be one thing, but you aren't getting anywhere with that so far. Hmm. I don't know what the answer is, but I think that's the way to think about it. Either you have to move, or something has to make them move. Short of burning them out (you'd think they'd manage to burn themselves out sooner or later, wouldn't you?) or buying them out (and that's an expensive can of worms) I'm not sure how to get them out of there.
Part of my rant was edited out because I used the owners name but the thing is, the owner of the house rents to a "pastor" (who's also a crackhead..among numerous other horrible things i've heard about him)...the pastor rents the house out to a bunch of other crackheads, he doesn't actually live there. The REAL owner of the house apparently lives in Florida and has no idea that his house is being, like, sublet. But the problem with finding him to inform him of this is that the house is listed as his principle residence rather than a rental property and there is no other contact information for him. It also doesn't help that he has a really common name.
I wanted to mention though that I have found someone to help with the situation. And i want to thank the person that reccomended calling the the housing department's legal division because they put me in touch with someone that actually said they can and will help me and he has already started building a case against the owner of the house.
If I gave up and sold my house at a loss I would be giving in to those pieces of crap and I am just not willing to do that. I have a right to be safe and happy in my home...they aren't even supposed to be in that house, so they aren't going to take it away from me.
My coworker is going through something similar. She bought her place super cheap last year in a sketchy neighborhood and said she feels like she made a big mistake.
Said that the neighbors are really noisy and there are drug deals going on all the time. Well things got worse after she tried to get the situation under control. They vandalized her car, hang out on her stairs, throw trash everywhere and basically make life miserable for her. I think she should move, but she said in this economy she will take a serious loss.
She parks her car blocks away to keep it from being messed up now. When she gets home, the neighbors don't even move off her step to let her in her own house! It's crazy..... I feel for her, but think she is foolish. I would be out of there!
well they don't mess with me on a personal level...or my house or cars (knock on wood!!)...aside from the occasional 40 bottles and beer cans in my yard. on one occasion one of them tried to come in my yard and steal the cigarette butts out of my ashtray....so i asked him wtf he was doing...and then i let my very big and very overprotective dog out and he ran for his life..so i don't think they'll be trying to come in my yard again.
Glad to hear that something might be working out for you. I was going to suggest a long-shot idea -- find a civil rights attorney to file a class-action suit against the city seeking to compel the city to clean up crack houses that they have been told about. The upside would be that the crackheads next door probably wouldn't find out about it so they wouldn't know to retaliate against you, the downside is that it would take a long time and very likely not get you anywhere. So I'm glad you found someone to help you in a more direct way.
I can't believe that a collection of crackheads actually manages to get a rent check to their absentee landlord every month. But I guess stranger things have happened.
I would call the Mayor's Office/Council President and your City Council Rep.. here is a recent article on a Nuisance Ordinance that was supposedly passed by City Council.. I would call them and see if this property qualifies.. seems that it will
Good Luck
Rawlings-Blake Roll Call - August 22, 2008 (http://www.baltimorecitycouncil.com/RollCall_082208.htm - broken link)
If you are that unhappy and no one will help you, then move.There are thousands of houses to choose from and I would, if I were at my wits end as you state, find one elsewhere to live.
If you are that unhappy and no one will help you, then move.There are thousands of houses to choose from and I would, if I were at my wits end as you state, find one elsewhere to live.
How is she supposed to sell her house and move if it's next to a crack house?
Maybe she can rent her house to more crackheads, and move to an apartment somewhere else. At least until her crackhead tenants fail to pay the rent and then burn her house down.
I am at my wits end here. I don't know what else I can do, or where else to go with this.
For two years now I have dealt with the revolving door of people that occupy the house next to mine. I wouldn’t be surprised if the operators at the Baltimore Non-emergency call center knew my voice. Between their fire alarm constantly going off (and sadly, I’m always surprised they actually have a working fire alarm), clearly hearing them discuss their crack-smoking, the all night smooth jams blaring through my bedroom wall, or the Sunday morning 7am gospel service they blast on their radio, drug dealers and drug addicts that come banging on my door by mistake at all hours of the night, the constant arguing and fighting and screaming day and night, the list goes on and on…
I will admit, the number of people living in the house has gone down quite a bit. When I first moved here there were literally at least fifteen people, including an 8-year-old girl who obviously had some special needs. Now I would say there are about seven or so adults (in a two bedroom house). I have no better way to put it, all of these people are crack heads, plain and simple. This is a crack house. And what I don’t understand is why nothing is ever done about this situation. I have tried talking to them and explaining that they are too loud and that I can hear them clearly through my walls and they just don't care. I have called the police so many times. I have called the housing department. I have called the mayor. I have reported rampant drug abuse at this location. I have reported noise complaints and called about people fighting at least 100 times. And I see police there quite frequently, so why are these people still living there and continuing to act like this?
I find that all kind of funny because I was getting notices from the Baltimore Property Registration people for two years saying that I needed to pay a fee for renting out my home because it was listed as a vacant or non-principle residence…I have never rented out my home, and it is my principle residence. That has all been sorted out but I’m thinking that they should be made aware of this because if there’s a fee of $20 per renter or whatever it was, they’d be making bank on the endless supply of people that occupy that house. I feel like that alone is kind of a big deal; it's a scam, a fraud...clearly there's something wrong with it.
My point here is that I work hard for what I have, I’m a twenty two year old woman, I own my home, and I am a law abiding, tax paying citizen. I’m desperate for something to be done about these degenerate drug addicts who, at least from what I understand, technically don’t even have the right to be in the house they are staying in. I shouldn't have to deal with this, I shouldn't have to sleep on my couch every night or go to bed wearing earplugs because these people don't understand that it is not okay to act like wild animals. I just don’t think this situation is fair. I know Baltimore has a plethora of other problems in itself, but there has to be something someone can do. I’ve tried talking to these people. I’ve tried to contact the owner of the house. Every day it’s the same…music blaring constantly through the night, people fighting and arguing around the clock, fire alarms and the smell of plastic burning, drug deals in front of my home. I don't even feel safe in my own home. I can’t stand it anymore. I want to believe my neighborhood, and the city of Baltimore is better than this.
In the last three days alone I've called the police twice. Once Sunday morning because they were blaring some church thing on their radio or tv or whatever (hey, I'm all for people going to church... but that's just it.... If you want to praise Jesus, stop smoking crack and go to church, don't sit around your drug den and watch it on tv). I asked to speak to a police man once they'd arrived.....no one ever came. Last night I was trying to go to bed early so i could get up for work a little early...I was woken up at 11:30 to the sound of good ol' 92Q pulsing through my wall..I knocked on the wall...waited about 20 minutes and decided there was no way I could possibly sleep through this so I called the police and tried to go back to sleep downstairs on my sofa...anther half an hour and a policeman arrived and I ran out to explain that I've had to call numerous times in the last two weeks and would he PLEASE do something about this, he assured me it would be taken care of. I went back upstairs to sleep in my bed...great, they had turned the radio down about a decibel....waited an hour or so and they finally turned it off...so by the time I actually got to sleep it was after 1am, I don't consider that going to be early when I need to be up for work by 7.
I probably sound like a whiny brat but this whole situation is so frustrating. I've sent letters and emails and made phone calls to the police, the mayor, the housing department...still, nothing is ever done and i just don't know what else i can do.
What would you do?
I just find it an interesting irony that they are drug dealers yet listen to GOSPEL music. You should mention that music, and mention how it promotes the right values and how they should follow them. Just musing here, but idk it sounds like a bad situation. That part just struck me.
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