Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This is a long story that goes back 15 years. My parents have been dealing with a landlord that rents out a house next to theirs to a family of two parents and several children. This is a small house (less than 1000 SF) with only one bedroom, but due to the size of the family the parents use the living room as a bedroom, three of the children share the only bedroom, and one child sleeps a closet that has been converted into a bedroom. The owner of the property is an influential individual who works for a county agency within the community where my parents reside.
The renters are extremely messy people that live in filth inside the house and leave piles of garbage bags outside the house. They have several junk vehicles on the property, old tires, a mattress, and other miscellaneous junk in the backyard, which was overgrown with weeds for a long time. They don't pay their garbage bill, so they end up leaving huge piles of garbage bags along the side of the house for weeks or months at a time and then haul it out to the landfill, usually after my parents complain to the city. One time the tenants had their water shut off because they failed to pay the water bill; their solution was to haul 5 gallon buckets of water from a city park faucet to use for drinking, bathing, and flushing toilets. Their electricity has also been shut off several times for non-payment.
The children are often unsupervised and have been spotted lighting fires in the driveway, shooting off fireworks into the street, etc. The property used to have an old garage with an asphalt roof that had a ton of junk stored in it, but the roof started caving in and the landlord was eventually forced by the city to take it down. All the junk that was stored in the garage was water damaged from rain over a period of several months. Some of it moved into a tent structure the tenants erected on the property, while the rest either went to the landfill or piled up alongside the house. The kids' bedroom window has been broken for years with a piece of cardboard taped over the opening to seal up the window.
My parents have complained to the mayor, city council, police department, and the county health department. There has been limited enforcement of some things such as the trash and garage, but in general very little is done because the owner of the property is well known within the community, and like I said, has influence due to his job at the county. He has even verbally told my parents that he doesn't have to do anything because of who he is.
Recently, however, this individual made the news along with other staff members following a state audit of his department due to improper disbursements of funds. He's been selling off all his rental properties in the months after, except for this one because it would be condemned if the city actually knew how bad the condition of the inside of the house is. His insurance company recently forced him to make improvements such as a new roof (the previous roof was in terrible shape and leaking) and tearing out the concrete slab and foundation where the garage used to sit due to hazards including an open pit, otherwise they were going to drop his insurance.
Now, the entire side of the house and backyard is a dirt lot, and he told my parents he is not going to do any more improvements to the property because he claims to have run out of money. The rear door out of the house had several steps down to grade level, which were removed when they tore out the concrete - now it is about a 4 foot drop to grade level, meaning that door is unusable and also a hazard. Apparently a corner of the house's foundation was also damaged during demolition.
My parents are at wits end. The city and county don't do anything, despite this property violating several city ordinances and being a health hazard to the children (who are now teenagers). I've told my parents to go to the state level, but I don't think they know who to go to (and neither do I). At this point, my parents are exhausted from trying to fight this over the years. The corruption and good-old-boy network of my hometown has been an eye-opening experience.
Has anyone ever run into this where a local jurisdiction fails to enforce its own codes and ordinances due to a conflict of interest? Is there anything my parents can do besides continually hitting a dead end with the city / county?
If the city/county won't do anything, contact a local television station or a newspaper reporter to either write an article or broadcast a news story. Sometimes you have to work with outside groups when the municipal authorities don't do their job. I've seen it done many times locally and it usually gets resolved rather quickly by the responsible parties to avoid further embarrassment.
I like the media too in situations like this where the favorite pol is catered to and yet the media will forge ahead with the truth. Hopefully the local media is not under this person's thumb as well.
If the city/county won't do anything, contact a local television station or a newspaper reporter to either write an article or broadcast a news story. Sometimes you have to work with outside groups when the municipal authorities don't do their job. I've seen it done many times locally and it usually gets resolved rather quickly by the responsible parties to avoid further embarrassment.
Both the options are stated above. Call Child Protective Services or your local news stations consumer affairs reporter. Both would probably be effective.
three questions:
1. what, exactly, do your parents want?
2. what do you want to happen?
3. which of those is likely?
here is what i mean:
do you want the house vacated?
do you want the house refurbished?
do you want the city to issue condemnation?
my opinion: decide on Only One Specific Action
and focus all your attention to achieving that result.
Ultimately, I don't think the problem will ever go away until the tenants are evicted. The landlord enables them by doing nothing to rectify the problem--I don't think he has been inside the house in the 15 years he has rented it to them. DHS visited the house a couple times in the past, but as far as I know they didn't go inside. I saw the inside of the house 10+ years ago when they asked us to check on their dog while they were out of town and it was the type of place you see on shows like hoarders where trash, empty containers, and dirty dishes are piled up all over the room. I have no idea what it is like today, but I can only imagine it is worse judging by how much worse the outside of the property has gotten. The kids are all teenagers now and two are 18+ and have moved out.
We were friendlier with these people earlier before they started letting the trash pile up outside. The relationship is very strained now. The parents are lazy. When one of the kids was a toddler he was playing around with his siblings in the family van, sitting in the drivers seat; they managed to put it into neutral, causing it to roll out into the street and almost hitting a parked vehicle. DHS visited for the first time shortly after this incident. The parents have never supervised the kids while they are outside, and now that the kids are getting older they are doing things like lighting fires and playing with fireworks (also illegal within the city). Their collection of junk vehicles is due to them not doing oil changes or basic maintenance--they drive them until they die, and then they end up junked on the property. They have 4 or 5 vehicles that are junk and two that barely run.
I have told my parents they should go to the media, but I don't think they want the public spotlight. This is a small town where everyone knows everyone else. But I think you all are right, if they ever want this to get resolved they will need to get out of their comfort zone. It is infuriating that the public agencies that are supposed to be responsible for the health, safety, and welfare within the city limits are turning a blind eye because the landlord happens to be a big fish in a little pond.
Do your parents have the money to buy the property?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
