nevadamedic
05-24-2007, 01:49 PM
ORLANDO, Fla. -- One man's trash is not always another man's treasure. Many people are voicing out against their neighbors who have turned their homes into junkyards.
"All kinds of stuff could be in here, rats and roaches," a code enforcement officer said.
But there are ways neighbors can fight back.
WESH 2's reporter Michelle Meredith takes a look at the homes at the top of the list for Orlando Code Enforcement officers.
The first home is in Pine Hills on Perrine Drive. The homeowner turned his back yard into what looks like a used car lot.
There is a truck, an upside down hot tub, bikes, hubcaps and lawn mowers cluttering his yard.
Across the street, one neighbor said she has watched the pile grow.
"It just takes away everything," she said.
The next home is on Rose Of Sharon Street in Orlando, where a Mack truck sits in the front yard.
The home is also littered with broken jars of mayonnaise and candy bars outside.
"It just makes me sick," one neighbor said.
The neighbor's view in her back yard is of the house and she said she is tired of looking at it.
"It just makes me sick," she said.
Another house on Signal Hill Road in the Rosemont area has a front yard that WESH 2 reporter Michelle Meredith said looks like a "toy sale" gone bad with an outdoor washing machine.
"They have 14 days to respond to clean up or the city will come and clean it up," a code enforcement officer said.
Minutes after the Orlando code enforcement officer left a notice, the owner of the house showed up and Meredith asked him some questions.
"I guess the neighbors want to know how you can let it look this bad. They have to look at this every day," she said.
"I said it will be taken care of. It will be taken care of. This is over," the home owner said.
Finally, on Webster Street in College Park, one woman said her $300,000 dream home is over-shadowed by a half-demolished house directly across the street from her.
"This was my dream home," she said. "My greatest worry is that somebody is going to get killed."
If someone is living next door to a "nasty" neighbor, there are things that can be done.
First, call the local code enforcement officer, whose job is to find, monitor, document and get rid of people's junk.
If the neighbor fails to cooperate, code enforcement said they can fine the owners $25 to $250 a day or more, and the fines can add up.
One home in Orlando is already up to $60,000 in fines, one code enforcement officer said.
When homeowners don't pay their fines, enforcement officers can lien them when the owner tries to sell their house or take out a second mortgage.
Officers can also clean them, which is what happened to a house in Pine Hills. Orange County officials hired a company to haul the junk away from that home.
"I was thinking thank you, thank you Jesus," one neighbor said.
After the cleaning, code enforcement can stick the homeowner with the bill. In the case of the Pine Hills home, code enforcement billed the owner $4,500.
Officials said that money is hard to collect. Most counties and cities put a lien on the house, but Orange County adds the bill to the homeowner's property tax.
"If you don't pay your property tax, someone else is going to pay it and get your property," an officials said.
As a last resort, code enforcement can foreclose the home. If the home in question is not where the homeowner lives, officials can take the house.
Kimberly Heath almost lost her investment home after she said her tenants were running a mobile vet clinic, but code enforcement decided not to foreclose her home.
"It would haunt me the rest of my life. If I want to buy another home, if I want to do anything politically," Heath said.
The bottom line is, homeowners must clean up their yards before code enforcement takes action.
http://www.wesh.com/news/13368932/detail.html?subid=22100409&qs=1;bp=t
"All kinds of stuff could be in here, rats and roaches," a code enforcement officer said.
But there are ways neighbors can fight back.
WESH 2's reporter Michelle Meredith takes a look at the homes at the top of the list for Orlando Code Enforcement officers.
The first home is in Pine Hills on Perrine Drive. The homeowner turned his back yard into what looks like a used car lot.
There is a truck, an upside down hot tub, bikes, hubcaps and lawn mowers cluttering his yard.
Across the street, one neighbor said she has watched the pile grow.
"It just takes away everything," she said.
The next home is on Rose Of Sharon Street in Orlando, where a Mack truck sits in the front yard.
The home is also littered with broken jars of mayonnaise and candy bars outside.
"It just makes me sick," one neighbor said.
The neighbor's view in her back yard is of the house and she said she is tired of looking at it.
"It just makes me sick," she said.
Another house on Signal Hill Road in the Rosemont area has a front yard that WESH 2 reporter Michelle Meredith said looks like a "toy sale" gone bad with an outdoor washing machine.
"They have 14 days to respond to clean up or the city will come and clean it up," a code enforcement officer said.
Minutes after the Orlando code enforcement officer left a notice, the owner of the house showed up and Meredith asked him some questions.
"I guess the neighbors want to know how you can let it look this bad. They have to look at this every day," she said.
"I said it will be taken care of. It will be taken care of. This is over," the home owner said.
Finally, on Webster Street in College Park, one woman said her $300,000 dream home is over-shadowed by a half-demolished house directly across the street from her.
"This was my dream home," she said. "My greatest worry is that somebody is going to get killed."
If someone is living next door to a "nasty" neighbor, there are things that can be done.
First, call the local code enforcement officer, whose job is to find, monitor, document and get rid of people's junk.
If the neighbor fails to cooperate, code enforcement said they can fine the owners $25 to $250 a day or more, and the fines can add up.
One home in Orlando is already up to $60,000 in fines, one code enforcement officer said.
When homeowners don't pay their fines, enforcement officers can lien them when the owner tries to sell their house or take out a second mortgage.
Officers can also clean them, which is what happened to a house in Pine Hills. Orange County officials hired a company to haul the junk away from that home.
"I was thinking thank you, thank you Jesus," one neighbor said.
After the cleaning, code enforcement can stick the homeowner with the bill. In the case of the Pine Hills home, code enforcement billed the owner $4,500.
Officials said that money is hard to collect. Most counties and cities put a lien on the house, but Orange County adds the bill to the homeowner's property tax.
"If you don't pay your property tax, someone else is going to pay it and get your property," an officials said.
As a last resort, code enforcement can foreclose the home. If the home in question is not where the homeowner lives, officials can take the house.
Kimberly Heath almost lost her investment home after she said her tenants were running a mobile vet clinic, but code enforcement decided not to foreclose her home.
"It would haunt me the rest of my life. If I want to buy another home, if I want to do anything politically," Heath said.
The bottom line is, homeowners must clean up their yards before code enforcement takes action.
http://www.wesh.com/news/13368932/detail.html?subid=22100409&qs=1;bp=t