My Vacant House Project
 

I've started this thread to document "My Vacant House Project" or MVHP.

There's a house 2 doors up on our street which is vacant. I have no idea how long it's been empty (someone on the street mentioned 15 years), but it's really starting to show a decline in it's health as a house.

It's really unfortunate, because the homes on the street are very nice, built to last and have have lot of character with unique/desirable features like pocket doors, butler staircases, hardwood on 1st & 2nd floors, etc. This house is the big blemish on our part of the street.

I wanted to start my project by heading to the tax office to find out who owns the house. I thought the best first step would be to contact the owner, and ask their plans/intentions for the house. But now I've now modified that plan.

Last night after watching a raccoon access the house through a hole in the rear roof (something I suspected was happening, but hadn't observed), I decided I needed launch some bylaw violation complaints right away.

Today, I sent my councillor Bernie Morelli the following letter:

Dear Bernie,

I’m writing to request your assistance in learning how to officially report a violation to the City of Hamilton’s Property Maintenance and Standards bylaw. The violation I'd like to report pertains to a vacant house in my neighbourhood.

On the evening of Sunday May 25, 2008 while sitting on our deck my wife and I observed a raccoon entering through a hole in the building’s rear roof. It’s my understanding that would be a violation of: Bylaw 04-281, Property Maintenance and Standards, Section 8(2) (b) Exteriors of buildings shall be: be maintained to prevent the entry of vermin and birds.

I look forward to your assistance in learning how to properly report this bylaw violation, with the goal of having this issue properly resolved. Please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience.

Great idea! It's probably a foreclosed house or something.

Maybe the street/neighbourhood can come together to fix up the exterior of the house? Make it like a Community Project. Cut the grass, plant some flowers, whatever can improve it's curb appeal.

This way, it will a) bring the street/neighbourhood together; b) give a sense of pride for those who worked on it, and c) keep property values stable in the neighbouring houses.
Oh and d) you'll get a great tan!

What 'hood is this? if it's in the East End, I bet there would be a lot of support from neighbours willing to help!

I wonder who owns this old house on Wentworth? It could be really nice:
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...july/00067.jpg

Wow someone actually bricked up the front door lol

Some good ideas, but I'm looking for more than flowers and a cut lawn (weeds), because the house looks to be declining structurally now (i.e. hole in roof). I'm going to use the unkempt nature of the grounds as one of my future bylaw complaints.

I have a shopping list of property standard violations for this property. But, I will only be reporting the next on the list after the current one is fixed. I'm of the mind the only way the current owner will get rid of the property is if it becomes too much a constant pain-in-the-ass.

Reporting 4 or 5 items all at once is like pulling the band-aid off quickly the pain goes away quickly. I'm going to pull the band-aid slowly so it becomes a bother to the owner.

I learned on this board last week that it's in South Stipley (King & Sherman).

It might just work with the proposed new and improved bylaw enforcement.

Brick and Mortar is "d" for securing vacant buildings where levels 'a' through 'c' have failed, more than once, to exclude unauthorized entry.

At the very least, it will have to work better than anything else that's happened in the past, which is by appearances is nothing.

Natural vegetation (i.e. weeds) over 8" in height Bylaw 03-118 3(3), is going to be complaint #2 sometime in late June/early July. And I'm going to learn all about weeds and determine if any of the weeds are designated noxious under the Weed Control Act. Off the top of my head, ragweed is so if there's any ragweed on the property that will be my late August/early September complaint........

^^ haha I love the idea of reporting one after the other. If a by-law violation notice week after week isn't enough to say "F IT", I dunno WHAT is! haha

What if there is no owner of the property? What if it's simply abandoned?

Someone's got to be paying the taxes or the city would take over and auction for a minimum bid of the taxes owing. At least, that's my understanding of the process.

Either my wife, or I will take a day off in June and go the tax office, pay the money, and find out who gets that tax bill. That's the path to who owns the property. I think it will be mportant to politely contact the owner and ask of their plans/intentions with the property. Some gentle prodding and pushing to get something to happen.

I'm going to treat it like a game. At the worst, the house gets some maintenance attention, at the best it's sold and someone decides to fix it up.

that place is fantastic. probably a rooming house before it was condemned. the neighbourhood's full of them.

man, look at those satellite dishes - the bane of my existence.

Lol...nobody can get a job or afford to pay rent, but the satellite dishes are a MUST.
As Harry Dunn said to Lloyd Christmas before he spent the last of their loot -
"Nothing but the bare essentials".

Most people get the dishes cheap, or they're left by past owners and then they use them to get free tv with a cracked satellite box. Thats why you see so many around. Lots of dishonest, cheap people.

you're right, but i guarantee it's the first thing these people do. our priorities are shit. i'd bet these are the same people who send their kids to school without breakfast sporting grubby clothes. but hey...satellite tv, baby!

Didn't hear any response from Bernie Morelli on my emailed letter. I was pretty disappointed in him for not responding. I guess he already has enough votes, and isn't interested in getting ours..........

I'm just back from City Hall. First stop was the taxation office where I learned who owns the vacant house. For what it's worth, they live in Ancaster.

The second stop was Property Standards, where the receptionist got voicemail the two Property Standards employees. So she invited me to wait in the reception area, and left a voicemail message I was waiting with a brief description on my problem.

Well after about 5 minutes the receptionist gets a call back from Property Standards, and then asks me to fill out a standard sparse request form. Disappointed, as I feel if it's important enough for me to personally come to City Hall to report the issue, then one of the contacts could have walked to the front to accept my report.

Well I filled out the form and was told to call back in 10 days and it should be assigned to a Bylaw officer by that time. When the 10 days are up we'll see if: (1) I can get a person live on the phone, or (2) If I leave a voicemail, will they return my call. I've got a feeling Property Standards and the bylaw officers are going to get to know my name over the next few months....... :-)

Wow. Amazing perseverance. Too bad it looks like you're going to need more. That's a very disappointing response from Morelli. We're spoiled here in Ward 1. I've never waited more than 24hrs for a response frim Mchattie. Seems not all councillors were created equal. Keep pestering him. You have every right to expect a prompt reply from him or one of his staff. He should be doing everything in his power to help a constituent like yourself who is caring and proactive.

And you're right that someone from bylaw should have come down to see you. Not impressive. Sorry your first encounters with city hall have been so underwhelming. I hope it won't discourage you in your quest.

Now that I’ve reported the first bylaw violation, and found out who owns that house. I decided to fulfill some of my curiosity and see in what kind of house the owners, John and Heather Kirstein, lived in at 118 McGregor Crescent in Ancaster.

So on Saturday afternoon, my wife and I took the “scenic route” to Living Lighting on Upper James, and drove past their house. I was hoping they lived in a nice Ancaster neighbourhood, and lived in a nice well kept home. If this was the case it was going to help me in my plans on how to attack this vacant house issue.

Well I got ½ my hope fulfilled.…….

The neighbourhood was a very nice suburban neighbourhood made up of late 70’s – early 80’s bungalows, on large lots. Some expensive infill homes were being built on the streets leading to their home. We get on their street and “so far, so good” the homes are well kept some are really, really nice. I’m driving and looking for # 118, looking, and looking, there it is at the end of the road, and oh no………… Damn it, it’s an unkempt, dumpy looking house. The wooden garage door needed to be re-stained about 20 years ago, the long driveway is full of cars (some look like they may not be roadworthy), the lawn is in rough shape and the drapery rod in the large front window needs proper support because it’s sagging in the middle under the weight of the drapes.

So these people aren’t just the bane of my neighbourhood, they are also the bane of the nice suburban neighbourhood where they live.

It looks like my job just got a whole lot harder. No matter persistence needs to be the order of the day. This week I’m calling Councillor Morelli as a follow-up to the letter I sent to him last week.

Don't waste your time with Morelli. there has to be a better way...maybe property standards, or even the mayor's office?? morelli is useless.

If you read the full thread, you'll see I've already had an unsatisfactory dealing with Property Standards last Thursday. But that doesn't mean they won't work to resolution, I just didn't get the warm fuzzies.

My belief, is that it takes a mutli-pronged approach, including Morelli.

Well so far, Bernie Morelli is failing to impress. After 1.5 weeks of no response to my letter, I decided to follow-up with a call to Bernie.

When I called I got Bernie's voicemail, and here's the response to my voicemail asking him to call me (leaving daytime and evening phone numbers):
Paul, thank you for your phone call and message. First of all, congratulations on moving to the Ward and the City of Hamilton. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any further issues or concerns. By copy of this note, I will forward your concerns to Carmela Vidic, Coordinator of Municipal Law Enforcement, for review/response.
Regards,

Bernie Morelli,
Councillor, Ward 3.

Though I appreciate the direction to Carmela (contact name and email is always good), I did ask for him to contact me by phone......... Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like I got a bit of the 'brush off', and I certainly get the feeling that my issue would have been completely ignored had I not shown the drive to follow-up by phone.

Well Bernie's going to get to know that I'm not one to give up easily, he'll know my name and perhaps regret I purchased a home in his ward......

many people have tried to get him to care. I applaud your efforts, but caution you to not waste too much time on him. Hopefully you find someone at city staff who will work with you and make your time productive.
Morelli won't. He hasn't for decades.

He may not care, but he's going to be aware and unable to ignore my project :)

Your response from Morelli seems odd to me. I sent a single email to him about supporting light rail and asking about a dog park in Gage Park and he phoned me on a Saturday of all days to talk about my questions.

Maybe he wasn't busy that week.

It's definitely odd that your getting a bit of a brush off considering his campaign focussed on cracking down on crime and enforcing property standards.

campaign?? when, back in 1980??
he hasn't run a campaign in years.
He didn't even bother to show up at the only in-ward debate during the last campaign.

Odd to me as well, especially when I thought I was being 'civic minded'. Maybe he's a dog owner...........

Anyways the wheels are now turning. Email from today:
Councillor Morelli and Mr. Tetley

We will input your complaint and have an inspector investigate.

Judy: please action and cc inspector a copy of this email and to report back to me with an update.

thanks
Carmela

Today's update.

Headed to the bus this morning and low and behold there's an official looking notice taped to the front door of the house. Overjoyed, I bound up the house's front steps, a dangerous move since the stairs sag with every normal step..

As I had to catch a bus, I didn't have much time to read it thoroughly. But, it's a notice from the city to remove garbage (funny that's not one on my problems, the property seems pretty garbage free) and to cut any vegetation over 8" in height. Must be completed by June 8th!!!!

Not a result of my complaint (I was saving that one to be my mid-late June complaint), but a good start to making this a thorn in the owner's side.

Since the owner simply pays the property taxes year in, and year out, without apparent pain. One of my goals is to increase his pain and have many more dollars added to his tax bill from all the maintenance and repairs the city does on the property and puts on the tax bill. I'm confident he won't do the work, so I counting on the city to do it, and do it at city rates.:haha:

My latest update:

Hi Judy,

I'm writing this email, because a few minutes ago (10:50pm) I again witnessed 2 raccoons scaling the rear staircase and enter through the holes in the rear flat roof.

Can you please update me to the status of the investigation on this site.

Thanks!

On Friday July 4th, action was taken (by the city I assume) to secure the house with plywood.

Holes in flat roof covered with plywood, broken window covered with plywood, hole in garage roof, front garage door and broken garage window covered with plywood.

So the squeaky wheel does get the grease.........

The problem with your stereotype is that property is a poor measure of wealth. Likely the house on your street belonged to a parent of the folks who live in Ancaster. They might not have enough to buy two houses, but they can afford to pay property taxes on an inherited house, in the hopes that one day it might be worth something. If that's the case though, letting the place crumble isn't helping their income potential. They should sell it for whatever they can get, and use the money to clean up their Ancaster home!

Congrats with your success at the bylaw office. You're inspiring me!

Never tried to measure wealth, I was only measuring 'Pride in Ownership', which they seem to lack. And I don't think this has anything to do with finances, it has to do with there personalities. Their home in the nice Ancaster neighbourhood has 6 cars in the driveway with 2 or 3 of them rotting away on blocks. I'm sure their neighbours in Ancaster are just as pleased with them as I am......

Actually, I was speaking to a neighbour across the road last week who's been on the street since 1983. She told me the opposite to your assumption, they were a young couple with children, and a parent (or parents) becane ill and they left to help out and never returned...........

My email to the City bylaw department

Hi Judy and Frances,

I'm sending this note to thank-you for your attention to my complaint regarding 22 Fairholt Road South.

I see at the end of last week, the unsecured areas of the house (roof, window, garage) were all sealed with sheets of plywood. Based on the professional quality of the work, I'm assuming it was either completed by the City, or completed under the City's supervision.

Thank-you for your help on this matter, and I wanted to let you know your help is very much appreciated by myself, and other neighbours on Fairholt Road South.

Judy's response

THANKYOU, and yes we instructed the contractor go in and do the work, let us know if there are any more problems

Great work by councillor Morelli. I'm glad that he was able to assist you here with this.

And a saga comes to a close.

Good stuff.

LOL, not even close to a close. That's just the first step on a journey that I feel will have 1,000 miles............ The house is still sitting there rotting, and there are more bylaw violations.

If the owners are going to let this happen it's my goal to punish them financially by having the city add all kinds of work to their tax bill.

So far since June 1st.
1. Clearing of debris and cutting of vegetation (weeds).
2. Securing the house with about 8 or 9 sheets of plywood

I've got a few more bylaw violations coming down the pike, and Judy did say: "let us know if there are any more problems." :)

I guess I should chime in here.
I've been in touch with McHattie's office about a 'mostly' vacant house on our street.
the owner comes by for about an hour or two each month.
no lawn cutting, no snow shoveling etc....
the weeds are 5 feet tall now.
I'll let you know what happens. It's a unique case because the home is owned, and sometimes he shows up (usually in the middle of the night for half an hour or so). it's not entirely vacant.
Although, exterior windows haven't been closed in years. the living room light has been on for 3 years.
many rooms are unfinished.
The neighbourhood cats love the place.

I'll keep you posted.

^^grow house?

Vacant, or not 8" is the bylaw height for lawn vegetation, grass or weeds. I'd start there with bylaw. They'll post a notice with a 5 day deadline, and my suggestion is on the morning of the 6th day call the bylaw officer and inform them the lawn is uncut. They should come to cut it on day 7 and put the charge on the property tax bill.

yea, I told them about the 5 foot tall grass.
I should look on the front door. Getting past all the boxes and junk on the porch will be a task.

Ahhh... 89 Wentowrth...

That was one of the first house's we saw on our first trip here from out West, and it blew us away.

If you Goggle Earth it, it shows that there is almost no yard (used up by its surrounding apartment buildings), but what a jem.

I drive past it everyday and can just imagine the inside and what it could be.

Before we bought our current mammoth project, we debated getting in touch with the owner to see if he would sell it. But in the end, we decided that street is too busy for our current and future kids.

Hopefully someone else has a good plan for it.

well, this weed/grass bylaw stuff is slow as heck..the city came by and posted a notice and came back on the deadline 5 days later. He was out there working away that morning as we expected.
I'm not sure if they gave him a deadline, but he's slowly working away at it...probably has half the property done now, but it's been 3 weeks. Hopefully he'll get the rest done this week.
At least it's being fixed and that's the main thing.

yea, that house on Wentworth is awesome....the lack of a yard is probably a stumbling block for a family. The huge house on Main East near Prospect was bought by a family, but it has a huge yard despite being on Main East.
I could see condos/apartments in this Wentworth House.

It has a great style. I love the older houses. A shame to see it sit empty like that.

Yea, the Main/Prospect one is another monster. Great, great house with a mother of a yard AND a coach house in the back. But Main is a little busy, and having a Time Hortons Drive Thru right next door is a little tough. Too bad that place wasn't set back about 20-30 feet; it would make a huge difference.

89 Wentworth would be great for condos. That's one of the reasons why a lot of those beautiful old Victorians sit empty, they're too big. That and all those old windows and the crazy roof and everything else that comes with 100 year old houses makes them expensive to fix.

It's a catch 22 for this particular house: it's not desirable because the apartments that hem it in aren't desirable, and the apartment buildings aren't desirable because there's a vacant mansion next door.

well, the family who bought it must not mind. They've done a good job fixing it up so far.

And the apartment building next to the house is empty as well, right? I'm guessing the same owner on both buildings.

Once a notice for grass/weeds is issued, the tenants/owner has 5 business days in which to comply. If they come back and the owner is working on the lawn my understanding is the notice/complaint dies, whether he finishes the job, or not.....

That is, if you can get the city to respond to a complaint. I issued my complaint to the house 2 doors up from us on July 23rd, and here we are 2 follow-ups (3rd happening today) and 1 month later without any action on the city's part.

54 days and repeated follow-ups, to finally get to success. There is now a notice on the houses front door, 5 days to cut the weeds.

I'm going through the same process now too. Got in touch with my councillor who jumped on it. The city staffer said that their records show the property was 'compliant'.
I kindly said that "if this is compliance, I need to move to another city".
3/4 of the property was NEVER touched by the owner. Not once. All summer. Now our house feels like we're living in an allergen testing zone 24-7.
What a stupid system. The property owner shows up, says "yea, I'm on it" and the city never checks back in.
Brutal.

If there is any ragweed, http://k53.pbase.com/u33/richarda/up...DSC00592cx.jpg, they have to remove it no matter the height. It's a noxious weed as it has a negative impact to humans (hayfever).

If a notice is issued than they have 5 days to resolve the items outlined on the notice. At the end of 5 days I send the city an email detailing the address, notice number, bylaw officer, etc from the notice (you do have to walk up to the front door to get that info if the notice is still present), and let them know it's not fixed.

your link doesn't work...I'd like to check out a pic of that stuff. I'm certain he's got a pile of it.

Try this one: http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...%3Den%26sa%3DG