My Vacant House Project

[FairHamilton]

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.

[DC83]

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!

[flar]

I wonder who owns this old house on Wentworth? It could be really nice:

[SteelTown]

Wow someone actually bricked up the front door lol

[FairHamilton]

Originally Posted by DC83

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!

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).

[flar]

Originally Posted by FairHamilton

Reporting 4 or 5 items 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.

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

[FairHamilton]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Wow someone actually bricked up the front door lol

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

[FairHamilton]

Originally Posted by flar

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

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........

[DC83]

^^ 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?

[FairHamilton]

Originally Posted by DC83

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.

[the dude]

Originally Posted by flar

I wonder who owns this old house on Wentworth? It could be really nice:

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.

[raisethehammer]

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".

[matt602]

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.

[the dude]

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!

[FairHamilton]

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....... :-)

[highwater]

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.

[FairHamilton]

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.

[raisethehammer]

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.

[FairHamilton]

Originally Posted by raisethehammer

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.

[FairHamilton]

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......