While driving to work I was looking for a house that was for sale on a particular street, while trying to find it I found one a few doors down that had a condemned notice on the door. I was going about 35mph and couldn’t really read it well but figured it was code violations or something like that. On the way back I looked more carefully and saw it was condemned by the health dept. I am going to call them tomorrow morning to find out why it was condemned if they’ll tell me. Just wondering in general what it normally takes to condemn a property for health violations. Pests? Garbage? Feces in places it shouldn’t be? All of the above? Any other reasons? Just curious if they do it for other reasons. I looked up the info for the property when I was at work using a tool I have and it didn’t show any previous sale data such as date and price, seems like I see this when a property has been owned for a long time. I’m hoping the guy owns this free and clear or close to it and it can be had cheap. I’ll probably want it for myself or maybe wholesale it.
All of the above could cause a property to be condemned. In addition, so could:
- 50 cats in the house
- 50 dogs in the house
- 25 cats, 24 dogs, and a boa constrictor
- 3 monkeys without diapers
- 2 drug addicts without running water (did you see the bathtub picture in my blog?)
- 1 imaginary roach and 1 imaginary mouse (that’s a long story, but true)
Just about anything can cause the property to be condemned. I bought one condemned property that was condemned because it was a crackhouse. Of course, the buckets of feces didn’t help either! YUK!
Mike
In my area, having the gas and/or electric shut off would lead to a “health citation” requiring the premises to be vacated immediately.
Then there’s sewer backups, mold, rental knee high in garbage with rats running wild, etc. etc.
Which works nicely if a deadbeat fails to pay his electric or gas, they can be evicted without the delays usual with Landlord Tenant courts.
In most cities, it’s always the Health Department that does the condemnation.
Along with the aforementioned;
- Sever structural problems (roof or floor about to cave in)
- Evidence of squatters (trash, needles, Mike’s buckets of love)
- Sever mechanical damage (tree falling through the house)
- Extreme environmental problems (contaminated water, mold, broken sewer line in the crawl space, etc.)
- Fire damage
- General neglect
So strucutural would warrant health dept condemnations as well? I would think a different department would handle that. Hmmmmm…
I still have to call them and find out what is going on, just haven’t had a chance yet this morning.
If such a structural problem was effecting the safety of the residents (anything to warrant condemnation), it’s a Health Department issue. Every City and Town has their own way of doing things but for the most part the Health Department handles them all.