Rickety houses can take years for demolition

Larry Eason complained for years about his backyard view: an abandoned home-turned-frequent hangout for looters.

Then four months ago lightning struck the house, and now it's just a shell of the dump it used to be. Eason thought, "Now, at least, somebody will deal with it."

He was wrong.

A Hillsborough County Code Enforcement officer told him in July the house was ordered condemned but wasn't optimistic about the chances the building will be torn down, Eason said.

"He didn't really have a good answer for when that will happen," Eason said. "He was like, 'Well, it will happen eventually, but it's really hard to say when that will happen, and it will sit there like that until then.'"

That's the standard answer most residents hear from code enforcement when they complain about unsightly homes. The department handles more than 8,000 complaints a year, and eventually, if the home is in really bad shape, it puts the home on a condemned list.

The home behind Eason's, at 1702 Cottage Forest Ct., is one of 49 on Hillsborough County's condemned list. That means if the homeowner doesn't respond, the county is supposed to tear it down and place a lien on the property.

But 30 of the homes on the list have been there for at least a year. That leaves neighbors – often the ones whose complaints got a home on the list in the first place –with no one else to turn to.

The housing boom and bust that led to a foreclosure crisis also littered local neighborhoods with abandoned eyesores. Code enforcement is overwhelmed and said in January it would work harder this year to tear down homes that can't be rehabilitated. However, the department is still struggling to speed up the demolition process.

The county tears down about two homes a month, said Jim Blinck, operations manager for the Code Enforcement department, and doesn't have the money to work faster.

"We only have 'x' amount of dollars to do demolitions in the county, and when that money runs out there is no more until the next fiscal year," Blinck said.

Consider the last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. The county had $100,000 in its general demolition budget. At a cost of about $5,000 each, only 18 were torn down. In fiscal year 2010, taxpayers tore down 16 homes.

The county also had $195,000 in federal grants for demolition in select low-income neighborhoods. But the county used only $28,090 of that money and tore down just four homes.

So why isn't the county using the money? Blinck said one of the reasons is because it's cumbersome to get access to the cash.

"We have to jump through a lot of hoops and it can only be used in certain neighborhoods," he said.

A deadline to use the money expired last month, but Blinck said the deadline has been extended to Sept. 30, 2012.

No matter which pot of money the county uses, the process of demolishing homes is complicated and frustrating for those stuck living nearby.

Here's how it works:

• Code Enforcement condemns a home if it determines that needed repairs exceed 50 percent of the value of the property.

• The official decision to condemn is made by the code enforcement director, a building official from the Planning and Growth Management department, and the fire marshal.

• With that decision in hand, the county conducts a title search to see if there are liens on the property.

• The county gives legal notice to the owners, who have 15 days to appeal the decision.

Most of the time, the owners don't respond. Often, Blinck said, they've moved on and left the home to foreclosure.

Once banks take a home back, they're legally responsible for caring for it, but banks don't want some of these homes.

Andrew Boardley is living next to one of those homes, at 7022 Sandhurst Dr.

Like Eason's backyard eyesore, the home beside Boardley's house burned, too. It's been sitting, charred and boarded up, for more than a year. It was condemned in September.

Boardley said he's worried about more than the way it looks. Snakes come into his yard, where his two young daughters play.

"I've had problems with bees getting in our attic," Boardley said. "I have to pay $80 a month to have that lawn mowed every two weeks, and that's expensive since it's not even our house."

Ernestine Wheeler, who lives on the street behind the house, said the home frightens her.

"I hear people talking just like they're visiting, but the houses are abandoned," Wheeler said. "It's scary sometimes."

Blinck said Boardley and Wheeler won't have to wait much longer. The home is slated to be demolished within the next month.

Blinck said he feels bad for neighbors of abandoned homes. But as much as some residents want him to, Blinck said he can't just bulldoze all the ugly homes. He picks the worst of the worst to tear down.

And the department tries to pressure the owners of the abandoned homes to do something about the situation themselves.

In some cases, the owner decides to pull permits and do necessary repairs.

"I consider that a success," Blinck said.

But that's little consolation for Eason. He knows the home behind his is beyond repair and wonders how long it will sit there.

"Somebody should come tear the thing down and cart the thing off so at least it's bare land instead of an old eyesore sitting there."

That may end up happening after all. Blinck said this week he'll send code enforcement officers back out to the house and "fast track" the demolition.