A PROPERTY in Sanderson Road, once considered a warm and loving home, was left abandoned and is now a shell of its former self.
It has been stripped bare by vagrants, is infested with rats, the pool has become a haven for mosquitoes and has attracted a criminal element into the once peaceful neighbourhood.
The house was put on the market at the end of 2017 and the property was left vacant between March and May last year.
The neighbour, Lenny Mariemuthu, said, “I don’t think anyone realised that they had moved out until about September when we noticed that the property was missing a window, then a door and then soon after that everything was missing.”
In December last year he said crime reached an all-time high.
“My house was hit three times in one week and the other neighbour’s home was hit 11 times in seven days.”
“With the house being abandoned it pulled in a bad element. You could hear them sometimes at night, or spot them skipping the wall at the bottom of the property,” said Mariemuthu.
“These guys have vandalised the house to such an extent that they have destroyed the property and the house is unhygienic. There are rats,” he said.
The two neighbours bought a chain and a lock for the front gate. While this didn’t deter people on foot, it would ensure no one would enter the property from the main street.
It was on Christmas Eve that Mariemuthu decided that enough was enough.
He went to the postbox, rummaged through the mail and found a letter from the bank.
He then contacted them and made them aware of the dire situation.
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“I have lived in the area for six years and up until now I thought we were completely forgotten about with regards to crime. Until this happened. Eventually, the bank, last week, sent out a team to clean up the place and they now have a guard stationed at the property, 24/7,” said a grateful Mariemuthu.
Ward 18 councillor, Melanie Brauteseth, said:
“I have engaged the city’s health services, who have undertaken to investigate the clearing of overgrowth at the premises and treat the swimming pool to limit the issue of mosquitoes. The bank, who holds the bond over the property, has also been contacted. They have posted a security guard at the building to prevent its illegal occupation by criminal elements operating in the area” said Brauteseth.
Brauteseth said she is also in the process of having the property rezoned to “unauthorised use”, which would attract a significantly higher rates’ burden.
“This initiative would accelerate the accumulation of rates owed by the owner of the building to the point where the rates exceeded the value of the property and thus allow the city management to initiate a process to confiscate and sell the property to settle the rates’ bill.
“Given the fact that the owner of the building cannot be traced, and that the Problem Buildings bylaw does not allow for expropriation, this appears to be the only possible route to the resolution of the problem. A new owner would hopefully care for the property and respect the rights of their neighbours,” said Brauteseth.
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