Re: Burned House - Landlord Forum thread 357429

Re: Burned House by Garry (Iowa) on May 17, 2018 @16:56

I went through an identical situation such as this, in the past few years, so I know from personal experience what I'm talking about. Yes, the gas, electric and water were all shut off at the time of the fire. But once a major fire happens to any structure in any city, the city inspectors and all the city codes kick in regarding disposal of the property. If the structure is still partly there, the owner or the city may need to board it up, and/or put a fence around it, to keep people out (think kids, or the homeless)In my city, all under ground lines, including sewer, have to either be taken out of the ground, or capped off from all major lines underground, that service the house. That sometimes means digging in the street or parking to cap them off. Then, ALL man-made materials have to come out of the lot, and dirt brought back in to fill the hole in the ground back to level again---then seeded with grass. My city will not allow anyone to just cave everything in, and fill the top with dirt. Even the cement or limestone basement has to come out. If the city does all this on their own,(and my city does) they charge the homeowner of record for all the costs. If not paid, the city can sue the owner in court, and win a massive judgement. That is taxpayer money, and a city will do everything it can legally do to collect the money back again. Then if they still cannot collect, the judgement will go against other property the owner may have, or they can garnish the person's wages.

Can you "try" to sell the property, even for $10 ?----yes, but who is going to buy it with a lien on it for several thousand $ ? (which would HAVE to be paid before they could legally own it, or they could cot get a clear title to the property. ) Giving it away, even to a non-profit ? They don't want it either, with a lien on it. Your ideas are good, but only AFTER the demo costs are paid for by SOMEONE. And where in this country can you not have to hire licensed professionals to either remove, or at least oversee the removal of lead or asbestos contaminated materials ? There are FEDERAL laws regarding that.
Simply put, once a structure burns (or is possibly flooded out) to the point it needs to be torn down, there are many laws and codes that come into play, about the removal of that structure. And a person needs to abide by them, or pay the consequences if they don't.

[ Reply ] [ Return to forum ]