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New home owner - Code violation

I always tell those making a complaint on a neighbor
" you realize we will be looking for the same violation for a 3 block radius and your complaint may result in other violations on other properties which will result in enforcement actions for them also"
About 80% of the time they withdraw their complaint.
 
Do you have legal counsel? They often respond to letters issued on counsel's letterhead.

No I do not.

I always tell those making a complaint on a neighbor
" you realize we will be looking for the same violation for a 3 block radius and your complaint may result in other violations on other properties which will result in enforcement actions for them also"
About 80% of the time they withdraw their complaint.

Unfortunately, I am almost positive the person who filed the complaint no longer lives in the neighborhood. He is causing trouble for his ex-wife and a few neighbors that he knows still communicates with her.
 
It has been over 2 weeks since I requested the old permit that they were suddenly able to obtain with no reply. Their office was very responsive up until this point. Is it possible they were bluffing about finding the old permit and this just went away? From what I have read, they can't do anything legally without sending me a certified letter requesting a court appearance. Does this sound correct? I want to make sure a lien isn't placed on the house that I don't' find out about for a couple of years.

I fully intend on appealing their decision up until this point. I just find it odd that they did not respond to my last letter and don't want to poke a sleeping bear if I don't have to.



Walk down or if allowed online

Do an open records request for any permits and inspections going back to 1990.

They normally have Ten days to produce, or they will send it to their attorney for a request review, which has a different time clock.

I would do this no matter what, just so you have the records they have,,,, for now and ever and ever.
 
Walk down or if allowed online

Do an open records request for any permits and inspections going back to 1990.

They normally have Ten days to produce, or they will send it to their attorney for a request review, which has a different time clock.

I would do this no matter what, just so you have the records they have,,,, for now and ever and ever.

This is what I originally requested from them. The first time, they said they do not keep records that long, nor are they required to. It would be too overwhelming to keep records that long.

Two weeks later when I sent a letter disputing the validity of the violation they were suddenly able to go back to 1986. It took them 2 days to access to records once they received my letter. This is when I requested copies of the permits that they pulled and they have not responded back. When I spoke with them in person, they requested I contact them via email as they are out in the field some times so they can't always answer their phone. I was fine with this as it provided a nice paper trail.
 
This is what I originally requested from them. The first time, they said they do not keep records that long, nor are they required to. It would be too overwhelming to keep records that long.

Two weeks later when I sent a letter disputing the validity of the violation they were suddenly able to go back to 1986. It took them 2 days to access to records once they received my letter. This is when I requested copies of the permits that they pulled and they have not responded back. When I spoke with them in person, they requested I contact them via email as they are out in the field some times so they can't always answer their phone. I was fine with this as it provided a nice paper trail.


No

Find out who in the city to submit an “ open records request or freedom of information act request”

And do it, they either have produce if anything is there.

It is a required legal item/ by pass the ones blowing you off.
 
We do not accept "anonymous" complaints. I always need an address and phone number and complainant's name before I proceed. This information may also be the subject to discovery if we go to court. This way we make sure we are only looking at serious issues.

What are they threatening to do? You have evidence it has been there about 20 years. I don't know of many judges that would look fondly on bringing something like this into their court room and wasting tax payer money.
 
No

Find out who in the city to submit an “ open records request or freedom of information act request”

And do it, they either have produce if anything is there.

It is a required legal item/ by pass the ones blowing you off.

Got it. Thanks.


Thanks

We do not accept "anonymous" complaints. I always need an address and phone number and complainant's name before I proceed. This information may also be the subject to discovery if we go to court. This way we make sure we are only looking at serious issues.

What are they threatening to do? You have evidence it has been there about 20 years. I don't know of many judges that would look fondly on bringing something like this into their court room and wasting tax payer money.

It seems silly that they would accept anonymous complaints. This is an older city with a lot of unincorporated neighborhoods. Anyone could literally report any house in this neighborhood, and I'm sure something would come up.

They state it needs to be permitted as is (which is impossible) or demolished. I have read other cases, and it sure sounds like a judge would be irritated by this showing up in court.
 
So if the county tax accessor acknowledged that it was built/existed/taxed prior to 1998 then it was pre-existing; that being the case what continues to be the issue?
 
It seems silly that they would accept anonymous complaints. This is an older city with a lot of unincorporated neighborhoods. Anyone could literally report any house in this neighborhood, and I'm sure something would come up.

They state it needs to be permitted as is (which is impossible) or demolished. I have read other cases, and it sure sounds like a judge would be irritated by this showing up in court.

Yeah. There are times I need judges on my side, so there is no way I am going to risk that relationship with something as trivial as this.

As CDA said. Either they are overstaffed, which I really doubt, or they think they have to act on every single complaint.
 
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