CRG Steps in After Owner Sets Fire to Hazardous Property Putting Firefighters and Neighbors at Risk
After over two years of enforcement efforts to get the owner of this property to bring their home into compliance, the municipality red-tagged the house deeming it unfit for habitation due to the conditions onsite. Issues included no electricity or running water, piles of junk, evidence of pest infestation, human waste, unmaintained landscaping, and structural inadequacy.
Photos of the Property Prior to Receivership
Moreover, the house was unsecured and anyone could get in. Transients took advantage of the situation and there was evidence of illicit drug use and squatting in a trailer in the backyard. Meanwhile, the owner continued the violate the red-tag and was arrested for trespassing. One evening, after being released, the owner traveled back to the home and set fire to his own property. That fire put firefighters in grave danger due to the large accumulation of trash and debris blocking the entry and exit points on the property and throughout it. The owner was formally charged with trespassing, willful disobedience of a court order, and arson.
The municipality needed someone to come in and turn things around and petitioned the court to appoint CRG as receiver to do just that.
Ten Months Later, the Property Looked Completely Different and Was in the Hands of a New Owner
We completed a full interior and exterior clean-out. We then listed the property for sale and obtained court approval to complete a sale of the property to a buyer who passed our vetting process and renovated it. The receivership concluded once the municipality signed off on that renovation work–about 10 months later.
