My Vacant House Project - Page 3

MsMe · #41 Posted **Aug 25, 2008, 1:57 AM**

It has a great style. I love the older houses. A shame to see it sit empty like that.

Duckyboy · #42 Posted **Aug 25, 2008, 2:09 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by raisethehammer

yea, that house on Wentworth is awesome....the lack of a yard is probably a stumbling block for a family. The huge house on Main East near Prospect was bought by a family, but it has a huge yard despite being on Main East.
I could see condos/apartments in this Wentworth House.

Yea, the Main/Prospect one is another monster. Great, great house with a mother of a yard AND a coach house in the back. But Main is a little busy, and having a Time Hortons Drive Thru right next door is a little tough. Too bad that place wasn't set back about 20-30 feet; it would make a huge difference.

flar · #43 Posted **Aug 25, 2008, 2:26 AM**

89 Wentworth would be great for condos. That's one of the reasons why a lot of those beautiful old Victorians sit empty, they're too big. That and all those old windows and the crazy roof and everything else that comes with 100 year old houses makes them expensive to fix.

It's a catch 22 for this particular house: it's not desirable because the apartments that hem it in aren't desirable, and the apartment buildings aren't desirable because there's a vacant mansion next door.

raisethehammer · #44 Posted **Aug 25, 2008, 2:26 AM**

well, the family who bought it must not mind. They've done a good job fixing it up so far.

FairHamilton · #45 Posted **Aug 25, 2008, 1:08 PM**

And the apartment building next to the house is empty as well, right? I'm guessing the same owner on both buildings.

Quote:

well, this weed/grass bylaw stuff is slow as heck..the city came by and posted a notice and came back on the deadline 5 days later. He was out there working away that morning as we expected.

Once a notice for grass/weeds is issued, the tenants/owner has 5 business days in which to comply. If they come back and the owner is working on the lawn my understanding is the notice/complaint dies, whether he finishes the job, or not.....

That is, if you can get the city to respond to a complaint. I issued my complaint to the house 2 doors up from us on July 23rd, and here we are 2 follow-ups (3rd happening today) and 1 month later without any action on the city's part.

FairHamilton · #46 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 1:56 PM**

54 days and repeated follow-ups, to finally get to success. There is now a notice on the houses front door, 5 days to cut the weeds.

raisethehammer · #47 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 2:08 PM**

I'm going through the same process now too. Got in touch with my councillor who jumped on it. The city staffer said that their records show the property was 'compliant'.
I kindly said that "if this is compliance, I need to move to another city".
3/4 of the property was NEVER touched by the owner. Not once. All summer. Now our house feels like we're living in an allergen testing zone 24-7.
What a stupid system. The property owner shows up, says "yea, I'm on it" and the city never checks back in.
Brutal.

FairHamilton · #48 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 2:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by raisethehammer

I'm going through the same process now too. Got in touch with my councillor who jumped on it. The city staffer said that their records show the property was 'compliant'.
I kindly said that "if this is compliance, I need to move to another city".
3/4 of the property was NEVER touched by the owner. Not once. All summer. Now our house feels like we're living in an allergen testing zone 24-7.
What a stupid system. The property owner shows up, says "yea, I'm on it" and the city never checks back in.
Brutal.

If there is any ragweed, http://k53.pbase.com/u33/richarda/up...DSC00592cx.jpg, they have to remove it no matter the height. It's a noxious weed as it has a negative impact to humans (hayfever).

If a notice is issued than they have 5 days to resolve the items outlined on the notice. At the end of 5 days I send the city an email detailing the address, notice number, bylaw officer, etc from the notice (you do have to walk up to the front door to get that info if the notice is still present), and let them know it's not fixed.

raisethehammer · #49 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 2:30 PM**

your link doesn't work...I'd like to check out a pic of that stuff. I'm certain he's got a pile of it.

FairHamilton · #50 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 3:37 PM**

Try this one: http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...%3Den%26sa%3DG

raisethehammer · #51 Posted **Oct 9, 2008, 1:34 PM**

well, it took the whole bloody summer, but the overgrown, weedy mess on our street is cleaned up to satisfaction as of yesterday.
Amazing how much better the whole street looks because of it.

FairHamilton · #52 Posted **Oct 9, 2008, 4:38 PM**

Ours problem house was finally cut last Saturday, 73 days after initial complaint and more follow-ups then I care to mention.........

I can hardly wait until winter when I start complaining about the sidewalk being unshoveled.......

go_leafs_go02 · #53 Posted **Oct 9, 2008, 8:33 PM**

Any pictures to update us with?

raisethehammer · #54 Posted **Oct 9, 2008, 10:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by FairHamilton

Ours problem house was finally cut last Saturday, 73 days after initial complaint and more follow-ups then I care to mention.........

I can hardly wait until winter when I start complaining about the sidewalk being unshoveled.......

don't remind me...this guy chipped off a hunk of sidewalk last year by hacking away with a huge straight-edge after being gone for about 2 months of nonstop blizzards and freezing weather that turned his sidewalk into a skating rink.

SteelTown · #55 Posted **Nov 18, 2008, 11:58 PM**

City Sets Out By-Law Enforcement Priorities
Ken Mann
11/18/2008

Hamilton politicians have approved a new priority-based system for by-law enforcement.

It's an approach that sets out which of the city's by-laws will recieve pro-active enforcement and blitzes....compared with others that will recieve a lower priority, complaint-based response.

Areas around which residents can expect to see a "get-tough approach", include vital services and noise, business licencing, property standards, solid waste and traffic by-laws.

Director of Parking and By-Law Enforcement Marty Hazell says it's not possible or practical to pro-actively enforce all of Hamilton's almost 50 by-laws.

FairHamilton · #56 Posted **Nov 19, 2008, 1:09 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteelTown

City Sets Out By-Law Enforcement Priorities
Ken Mann
11/18/2008

Hamilton politicians have approved a new priority-based system for by-law enforcement.

It's an approach that sets out which of the city's by-laws will recieve pro-active enforcement and blitzes....compared with others that will recieve a lower priority, complaint-based response.

Areas around which residents can expect to see a "get-tough approach", include vital services and noise, business licencing, property standards, solid waste and traffic by-laws.

Director of Parking and By-Law Enforcement Marty Hazell says it's not possible or practical to pro-actively enforce all of Hamilton's almost 50 by-laws.

Great news. But I do have one question.

Do I read the above properly that those bylaw violations which are important enough to a member of the community to report to the bylaw office, get a lower priority than those bylaw feels are important at a specific point in time, i.e. blitz on a specific bylaw?

BTW, the spelling enforcement officers might get them on the 'recieve' (twice).

BrianE · #57 Posted **Nov 19, 2008, 3:03 PM**

I interpret this to mean that any by-law outside of the four stated priorities would not be activly enforced unless someone phones and complains.

I believe unleashed dogs would be a good example. By-law officers won't go out of their way to capture a roaming dog if they see one, but if someone complains, they will address it.

oldcoote · #58 Posted **Nov 19, 2008, 3:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianE

By-law officers won't go out of their way to capture a roaming dog if they see one, but if someone complains, they will address it.

Funny, I've seen animal control drive across Churchill Fields to ticket owners of unleashed dogs.

Then again, it is Westdale....

SteelTown · #59 Posted **Feb 2, 2022, 6:03 AM**

https://pub-hamilton.escribemeetings...umentId=306964

Based on the vacant home tax proposal, 91% support the idea of a vacant home tax (VHT), and based on a 1% tax rate, the city's estimated revenue would be $17 million over five years. Estimated revenue of $4.3 million in the first year of VHT.

Vacant house is defined as "have been unoccupied for more than six months during the preceding calendar year"

ScreamingViking · #60 Posted **Feb 2, 2022, 2:21 PM**

Good.

We took possession of our house in early March 2020. Toured it pre-sale in mid-January. Next door sits another renovated older house -- I believe it has a basement unit, so it represents two "homes"

It has been empty since we first looked at ours. 2 years. Probably longer.

I think there was initially a permit issue that may have had to do with a rebuilt front porch and steps. The owner comes by once a week, and he has a crew that takes care of the small front lawn and leaves and such once a week, shovels snow, etc. I talked to one of the guys in the fall (as they blew leaves out the back alley; no bagging like everyone else does... apparently told to do so by the owner

, but I digress) and apparently the owner has a number of houses in west Hamilton and had just sold one of them.

Given the way our house has likely risen in value in the two years since our purchase, he's sitting on a bundle of cash.

It's a shame. It's a nice house -- we found an old listing for it and it was beautiful inside, but 2 years to resolve a permit issue? Come on. I know the city is difficult to deal with and their bureaucratic inertia is the stuff of legend, but there must have been a way to do something in all that time.