I couldn’t decide what title to use… the one I did or this one: “City Screws Property Owners When no one is Looking” – which do you like better?
I recently received a bill from a twin cities suburb for a foreclosure property I maintain. Last year after it was abandoned and before I took over the lawn maintenance the city decided it was a “nuisance property” and hired a contractor to do monthly mowings. Between the contractor’s fees and the city’s profit fees the total for 3 mowings added up to over $1100! This is for a 1/3 acre city lot with a big house on it.
The cost for the 3 lawn mowings over 3 months totaled nearly $800 while the city profits penalties added another $300+. I was able to contract out to a lawn company to mow the same lawn for a paltry $45 for bi-weekly mowings. I think the city took a page out of the loan shark’s manual and while I understand their intent to motivate property owners to maintain their properties and keep the city pretty, this amounts to a wholesale ripoff of property owners. The property was completely abandoned at the time of the 1st mowing but I had placed notice and contact information in plain view on the property before the 2nd and 3rd mowings occurred yet no effort was made to contact me.
To make matters worse, I had contracted to have the lawn mowed on a bi-weekly basis starting in September and after the first time it was done, 5 days later the city inspector came by and said: “hey, you missed a spot” and had the ENTIRE lawn mowed for the 3rd time, at a cost of nearly $200, and a city penalty of $200 on top of it.
After much wrangling with the city, I was able to get them to reduce the $200 penalty for the mowing that wasn’t needed but the remaining $100+ in penalties and all $800 in mowing fees remains charged to the property.
I’m not saying the city should do nothing and I’m not saying that the grass didn’t need to be mowed the 1st time (and maybe the 2nd, but the 3rd time is B.S.) but when it is done at such exorbitant rates it truly affects the eventual sale of the home to a new buyer. I don’t think we need more headaches in that department than we already have. The new owner (bank) had every intention to maintain the property however these things don’t happen overnight and notices cities send out take weeks sometimes to make it to a person who can take action. Even when I took an active role of maintaining the property they still found a way to rack up additional costs that were ridculously high and also unwarranted.
If I could get the city to give me the contract and get paid nearly $200 to mow a city-sized lot I’d quite my job a Realtor in a heartbeat!
