I'm really upset with the electric company.. neighbors house ruined

[Turbov6Bryan]

Long story short the next door neighbor moved out about a year ago and has been renting the house out

Those guys got evicted a few months back

Apparently either she lost the house and it was repossessed / foreclosure or still owns it...

So here in my town, electric water and sewer are all tied together.

I look off my back patio and notice a mega ton of water all over the rear driveway.........

Well I called the water company and he digs up the main shut off, I walk back to the rear of the house and water is pouring out of the second level!!

Then he tells me the electricity has been locked, off , and that's why it flooded


I'm not going into detail about how I found out, but 100% of this house has been flooded from the floors of the second level all the way thru the basement

How can the local electric company shut off power without also shutting down gas and WATER in the middle of winter??

Sad is the original owner Master Sergeant Storm kept the house in tip top form, 2400 square feet 2 major kitchens and new roof, paint and flooring

So now, mold will start setting in and it'll be worse than just flooring and Sheetrock

At this point I'm not sure what to do. Call the police and see if they can find out if it's a foreclosure. Find out if she still owns it?? Find the bank where the lien is held

It's just really sad to see it happen

[Spectragod]

Generally, you can search county records, GIS records specifically, and look for the current owner. If the house becomes a health problem, your local county Health department can assist you in getting it condemned, deemed a nuisance property and torn down.

That's sort of an abridged version of the events.


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[Turbov6Bryan]

Generally, you can search county records, GIS records specifically, and look for the current owner. If the house becomes a health problem, your local county Health department can assist you in getting it condemned, deemed a nuisance property and torn down.

That's sort of an abridged version of the events.


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County records shows her as current owner, bank lien is in Ohio....

It's NOT livable currently because all the subfloors are weak/soft and then mold will set in..... errrr ahhh my "theory" of said floors... I don't want to have B&E charges tossed my way lol

Yeah I was going to contact the health department on this, the houses flooring Sheetrock and pipes are done, the joists and concrete are fine... it's only gonna be worse when it's left to rot and nobody does anything about it

Thank you for the advice

[RubberCtyRauder]

property is all public record so contact the lien holder in ohio

[fastblackmerc]

First, contact the lien holder as mentioned. They have a vested interest in the house. We lived next to a foreclosure. After the yard got so bad I contacted the bank that held the lien and told them I'd start taking care of the yard and send them the bill. After I told them what I charged they had a company out here in less than a week.

Second, contact your local health department.

[Turbov6Bryan]

I just called and left a long message with the lien holder with my contact info and advised them the next phone call I make will be with the health dept

I also mentioned that I wasn't sure if the house was still owned by her, if so, contact her.

Pretty sad sight watching water run out from your neighbors lower level windows

[fastblackmerc]

I just called and left a long message with the lien holder with my contact info and advised them the next phone call I make will be with the health dept

I also mentioned that I wasn't sure if the house was still owned by her, if so, contact her.

Pretty sad sight watching water run out from your neighbors lower level windows
Better that house than yours..............

[EMAS]

So do you get your electricity and water from the city and does it come on one bill? If that is the case then it is surprising that they didn't shut off the water when they shut off the electricity. However at least in my state the water bill is lien-able against the house while the electricity is not. What that means is that for rental properties the owner keeps the water in their name and pays it to make sure that it doesn't get shut off and they get stuck with the extra charges. So that may be the case here.

If the power was in the tenant's name and they got evicted then they probably called the power company and had the power taken out of their name. In the absence of an agreement with the owner that means they come out and shut off the power as the house is considered vacant. (In my state in the winter the power company can't shut off your electricity because you are past due.) Now with the power company that supplies electricity in my area I have an agreement on file for all of my rental properties that automatically reverts the power to my name when a tenant moves out and tells the electricity company.

You don't want that water to get shut off if it even looks like someone is living there, even if your contract says that the tenant is responsible for the water bill. You may end up with a notice of infraction from code compliance for allowing an uninhabitable house to be occupied.

As far at the mortgage holder being able to do anything don't hold your breath. The new regulations put in effect by the current administration make it near impossible for them to foreclose. Until they have that signed trustee's deed they usually won't dare touch the house for fear of the regulators.

So the mortgage company gets screwed since they have to sit by and let their collateral deteriorate until it is near worthless and neighborhoods have to deal with that vacant house that is an eyesore at best and potentially much worse. Meanwhile the owner doesn't pay a dime and in many cases continues to collect rent.

As a licensed real estate broker and investor I've seen way too much of this. I see houses where the owner has been able to hold onto the house and either live in it or rent it out while not paying a penny to the mortgage company for years. I see houses where the first notice of foreclosure was filled 3, 4 or more years ago that have just finally went across the county courthouse steps. I've seen cases where the total amount of missed payments and late fees top $100k on a ~$300K loan.

There are even websites on how to milk it for all it is worth with people bragging about how long they were able to "ride the HAMPster wheel" with the techniques they learned from the site or others. http://www.loansafe.org/forum/threads/the-hampster-wheel-game.39091/

Here is a great example of what this has caused. https://www.auction.com/details/2010-148th-street-east-tacoma-wa-98445-2289869-o_1032 be sure to click on the property inspection report to see what it looks like inside. By the time this one finally crossed the courthouse steps the amount in default as of June 2016 was $64K on a $232K loan taken out in 2011. So they held onto the house and lived in it for ~4 years for free.

TL;DR I understand your frustration but the one that you should most likely be pissed at is the owner as renting it out was quite possibly their last move for just a little longer ride on the HAMPster wheel. If that is not the case they should have taken steps to secure and winterize the house or at least keep it heated so that damage like that wouldn't occur.

[Turbov6Bryan]

Yes the water sewer and electricity is all city owned and comes on one bill every 30 days

I too was surprised when the city water shut off guy said the electricity was locked off, and it was -4 over a week ago. He did say the house would be charged for the water used. My guess the water was on for a week, 4-5 breaks through out the house.

She moved next door, lived there for about a year and moved back to wherever
And only rented it for about 7-8 months to 1 set of people. 3 months later vacant and this is what transpired..

She's a nurse so I can only assume she makes decent money, but people are dumb no matter what they do for a living or how much money they have.

So depending on how much she put down,is 1 year long enough to burn through escrow? I really wonder if insurance is paid through this Saturday????

It would be nice for a happy ending :)

I paid my house off too soon to know a lot about escrow and how it works.

[8UWITH6]

Cool, so buy the property, knock down the house and build a shop bro! LOL. That is a crazy story!

[Turbov6Bryan]

Cool, so buy the property, knock down the house and build a shop bro! LOL. That is a crazy story!

Thought about it

[EMAS]

So depending on how much she put down,is 1 year long enough to burn through escrow? I really wonder if insurance is paid through this Saturday????

It would be nice for a happy ending :)

I paid my house off too soon to know a lot about escrow and how it works.

I'm not sure what you mean by burn through escrow. If someone puts less than 20% down then their payment includes an amount to cover the property taxes and insurance and even if they didn't make payments the mortgage servicer will pay those items. As part of the conditions of the mortgage even if the person put down more than 20% they will require insurance that names the mortgage company as one of the insured and that they are notified if the insurance lapses. If the insurance is canceled for whatever reason the servicer will obtain insurance on their own though it will only include coverage for the house and not its contents.

So it is likely that there is insurance on the place. However many insurance companies will write the check to the homeowner and the homeowner can and often does take the money and run if they don't have any equity.