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Watertown Renters Beware! Need help to condemn this house Open

235 Commerce Avenue watertown, TN Show on Map Hide Map
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Issue ID:

126308

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1625 times

Neighborhood:

Watertown

Reported via:

http://www.wsmv.com

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Description

The owner (also the landlord) has rented this home for the last 9 years and has falsely advertised it's overall condition. It should have been condemned years ago. Our city does not have a codes officer except a police officer to cite for only trash outside of homes. This issue has been brought to the Mayor's and City Council's attention for several years without any help. The landlord constantly preys on people without much income or who have bad backgrounds. In other word, all people who cannot take him to court. I placed a Craigslist ad describing the problem with his home, seeing he has it listed on there again. Here is his ad, Posting ID 2601412483. Here is my ad listing the known problems. Posting
ID 260281314: RENTERS BEWARE OF THIS AD! If you continue to watch Craigslist over a period of months (and years), you will notice this home listed again and again. This being because the house is in terrible shape. The landlord will not give the extent of all the problems. I've never been a tenant, but I do own the home next door to it for the past 11 years. This has been an ongoing issue with us neighbors for over 9 years. Same listing each time, "Handy man Special". This also being because "someone" doesn't want to pay the major funds it will take to get the home back in to livable shape. 1st being, the breaker box that arcs and has shocked quite a few, including the landlord. He touched the top breakers himself and it made him stagger to the front porch before he fell down from it. After the tenants offered to call him an ambulance, he refused, got back into his vehicle and left. He has still done nothing about it. When the soot from the arcing gets bad enough on the wall of the breaker box, it's usually just painted over. The lighting cuts on and off by itself. Including your refrigerator and stove which you will end up throwing food away as many tenants have had to do. There is a live, uninsulated wire inside the pocket doors to your right when you walk in the home. No matter what you are told, there is NOT any heat or air at this home. (Watch the lease for this one). Yes, there is a central UNIT at the back of the house, but as you will see from the many wires dangling from it and parts laying around, that it is just a hunk of metal sitting there. The landlord has come over for many years and played with the same wires to say, it doesn't work. On top of it, it is a gas unit and they tried to at one time, wire it for electricity. The unit's outside breaker has been bypassed and is a hazard if the unit ever gets fixed. You may want to have the ductwork inspected by a professional seeing that home, along with everyone on this side of the street, were involved in the May 2010 flood. I have several pictures and a video of the creek in the back running into the washroom. I myself had to have FEMA fix my place. After you find out for yourself there isn't any heat, he will offer you many little box heaters costing you mega on electricity. Now for air conditioning, you will have to provide your own as all of the former tenants have had to. Along with the electrical problem, your self-provided heat/air will cut off and on with the wiring and breaker issues. The hot water does not work. There is not any electricity getting to it. The element was changed, but all you get is cold. The last tenants were having to boil water to take baths, even for their son to be able to bathe to go to school. The landlord was aware but decided not to return the many calls the tenants phoned him for help. The drywall issue you see in the left/back bedroom is caused from the pipes in the wall going to the bathtub being taped together, which of course constantly busts loose. Look under the kitchen sink. The floor is pretty much gone. Chronic ant and mice problem in that area. (The house will need to be bombed for the flea infestation too). The pipes under the washroom floor will usual burst every year when it gets past freezing. This requires the floor having to be ripped up OR you can dig a trench to try to get under the home, seeing the foundation is only approximately 1.5 ft off the ground. The NEW back door does not shut. Mis-measured I guess. Yes, there are fences on both sides of the backyard, but as we have told the landlord on many occasions, he DOES NOT have permission to tie into either of them. He still tries to make it sound good though. The front porch tiles are breaking, falling or fell off. When you are facing the home, the very 1st post to your left is just sitting there for looks. Very dangerous once you see how much concrete is involved in that as well. Just think about it, the landlord has owned this home since 2001 and its still in the shape as it was purchased 10 years later. If you are still interested, I advise you to ask the landlord to turn the electricity AND water on BEFORE you sign ANY paperwork. You will be happy you did. All tenants have not found these problems until after the lease was signed and when they turned the utilities on themselves. My 2nd advisement is, get everything in writing (along with a witness for yourself) as verbal agreements with him are not adhered to. If you refuse to pay rent due to his neglect, he will bring you eviction papers. Many have rented this home as the Handyman Special but have run out of funds due to just trying to keep everything running. You may want to write his name down, then ask for I.D. as he has also gone by a different name or tells you "someone" else is in charge or owns. He is the owner no matter what he states to you. It is on public record at the Wilson County Courthouse. I do have statements from many of the former tenants, along with documentation and pictures. Good luck.
(Someone please help our neighborhood before this house burns the rest of us down seeing we are only 15-20 ft apart through here. MAny children have had so many cold winters and hot summers here. It is not livable and we are talking to deaf ears here in our town. Wilson County will not help seeing we are in the City Limits of Watertown. Was told, not their jurisdiction. I have left messages with TN codes and have not been contacted back this entire time. I have documentation, pictures and a a video to help with the past years to show it has been like this for awhile. We all we victims of the May 2010 flood on this side of the road. MY home had to be fixed by my flood insurance. His home was never looked at and the foundation is only 1.5 ft from the ground. These home are old. Mine is 1925, his 1935. PLEASE HELP!)


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