Got a little problem

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oldfart

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Dec 27, 2002
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Portland, Oregon
I was just out cleaning my yard and noticed a paper taped to the door of the house next door. As far as I knew, it was owned by a long-haul truck driver who dropped in from time to time, mowed the lawn and spent a couple of nights. I haven't seen him for awhile but according to the notice, the property is considered abandoned and has been purchased by "Rehab, LLC" who has a record of buying houses such as this and turning them into drug rehab facilities.

There goes the neighborhood... and the property values!

So, other than burning the place to the ground, is there any way to thwart this plan? BTW, they're too close to my house now. That fact and the prevailing winds would make our house toast too.
 
File a lawsuit and get your a lawyer. Have all the community come together and do it jointly.

And if everything else fails, well, you could take up a new business lol....at least you won't have to seek out clients very far from home. :evil: :evil: :evil:
 
I know of plent of neighborhoods were people in recovery peacfully co-exist with every day people that don't have addiction problems. Most of these rehab recovery houses have stringent requirements such as drug screening and curfews. Addicts are human beings too! People deserve a right to try to recover and become responsible productive members of society like I have... ;)
 
Isn't there a zoning board where you live? Ordinarily things like this have to be approved by the zoning board. A few hundred people in their meeting to protest it sends a pretty powerful message.

I'd also make sure I talked with my councilman, board member or alderman, whatever you have there.

Jeff
 
Good luck, but you are probably fighting a losing battle. The developers who put this type of project together have VERY deep pockets, and the projects are generally protected by the federal Fair Housing Act. Which pretty much says that local zoning can't say anything, because if they have fewer than 16 people living in them, the Feds have decreed that they are the functional equivalent of a single family.
 
If you have a community association that has monthly meetings it might be worth bringing it up at the next meeting for discussion. You may find others that feel like you do who want a nice place to live, OTOH, its possible few are going to care.

After having lived in one of the worst U.S. cities of all time (Baltimore) up until almost five years ago, I personally don't want derelicts,junkies,and gangbangers to sprout up where I now live! I've had my fill of them! Oh,I forgot to mention hookers too......shame on me!


Maybe with help from other residents and alot of luck you'll win!
 
oldfart said:
...I haven't seen him for awhile but according to the notice, the property is considered abandoned and has been purchased by "Rehab, LLC"...
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I would contact that truck driver and make sure he knows what's going on. If he knows about it, then life is good... but that notice *MAY* be some legal requirement before the company can "squat" the property to take it over. The owner may have time to contest it.

romma said:
I know of plent of neighborhoods were people in recovery peacfully co-exist with every day people that don't have addiction problems...
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That's fine and good, just as long as they're not recoverying in *MY* neighborhood. I don't live in a very "uppity" neighborhood... it's full of older houses that are in my current affordability range. It's the kind of neighborhood that attracts blue-collar workers... and because of the duplexes and apartments in the neighborhood, drug dealers.

I have to be VERY vigilant about running off the riff-raff. The police don't mind driving by and seeing me cleaning my shotgun on my front porch, or see me (blatantly) wearing a pistol while mowing my lawn. I've had several conversations with them, and I think they're even amused to see how quickly some people move in just to move out on my street. I make it a point to make eye contact with the residents that have frequent traffic... I even gave one neighbor funny looks when he had a department store door chime on his front porch to alert him when someone was approaching his front door, and I even believe I saw a camera mounted in the eave of his side of the duplex.

At first, the neighbors who had lived there for MANY years wondered about me... today, they appreciate the results I've gotten on keeping that mess off our street.

I like being able to let my kids play unsupervised in my backyard, and I'll do what it takes to continue protecting my family, my home, and my investment.

<deep sigh> ok, off my soapbox now :)
 
True DMF, but a Residential Neighborhood isnt exactly the best location for a Rehab Center....
 
I would try and deep fry a turkey, and when the oil boils over and accidently set their house on fire, Oh Well that's what home owners insurance is for. :evil:
 
Wait a second, let me get this straight, you're suggesting that someone ask the courts to prevent a property owner from using their property as they see fit? Seems completely at odds with many of the posts I've seen on this very forum.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=146746
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So because the majority of posts on the forum are not inline with my opinion I am wrong? :confused: I can't build a shed in my backyard without asking permission.

People have filed suit for a lot more stupid things than bringing junkies into a neighborhood.

lmao @ Joe7cri :D :D :D
 
True DMF, but a Residential Neighborhood isnt exactly the best location for a Rehab Center....
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... or any other purely business use. Most residential zoning doesn't even permit the homeowner who lives there to conduct businesses that result in excessive traffic or usage not in tune with SFR's.

A single family buys it and moves in there, even an extended family? Fine.

You own the house and you're renting it to no more than 2 adults to a bedroom, who are on leases and such? Eh... ok.

Want to move a bunch of unrelated strangers, none of whom are in title, all of whom are generating business income beyond rent? Be prepared to show legal ability under all local and state zoning and codes.
 
according to the notice, the property is considered abandoned and has been purchased by "Rehab, LLC"
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This would seem to indicate that the homeowner didn't have any choice in the matter...
 
statelineblues said:
This would seem to indicate that the homeowner didn't have any choice in the matter...
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...that's why I was advising oldfart to contact the trucker to make sure he was aware of what was happening. I didn't mention it in my earlier post, but I was talking to my stepdad about "homesteading" where you can build a fence around property for a period of time, then lay claim to it. He said he believed legal notices were involved.

I would be curious as to *WHO* considers the property abandoned and why they think so. Does this mean I can't buy a lot of land and keep it for the sake of keeping it? If that were the case, I'd be scoutin' for sure!
 
I would be curious as to *WHO* considers the property abandoned and why they think so.
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My thoughts exactly. I could see it if the potential buyer was snapping it up for unpaid property taxes, but this sounds like some kind of half-baked "adverse possession" thing. (Or "homesteading," as somebody called it. I dunno all the ins and outs of that; I'm not a lawyer, and it'd probably vary from state to state anyway.)
See if there's a tax lien or something on it. Maybe you could buy it first, and own a nice rental property. ;)

And Romma's got a point, too. People in rehab are generally trying to get themselves back to being productive citizens. The mooks in Hydrashok407's neighborhood, however long they're there, are obviously selling and/or using, so rehab isn't their big concern. (Except maybe as something ordered by a court.) Those should be run off as soon as they appear. Good job, Hydrashok.
 
I would be curious as to *WHO* considers the property abandoned and why they think so.
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I would be willing to bet that the term "Abandoned" means "Owner hasn't paid their property tax in a long time and local govt hasn't been able to make contact with owner."

I can understand your frustration, but despite the fact that the place is technically a business, you'll likely find that rehab "half way house" type facilities fall just inside the "residential" classification (much like the business of renting a home to a family while a business is still considered "residential").

Do you know what kind of Rehab this "Rehab LLC" does?

I don't think you'll be able to get rid of these people now, but I would have the names and home phone numbers of everyone involved in this Rehab LLC company on a sheet of paper by my phone and every single little thing these people do that is out of line would result in a phone call ... start calling the suits at home at 3am when one of their "customers" is making a drug induced scene in the front yard and they'll start to reconsider their business venture and sell the property (maybe to some slum lord who will rent it to non rehabilitating drug addicts, but you take your chances :p ). Or they might consider buying YOUR property and expanding their operation.



My niece is a recovering tweaker. She spent some time in a residential rehab place like what this sounds like. Frankly the rules there were extremely tight (she could have been kicked out for minor things like not making her bed). Basically it was like boot camp with better wallpaper and lots of chicks with tatoos. The only negative impact the house she stayed in had on the neighborhood was that there were more cars parked around the place than a typical single family would have, and these addicts smoke a LOT of cigarettes and drink a LOT of coffee.
 
it's not your property and it's not your choice on what they do with the house.
Unless they violate zoning regs your up the creek.
 
Find out what the process is for declaring it abandoned, you might find you have the right to buy the house from the city or the original owner during a "settlement" period or a ''grace period" we had a house on the block that was placed for auction with the sheriffs for a similar non payment of real estate taxes and the neighbors bought the house out from under the developers and resold it on the open market after we put about 10 grand of community money into cleaning and painting and recarpeting the place.

Also call the new buyers and let them know your intentions. also let it be very clear, that shall ANY incidents take place which threaten or harm your home, family or home value, you will be suing the owner personally, no matter what the LLC says. Sue the Zoning board for allowing a multi tenant home in a R1 neighborhood. File a court case saying the neighbors were never notified in writing that such an action was taking place. you will be surprised the ammuntion you have to stop such a thing.
 
Wow , a lot of NIMBYs in this forum . Gotta say , I bet if it was a gun shop there probably wouldn't be problem with it .
 
ptmmassc

Well gunshops do attract different line of people than rehabs, but if you want to voive your opinion thats fine, but start insulting the poeple on this forum:scrutiny: , and I doubt you would be ok with a drug and alcohol rehab next to your nice house with plent of nice things to steal for the next person who back slides.
 
Didn't mean it as an insult .

NIMBY = Not in my back yard

Btw , had a halfway house / rehab based around the corner from me when I lived in the city (suburb area) . Never had a problem with them They had pretty strict rules and there was no increase in crime etc etc after this place moved in and set up shop . And here's a question . Because someone is in a rehab , they must be poor, a thief, a criminal, or a lower form of life than the rest of the population?
 
well if they were or are in a drug rehab its probably because they were breaking the law to begin with, and know it doesnt mean all those things you pointed out but it means they have a serious problem and I have seen what some druggies are willing to do for that next high when they back slide and cant sobber up. Im not saying that rehabs are not a good thing I think they are but just not in a residential area.
 
I think it all depends on zoning . Is it strictly residential or res/commercial or any combination that would allow a business to operate? My gunsmith has been a gun dealer out of his home for years in a residential area . He was allowed to do it because a "home based " business with no storefront was allowed . People moved into the area and complained so the city decided to change the zoning rules to prohibit ANY business in a strictly residential area . Simple solution is , if you don't want "undesirables" in you niegherhood , get the rules changed . Just don't be surprised when YOU become one of the "undesirables" .
 
i rented

a duplex to a rehab. they were good tenants. paid promptly and gave myself and the neighbors less trouble tham some of my regular tenants. aside from the parking issue. they are under greater supervision than most folks. its not like we're talking a methadone clinic here. But if it satisfies a need for paraqnoia or you can justify a new hd gunfar be it from me to deny you
 
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