Hoarding House, Unfit Dwelling

Thursday, August 22, 2013

The concerned residents of Sherwood West would like to make a formal complaint regarding _____________________________________, West Deptford NJ.  It appears as though the _______ have or cannot properly maintain their house or property. For a few years now there has been a strange odor around the neighborhood that has become significantly worse every year. With the heat and humidity the odor has become unbearable this year.

The property has become so overgrown that it is engulfing the house. The doors on the rear of the house cannot be seen due to the overgrowth, thus making them unusable.  There are vines growing up the house into windows and gutters; the roof on the rear of the house looks like it is going to cave in.  Their vegetation has now entered the neighboring properties, which cannot be cleaned up effectively because of the large amounts of poison ivy in it. The trees are growing over the sidewalk and they also have poison ivy vines hanging out of them making it difficult to navigate the sidewalk.

 Some have seen the inside of this house and it is a 100% hoarding case. There are items piled everywhere from floor to ceiling making it almost impossible to navigate the house. But even more frightening and disgusting is the urine and feces that are everywhere, all over the floor and walls, in the kitchen sink, on the kitchen countertops and just about everywhere you look. On top of this, it appears as if the _______ are housing many cats that are not properly cleaned up after, hence the strong stench of ammonia.  The urine and feces smell coming out of the house is just plain unhealthy to breathe.  The smell is so overpowering that some of us cannot enjoy our own backyards in fear of becoming sick.  In addition to that, with the recent beautiful weather, we have even had to close our windows and turn the air conditioner on because the urine smell has come through the windows and entered our houses. 

There have also been recent sightings of rats coming from the _______ house and entering the neighboring properties. This is one of the cleanest neighborhoods in West Deptford with some of the most beautiful landscaping; we should never see rats in this neighborhood.

This is a filthy, disgusting property that has become not only unsafe, but unhealthy to for us to live around. We now have disease carrying rats running around, forcing us to fear for our children and pets when they play outside.  We have urine and feces odors that are so strong we cannot go outside. This has become a serious and unacceptable issue that needs to be taken care of as soon as possible. The Board of Health, Social Services, and Animal Control have been contacted, all telling us that it falls back on the township to resolve the problem. The SPCA has also been contacted and we are still waiting to hear from them.  As tax-paying residents, we trust that this matter will be addressed immediately and that we will be kept apprised of the situation.

This is the complaint that over 50 residents of Sherwood West have signed and turned in to the Township Officials. So far we have got no where. The Township says they can't do anything even though there are codes written to prevent and stop this kind of situation. We call the Township, and they do not return our calls. We go there in person, and they are not available to speak with us. This situation is getting out of control and needs to be addressed now, not later. If the Township doesn't care about our health, then maybe FOX News will.