Dear PoP

“Hey PoP – a question from a long-time reader and occasional commenter that I was hoping your other readers might be able to help answer. There’s a house on my block that has been seemingly abandoned for about a year or so. Before that, the owner(s) did a fairly significant amount of work both inside and out. They seemed to finish but there has been no activity whatsoever at the house since then. The yard is completely overgrown, full of trash and rats, weeds are growing onto the sidewalk, a now-soaked and rotting phonebook has been sitting on the porch for months, and pigeons were nesting above the front door (now the nest is in pieces on the porch directly in front of the door, making it obvious no one has been in or out in a long, long time). I’ve called DCRA twice about listing it as a vacant property and getting the eyesore of a yard cleaned up. It’s been about 3 months since the first time I called and nothing has happened. Aren’t they supposed to send someone out to cut the grass, at least, and then bill/fine the owner?

Frankly, I don’t have a whole lot of faith in my ANC rep as he hasn’t been too helpful or useful in the past, but I could contact him. Do you or your readers have any other suggestions?”

We addressed a very similar question back in June. Check all the advice here.