J
jessepenitent
Guest
What is the name of your state?
Connecticut
I'll try to be succinct and that isn't going to be easy. In our two story, twelve unit condo lives a very elderly woman: sweet as can be, generous to a fault and filthier than Pigpen. Her home is a blaze waiting to happen. Stuff isn't just piled up--it is a solid, almost six foot layer from the door on through the whole unit. She collects things that (she says) she takes to homeless shelters and so forth, but nothing ever leaves and more and more keeps going in. Her toilet is broken, her stove is stuffed full of old clothes and food and the stench is unbelievable when she opens the door.
Most of us dealt with this by upping our fire insurance, but now that she is leaving out stale and rotting food among the old clothes, plastic bags, boxes, nick-nacks, mason jars (name it and it's in there) she has attracted roaches and the roaches have infested all the other eleven units.
We started calling the condo association in April 2005 and they forwarded our concerns to the condo managers to whom we sent a registered letter. Management started knocking on her door in late May to do "spraying" (which I am sure you might agree is too little too late). She won't let them in. In late July they brought in the sheriff who told them "the roaches are the least of your problems; if she sets fire to the place you're going to have a lot of dead people on your hands." The fire marshal was brought in next and according to the managers, he says that she can pack the place sky high and we cannot do anything to prevent it. It's her right to live that way because she owns her unit. We pointed out that we own our units and we cannot live the way we want--clean, safe and bug-free--because her lifestyle is being given consideration over ours.
It is clear the woman is mentally ill,but we have had no luck in getting help from any of the usual social venue or from any of her children. We have called every city social agency known to man and they all tell us that it's another department's responsibility. Senior protective services, housing, health, mental health, commission on aging, fire and several others insist that it is not their job to help, but they happily tell us that one of the others IS responsible. Only environmental health made a stab at helping us, creating a blanket team that came in and took pictures, made promises about conservators, getting her kids involved and so forth. None of them have been back and the management said they want to give her a second chance.
So NOW management (who doesn't want to contact her kids for fear of a lawsuit) tried to gain and clean her apartment in order to spray her unit for bugs. She couldn't even OPEN THE FRONT DOOR because the stuff had collapsed against it and she was trapped under the pile. So the managers went in thru the windows and dug her out. But she went ballistic a bit later and told them they couldn't take anything more. Mental health was called and she was taken to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation. The officials assured us that they were going to get her into a home and prevent her from returning to the filth.
Instead, she signed herself out and has returned (lugging in more junk). Management has washed its hands, won't return our calls and tells us we could get in trouble for "harrassing" her. We don't even TALK to the woman about the problem. Calls to the official who took her to the hospital yield the information that he is on vacation.
We were advised by management that we COULD call her children as "concerned neighbors." I got elected for this job because I am so "nice." Her son claims she told him that the people cleaning her house were trying to steal her stuff. He also claimed he had not been told about the roaches and promises that he and his siblings will help us clean the place up.
Except--they do not come to the condo at all. They have never been inside and they think we are exaggerating about the extent of the filth and trash. We have also discovered that this woman is on several city commissions, does a lot of volunteer work and has received awards for her work. We're beginning to wonder if our safety and health is being sacrificed so as not to embarrass the family.
Further, the woman has not paid her assessments or her condo fees nor has she paid fines the city has assessed against her for another property she owns. We believe management is banking on her going into foreclosure or maybe even passing away (she has a serious heart condition) so that they don't have to take legal action.
In the meanwhile, the rest of us live in fear that we may all die in a fire and we spend our days spraying for roaches on our own. Some of the other tenants are seniors with mobility problems and if there is a fire, they would never be able to get out in time, even with help. Some of us have asthma and the variety of roach sprays and the smell are beginning to kill our lungs.
We are contemplating our own legal action, but don't know who to take action against. Our Condo managers who haven't pressed the issue with the city services? The city itself who doesn't seem to care about its elderly? The woman herself, despite the fact that she is clearly sick--and we originally were trying to get her help, not merely cleaned up? Her children who say they don't want legal battles and will "work with us" but don't specify what that means? We are at a complete loss, we are exhasuted, frustrated and losing patience.
Any ideas will be helpful. Sorry that this was so long, but I wanted to get all the facts in as we know them.
Connecticut
I'll try to be succinct and that isn't going to be easy. In our two story, twelve unit condo lives a very elderly woman: sweet as can be, generous to a fault and filthier than Pigpen. Her home is a blaze waiting to happen. Stuff isn't just piled up--it is a solid, almost six foot layer from the door on through the whole unit. She collects things that (she says) she takes to homeless shelters and so forth, but nothing ever leaves and more and more keeps going in. Her toilet is broken, her stove is stuffed full of old clothes and food and the stench is unbelievable when she opens the door.
Most of us dealt with this by upping our fire insurance, but now that she is leaving out stale and rotting food among the old clothes, plastic bags, boxes, nick-nacks, mason jars (name it and it's in there) she has attracted roaches and the roaches have infested all the other eleven units.
We started calling the condo association in April 2005 and they forwarded our concerns to the condo managers to whom we sent a registered letter. Management started knocking on her door in late May to do "spraying" (which I am sure you might agree is too little too late). She won't let them in. In late July they brought in the sheriff who told them "the roaches are the least of your problems; if she sets fire to the place you're going to have a lot of dead people on your hands." The fire marshal was brought in next and according to the managers, he says that she can pack the place sky high and we cannot do anything to prevent it. It's her right to live that way because she owns her unit. We pointed out that we own our units and we cannot live the way we want--clean, safe and bug-free--because her lifestyle is being given consideration over ours.
It is clear the woman is mentally ill,but we have had no luck in getting help from any of the usual social venue or from any of her children. We have called every city social agency known to man and they all tell us that it's another department's responsibility. Senior protective services, housing, health, mental health, commission on aging, fire and several others insist that it is not their job to help, but they happily tell us that one of the others IS responsible. Only environmental health made a stab at helping us, creating a blanket team that came in and took pictures, made promises about conservators, getting her kids involved and so forth. None of them have been back and the management said they want to give her a second chance.
So NOW management (who doesn't want to contact her kids for fear of a lawsuit) tried to gain and clean her apartment in order to spray her unit for bugs. She couldn't even OPEN THE FRONT DOOR because the stuff had collapsed against it and she was trapped under the pile. So the managers went in thru the windows and dug her out. But she went ballistic a bit later and told them they couldn't take anything more. Mental health was called and she was taken to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation. The officials assured us that they were going to get her into a home and prevent her from returning to the filth.
Instead, she signed herself out and has returned (lugging in more junk). Management has washed its hands, won't return our calls and tells us we could get in trouble for "harrassing" her. We don't even TALK to the woman about the problem. Calls to the official who took her to the hospital yield the information that he is on vacation.
We were advised by management that we COULD call her children as "concerned neighbors." I got elected for this job because I am so "nice." Her son claims she told him that the people cleaning her house were trying to steal her stuff. He also claimed he had not been told about the roaches and promises that he and his siblings will help us clean the place up.
Except--they do not come to the condo at all. They have never been inside and they think we are exaggerating about the extent of the filth and trash. We have also discovered that this woman is on several city commissions, does a lot of volunteer work and has received awards for her work. We're beginning to wonder if our safety and health is being sacrificed so as not to embarrass the family.
Further, the woman has not paid her assessments or her condo fees nor has she paid fines the city has assessed against her for another property she owns. We believe management is banking on her going into foreclosure or maybe even passing away (she has a serious heart condition) so that they don't have to take legal action.
In the meanwhile, the rest of us live in fear that we may all die in a fire and we spend our days spraying for roaches on our own. Some of the other tenants are seniors with mobility problems and if there is a fire, they would never be able to get out in time, even with help. Some of us have asthma and the variety of roach sprays and the smell are beginning to kill our lungs.
We are contemplating our own legal action, but don't know who to take action against. Our Condo managers who haven't pressed the issue with the city services? The city itself who doesn't seem to care about its elderly? The woman herself, despite the fact that she is clearly sick--and we originally were trying to get her help, not merely cleaned up? Her children who say they don't want legal battles and will "work with us" but don't specify what that means? We are at a complete loss, we are exhasuted, frustrated and losing patience.
Any ideas will be helpful. Sorry that this was so long, but I wanted to get all the facts in as we know them.
