What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? missouri
I have 2 rental houses. They're kept constantly cleaned by someone who lives close by them. When he can't do it, I *PERSONALLY* go and clean the yards. The county came by and cleaned them up (one I had 2 pieces of old furniture that were out (put out on Tuesday, trash pick up was Friday), Wed. They posted a violation. I had till Monday to get it cleaned up.
Thursday, they came by and cleaned that yard up. Charged me $400. Come to find out, they've been charging me $72 a month for the last YEAR just to drive by and look at my house, because 'someone' reported it was messy, so another $864. Then, they cleaned up my other house, $400. Apparently, someone had dumped building materials in the yard, the night before (I had passed that morning, and the yard was fine)! They had pictures of that, but no pictures of the first house clean up.
I requested a hearing on both, they talked to me about the second house, not refused to talk about the first house, saying I didn't request it, even though he had the file for it in his hand. (I own more than those 2, so the excuse he just grabbed all my files doesn't fly.) He said he would hear it if I gave him a response to all the violations I had ever had on that house. So, having detailed records, I did. I faxed them to them. called in, his Secretary said he had sent it to legal. And he called and said he had cleaned up houses around the second one, and had billed it wrong, and he'd fix that.
So, 2 months passed, I heard nothing from 'legal'. I called in, they said it was too late, I only had 20 days to send a written request for a hearing.
I couldn't afford a lawyer at that point, nor did I even know I needed one. But, end of year, the tax bills are coming in. They did nothing with the first one, they changed the second one, but not by much.
Can I still use them? In the clean up, they TOOK my 5 55 gallon trash cans that were in the back yard, a box of siding, and all the children's toys in the back yard (the trash cans were in very good shape, very clean (on the outside), the siding was over half a box, the same color as the house, because it had just been finished) and the children's toys were not a bunch of broken up old toys. I'm talking about things like a play house, and a power wheels car. They were all there the day before, and a play house isn't easy to move, so it wasn't stolen.)
I have 2 rental houses. They're kept constantly cleaned by someone who lives close by them. When he can't do it, I *PERSONALLY* go and clean the yards. The county came by and cleaned them up (one I had 2 pieces of old furniture that were out (put out on Tuesday, trash pick up was Friday), Wed. They posted a violation. I had till Monday to get it cleaned up.
Thursday, they came by and cleaned that yard up. Charged me $400. Come to find out, they've been charging me $72 a month for the last YEAR just to drive by and look at my house, because 'someone' reported it was messy, so another $864. Then, they cleaned up my other house, $400. Apparently, someone had dumped building materials in the yard, the night before (I had passed that morning, and the yard was fine)! They had pictures of that, but no pictures of the first house clean up.
I requested a hearing on both, they talked to me about the second house, not refused to talk about the first house, saying I didn't request it, even though he had the file for it in his hand. (I own more than those 2, so the excuse he just grabbed all my files doesn't fly.) He said he would hear it if I gave him a response to all the violations I had ever had on that house. So, having detailed records, I did. I faxed them to them. called in, his Secretary said he had sent it to legal. And he called and said he had cleaned up houses around the second one, and had billed it wrong, and he'd fix that.
So, 2 months passed, I heard nothing from 'legal'. I called in, they said it was too late, I only had 20 days to send a written request for a hearing.
I couldn't afford a lawyer at that point, nor did I even know I needed one. But, end of year, the tax bills are coming in. They did nothing with the first one, they changed the second one, but not by much.
Can I still use them? In the clean up, they TOOK my 5 55 gallon trash cans that were in the back yard, a box of siding, and all the children's toys in the back yard (the trash cans were in very good shape, very clean (on the outside), the siding was over half a box, the same color as the house, because it had just been finished) and the children's toys were not a bunch of broken up old toys. I'm talking about things like a play house, and a power wheels car. They were all there the day before, and a play house isn't easy to move, so it wasn't stolen.)