County Condemning My Home

[annem376]

I live in Howard County, Maryland and I found out today that the county is in the process of condemning my home, as well as three surrounding houses. Two of these houses are unoccupied and the fourth is occupied by a nearly 90 year old couple who married in their 20s and have lived there ever since.

The issue at nature is continual flooding which was brought on entirely by developments over the years that the county failed to admit to being in the wrong over until recently. A stream runs through my backyard and has caused substantial flooding three times in the last 8 years. We complained over and over and over again for so many years about the flooding and we were repeatedly turned away by the county or told by whoever was on the receiving end of the email and/or phone call that they didn't see any issue at all with pictures and video that we sent when there clearly was cause for concern.

My grandfather bought this house when it was built nearly 70 years ago and I have lived here practically since I was a baby. It is the only home I have ever known and this home means everything to me. I have been sobbing over this since I found out hours ago. They are giving me and my mom two months. TWO MONTHS to figure it out on our own after living here for decades. I am almost thirty and my mom is in her sixties and she has lived here her entire life aside from when she and my father and myself and my brother lived in a townhome for a few years.

The last flood occurred in May and there was no damage to the home aside from pushing water out of our unfinished basement. There has never been any damage to our home due to flooding anywhere but the basement, which we do not use, nor do we store anything in it anymore. The only reason it floods is because of the door in the back which is at the lowest point of our yard. The issue could easily be solved with some bricks and cement. According to the last inspector that was here after the second flood, there has been no structural damage to the house. We also have not claimed flood insurance in the last two floods and any repairs or replacements were out of our own pockets, so it's not like there is a substantial amount of tax payer money being used to repair our property. The only tax payer money being used is OUR OWN. We have spent thousands of our own dollars to replace appliances because the county was more interested in making money off of their developments than they were of people who have lived here for over half a century.

The county has not had anyone out here to inspect the inside of the home nor the outside of the home. They are substantiating their reasoning for condemning the home based on assumptions. From what I have read, a homeowner can fight until absolutely every option for repair or prevention of further damage is exhausted. I am aware that this is legal for the county to condemn a home but I am not going to back down from this. We live paycheck to paycheck and if they take our home we will literally be homeless with nowhere to go. All family is deceased and I have no friends that would be willing to take us in for the meantime. I have pets and this is literally life or death for us at this point.

Is there anything we can do?

 

[quincy]

I live in Howard County, Maryland and I found out today that the county is in the process of condemning my home, as well as three surrounding houses. Two of these houses are unoccupied and the fourth is occupied by a nearly 90 year old couple who married in their 20s and have lived there ever since.

The issue at nature is continual flooding which was brought on entirely by developments over the years that the county failed to admit to being in the wrong over until recently. A stream runs through my backyard and has caused substantial flooding three times in the last 8 years. We complained over and over and over again for so many years about the flooding and we were repeatedly turned away by the county or told by whoever was on the receiving end of the email and/or phone call that they didn't see any issue at all with pictures and video that we sent when there clearly was cause for concern.

My grandfather bought this house when it was built nearly 70 years ago and I have lived here practically since I was a baby. It is the only home I have ever known and this home means everything to me. I have been sobbing over this since I found out hours ago. They are giving me and my mom two months. TWO MONTHS to figure it out on our own after living here for decades. I am almost thirty and my mom is in her sixties and she has lived here her entire life aside from when she and my father and myself and my brother lived in a townhome for a few years.

The last flood occurred in May and there was no damage to the home aside from pushing water out of our unfinished basement. There has never been any damage to our home due to flooding anywhere but the basement, which we do not use, nor do we store anything in it anymore. The only reason it floods is because of the door in the back which is at the lowest point of our yard. The issue could easily be solved with some bricks and cement. According to the last inspector that was here after the second flood, there has been no structural damage to the house. We also have not claimed flood insurance in the last two floods and any repairs or replacements were out of our own pockets, so it's not like there is a substantial amount of tax payer money being used to repair our property. The only tax payer money being used is OUR OWN. We have spent thousands of our own dollars to replace appliances because the county was more interested in making money off of their developments than they were of people who have lived here for over half a century.

The county has not had anyone out here to inspect the inside of the home nor the outside of the home. They are substantiating their reasoning for condemning the home based on assumptions. From what I have read, a homeowner can fight until absolutely every option for repair or prevention of further damage is exhausted. I am aware that this is legal for the county to condemn a home but I am not going to back down from this. We live paycheck to paycheck and if they take our home we will literally be homeless with nowhere to go. All family is deceased and I have no friends that would be willing to take us in for the meantime. I have pets and this is literally life or death for us at this point.

Is there anything we can do?

First, I am sorry you are facing the condemnation of your house. I can understand how emotional this must be for you, your family and your elderly neighbors.

Does your County have plans to develop the land it will be acquiring? Has the County offered you a "fair" price for your property?

Here is a link to information that describes Maryland's right to condemn houses, and the process involved:
https://dgs.maryland.gov/Pages/RealEstate/index.aspx

You might find some support through the Institute for Justice: https://ij.org/about-us

 

[xylene]

Your family needs a lawyer.

In your post it is unclear who owns the property at this time. Could you clarify this?

I know this sounds difficult, you need to start making plans, because you may (will) win, but the odds that 'winning' means staying in a floodplain is low. Put resources into that. Struggle. Change is here and what you need to do is maximize the benefits, payments, and compensations that will come to your family.

You need to be prepared for how hard that might be.

Engage private help and charity.

This is hard. You will survive, you will be ok,

 

[quincy]

One option that may (or may not) be feasible is to use the money given you by the state for your current property to purchase vacant land and have your current home moved to the new property.

Of course, this means a new foundation and gas/electric/water hookups - but, depending on facts, this potentially could be a cost-saving move and would allow you to keep the house you grew up in (albeit in a different area).

Obviously this option would require a lot of research to determine if it makes any sense in your circumstances and it could require more time than is available. I thought I would throw it out as something to investigate if interested, though.

International Association of Structural Movers: http://www.iasm.org

 

[FarmerJ]

Wondering if any of your local elected officials will tell you exactly what the communities plans are for the land they are taking via eminent domain ? AND I cant help but wonder if there is more to the process such as should there have been public hearings ?

 

[quincy]

Wondering if any of your local elected officials will tell you exactly what the communities plans are for the land they are taking via eminent domain ? AND I cant help but wonder if there is more to the process such as should there have been public hearings ?

If all is as has been described, it almost sounds like the County is trying to intimidate annem376 and family into abandoning the home to shorten the process needed for the County to legally acquire the property.

An attorney should be consulted soon so annem's family's rights are not infringed and so a fair price can be negotiated for the house and land.

 

[FarmerJ]

Yes especially if the condemnation reasons offered are a smoke screen because the politicians there want the land to be redeveloped into a mall or some kind of stores or businesses ( where land will be altered enough to address the drainage . ( such things do happen like how a guy I knew Charlie was on Bunker lake blvd in Anoka county for many years in a row of long established scrap yards where the elected officials used eminent domain to condemn and force out every scrap operator in order to build spendy apartments and shops and cafes along that road ( Charlie is dead now But he had a copy of the check he got for his 20 acres in the framed picture of the old place on the wall in the new place which was half of what he could have sold it for on the open market , his problem was he couldn't afford the legal bills after a while ) GET a lawyer

 

[quincy]

Yes especially if the condemnation reasons offered are a smoke screen because the politicians there want the land to be redeveloped into a mall or some kind of stores or businesses ( where land will be altered enough to address the drainage . ( such things do happen like how a guy I knew Charlie was on Bunker lake blvd in Anoka county for many years in a row of long established scrap yards where the elected officials used eminent domain to condemn and force out every scrap operator in order to build spendy apartments and shops and cafes along that road ( Charlie is dead now But he had a copy of the check he got for his 20 acres in the framed picture of the old place on the wall in the new place which was half of what he could have sold it for on the open market , his problem was he couldn't afford the legal bills after a while ) GET a lawyer

If you read about Hamtramck, Michigan ("Poletown"), and the thousands of residents in the community who were displaced in the 1980s when the State acquired their properties through eminent domain, you can understand my dislike of that law.

The State took over 450 acres of homes and businesses to build a GM plant (which has since shut down). Those who were forced from their lifelong homes - and away from close friends and established neighborhoods - were paid a pittance to relocate. They found it difficult to find affordable homes in the more expensive suburbs that surrounded Hamtramck.

"Progress" should never come at that expense.

I know the Institute for Justice has fought in the past for homeowners faced with State-mandated displacement.

 

[Shadowbunny]

A small garage in my hometown fought and won an eminent domain case. After he won, he relocated his business.

https://ij.org/case/city-of-mesa-v-bailey/

 

[FarmerJ]

ALL over there have been plenty of eminent domain situations where it wasn't a real public purpose such as a school, hospital, road project or fire station, library, air port noise abatement , etc BUT the land was taken because something that was going to be put in by private developers but the developer managed to get the city to do its dirty work , like that one town in CT, Also here back when I still lived in mpls a very large car dealer Walser who was right on 494 in Richfield and some blocks of houses were taken to create land for best buy offices. Their was a argument that those homes were blighted and the car dealers large property that had freeway and freeway cyclone fencing right up to it were a blight too. ( the car dealers use just didn't generate the monsterous amount of property taxes that best buy offices ended up generating and as to the houses that were taken , that area was a mix of 1950s thru later 60s regular homes that were not neglected . SO in the end in my state we now have laws that have taken away the ability of cities to so easily take private property SO ANN this is why it is so important that you talk to a lawyer.

 

[justalayman]

ALL over there have been plenty of eminent domain situations where it wasn't a real public purpose such as a school, hospital, road project or fire station, library, air port noise abatement , etc BUT the land was taken because something that was going to be put in by private developers but the developer managed to get the city to do its dirty work , like that one town in CT, Also here back when I still lived in mpls a very large car dealer Walser who was right on 494 in Richfield and some blocks of houses were taken to create land for best buy offices. Their was a argument that those homes were blighted and the car dealers large property that had freeway and freeway cyclone fencing right up to it were a blight too. ( the car dealers use just didn't generate the monsterous amount of property taxes that best buy offices ended up generating and as to the houses that were taken , that area was a mix of 1950s thru later 60s regular homes that were not neglected . SO in the end in my state we now have laws that have taken away the ability of cities to so easily take private property SO ANN this is why it is so important that you talk to a lawyer.

Federal decisions (I believe a scotus decision) allows property to be taken for private purposes. Some states have enacted laws to defeat the federal alllowance for eminent domain takings for private benefit.


In the situstion at hand I find it hard to believe an eminent domain action for private use would be sustainable as the requirement is the land is put to better use by increased tax rvenue. If the land is not useable for the op, it wouldn’t be useable for. Others.


To,start with, owner of op’s property should have addressed the increased water flow issue years ago when it was created, through the courts if necessary. Apparently owner did little more than ask about it.

Personally I can’t see how the county can condemn the properties unleee they are in a dilapidated condition. If they are habitable, I see no reason for the condemnation. The flooding can be mitigated. While it is problematic to build in a flood plain, it is not illegal to remain in a flood plain if the building is already there.

Many coastal area homes have dealt with flooding by simply raising their homes. If the only part of the home exposed to flooding is the basement, the basement can be altered to be used as a foundation and filled leaving a crawl space type of construct.

Op needs to understand the basis for the condemnation. It doesn’t sound like there is an intent to purchase the property but simply require the homes to be abandoned, most likely due to their condition. Given the op has stated nothing about an offer to compensate them (stating they will be homeless suggesting not compensation is offered) and the op speaking about no inspector having been in the house and speculation of the condition, I tend to believe it is not an eminent domain issue but eviction due to a habitability issue


Op really needs a lawyer

 

[FlyingRon]

I'm familiar with the Ellicott City mess. He needs an attorney, but this is a real disaster of a situation. The problem occurred because of incompetent (or perhaps corrupt) land use of the past few decades that allowed over development. Alas, the "cheap" solution is not to condemn the development that shouldn't have been allowed to happen but to bandaid, the situation by taking some strategically placed properties need to ameliorate the heaviest flows. Valuation of these long-standing properties is certainly going to be controversial.