INDIANAPOLIS — Neighbors are concerned and want someone to do something about a house on the northwest side of Indianapolis that is crumbling away.
The house, on Clayburn Drive, near 79th Street and Payne Road, has been vacant for a long time, neighbors say. They have been trying to figure out who owns and maintains it, with no luck.
"You would think at Halloween they’re gonna have a haunted house over there or something," Chris Mischler said.
Cindy Williams, who lives next door, said a couple divorced and moved out of the home about 15 years ago and says the man who lived there stayed for a couple years after.
"We came out one morning and he had knocked his mailbox down I think with his car and left and we’ve never seen him since," Williams said.
More than 30 complaints have been filed with the city by neighbors about uncut grass, a need for the home to be boarded up, and unsafe conditions.
Liens have been put on the home and $5,126 is currently owed. The City of Indianapolis mows the yard a couple of times a year and boarded up the house a couple of years ago.
"The city should do something about it because I’ve seen kids try to go in their backyard and try to play on the old playground and then when somebody gets hurt, who’s paying for that,?" Mischler said.
Someone has paid $1,700 in taxes on the home this year, but only the address for the abandoned property is listed as contact information.
The city says as long as the owner is paying taxes and fines on the property, the house will remain in the hands of the property owner.
A spokesman for the city says if three tax cycles are missed, the property can become tax sale eligible.
