My friend has a really nice and expensive car and spends a lot of time taking care of it.
Like washing it weekly and constantly tinkering with the engine to ensure it stays in great shape.
“It’s worth a lot of money so, duh,” my friend says.
Too bad more Burnaby homeowners don’t feel the same way about their properties.
We live in an affluent city, but you often wouldn’t know that by some of the disgusting slobby properties around town.
I can’t drive down a residential street without seeing at least one of these homes with overgrown grass, weeds, garbage, rotting fences or other signs of neglect.
They are a blight on our landscape.
You would think that people who owned such valuable assets – most in the millions of dollars – would do at least a minimal amount of cleanup.
There are many reasons for this, of course.
Yes, there are a few homeowners who are quite elderly and perhaps can’t take care of their properties. I do have sympathy for that and wish their families would help out.
But there are far too many absentee landlords who want to bleed as much revenue out of these homes without having to spend a nickel on upkeep.
Others are pure speculators who don’t care if the house falls apart because they are waiting for the right time to sell or build a new mega-house on the property. The property is often where all the value is, not an old home.
Sadly, there isn’t a lot the City of Burnaby can do. There is an unsightly premises bylaw, but it takes an extreme case for that to kick into action.
“Every owner or occupier of real property, or their agents, shall clear the property of brush, noxious weeds or other growths, and upon failure to do so the City of Burnaby, by its employees or other persons, at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner, may enter on the property and effect the clearing at the expense of the person who has failed to comply, and the expenses for so doing, if unpaid on the 31st day of December of the year in which the expenses are incurred, shall be added to and form part of the taxes payable in respect of that real property as taxes in arrears,” reads the bylaw.
I’m sure I’ll get a few responses saying this is no big deal, but I disagree. These wealthy homeowners – at least house-rich folks – need to be better citizens of the community by taking care of their properties.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
