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Abandoned home in Tonawanda frustrates neighbors

Officials with the Town of Tonawanda say they hope to have the yard fixed within a day or two.

TONAWANDA, N.Y. — Most homeowners have to take care of their lawn. 

Caitlin Christopher is taking care of two. 

"How many times are we supposed to mow it when it's not our property? That's not why we pay taxes, we mow our lawn. It's not like it's an elderly person living there inside. I wouldn't mind doing that. But there's just nobody there," Christopher said. 

Christopher lives on Montrose Avenue, near where an abandoned home also happens to sit.

It's falling apart and attracting mice and raccoons, which are also migrating over to neighboring homes in the area such as Christopher's.  

Town of Tonawanda supervising code enforcement officer Tom Duncan says the town has told the contractor to fix the yard this week. 

"We're hoping in the next day or two. It's definitely, it's been there for a little while so we want it done it as soon as possible and we've told them that," Duncan said. 

Duncan says town law requires that each time a property needs to be cleaned up, they must send a legal notice to the homeowner. 

If ten days go by and the town doesn't get a response, then they can have the contractor come in. 

Unfortunately, they have to do that each time they want to do anything to the outside of the property, including mowing the lawn.  

"Take care of the lawn for now and figure out what they're going to do with this property because it's just a disaster," Christopher said. 

As for the home itself, 2 On Your Side was told whoever owns it must fail to pay taxes for three years on it before the county can step in, expedite the foreclosure process and then put it up for auction. 

2 On Your Side has been told taxes haven't been paid on the Montrose Avenue home since 2021.

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