Rochester house in disrepair, next-door neighbor has new, unexpected neighbors

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — One Rochester woman says she has had enough of her new neighbors. Since the beginning of the year, Linda Byrd has been dealing with an issue of pests next door and wants the city to do something about it.

However, after months of no response, she came to News10NBC about the situation.

“This happened October of last year. This house caught on fire, and it’s been sitting like this for almost a year now. I’ve been calling city code, City NET. Nobody seems to want to help me,” said Linda Byrd, a frustrated neighbor who lives in the 19th Ward.

Due to the homeowner’s circumstances and lack of funding for repair, the house sits unoccupied…sort of.

“Those two windows right there… the bottom lower windows, that’s where they’re living, up in there,” Byrd said, pointing out to the house in disrepair.

Rodents and pests such as rats and raccoons are now Byrd’s next-door neighbors, and she says it is a growing problem.

“It affects it bad because I can’t enjoy my yard, I can’t go back there and cut my grass, do the bushes on the side of the house. My grandkids can’t play in the yard, nieces, nephew. It is just a scary situation. You don’t know if they have rabies. It’s affecting my mental health, I’m scared to go outside of my own house,” Byrd said.

The upset neighbor says she has tried to call the city for the past six months to fix the problem but has not been happy with the lack of action.

“We certainly understand that for neighbors, everybody would like those things to be done instantly or as soon as possible,” said Justin Roj, communications director for the City of Rochester. “But unfortunately, those processes – and in fairness to the homeowner who suffered a tragedy with a fire at their home – it takes a long period of time."

Byrd says living next door to a house in this condition is miserable for her and her family and just wants one thing done.

“Tear it down," Byrd said. "Get rid of it.”

The city contracts with the Monroe County Department of Environmental Services for pest control situations like this and did confirm with News10NBC that they [Department of Environmental Services] are expected to go to the house and inspect accordingly.

As for the owner of the property, they are having trouble getting enough money for repairs to make the home livable again. The city says the property is significantly tax delinquent, so it does not qualify for any city loans or grants.