Extreme dilapidation - yet occupied

My neighbour's house. Inner city Brisbane.

He is a late 70s old man. Told other neighbours he was in 'Nam but denied it when I asked him.
Smoking and drinking himself to death. Has bad gout from smoking and drinking so never leaves the house except when he goes to hospital from passing out from time to time.
Fills his house from junk he buys on the net. Lives in squalor. Quite disgusting inside.
He is sort of my mate. I chat to him every day about the neighbourhood. He knows the suburb very well. I feel a bit sorry for him.
Born in this house. See the original clawfoot bath in the back laundry?
I put my finger through the hardwood wall it is that termite ridden.
He could sell up and buy a nice ground floor apartment and still have lots of money left over but he is emotionally attached to his home.

I had a dispute with him about his cigarette smoking coming in my windows. Now he smokes in the bedroom only so I will live and let live and not report him. Apart from aesthetics I prefer his house there to an executive 2 story plus garage below, 5 bedder potentially blocking out a bit of my sun. All I see from my house are his trees and lantana.

I am sticking around for a while so not really an issue for me in terms of sale. Rest of the street is really nice.

I would appreciate it for my privacy and his that if you know this house that you do not disclose the location.

@Leo2413

 

Woah that's OTT crazy. I don't know how anyone could live like that. Can't even see the house barely..

 

I had a deceased estate like that a long time ago. She left her estate to a well known charity my boss was a Director of. Her dilapidated "shed" in a beach suburb was land value....Millions. And she had a book in the house that outlined her portfolio of shares worth millions. Bizarrely she burned all other paperwork for privacy it seemed. Strange that she paid tax under a different name so nobody ever knew she had money. (She divulged that in her will) She had a small amount of income in her name that she lived on and never claimed a cent from Centrelink (rightly it seems). All was reinvested and compounded for 30+ years. I recall $5M + in shares.

Disclosed to ATO and they didnt care as tax had been paid. Massive job to reconstruct the picture.

 

Looks like you need to get Costa from Gardening Australia to help him out a bit.

And, not that I would advocate such a move for morality reasons, giving him $5k for call option on the property might not go astray...

 

Good idea. I did mention to him that i would appreciate first right of refusal and he seemed to take that on board. But tbh i don't think couldn't afford it. No yield and i don't have enough money to put the apropriate type of house on it. Eg an executive build for city views. .

What exactly do you mean by giving him money for a call option how would that work? What happens if he dies suddenly would his family honour it?
@Terry_w any ideas?

 

I went to a house like this recently, for work, my skin still itches. I think it is heart breaking for someone in their twilight years to live like this. The occupant was taken to hospital and for the first time ever, I saw the council actually condemn the house, complete with big notices etc. mind you that was after we told them, the neighbours were content to live and let live, not sure that I would choose that given the state of the occupant and amount of rodents ambling about. To say nothing of the internal beehives.

 

An option is a contract which gives one party the right to force the other party. In this case it would force him to sell to you if certain things happened - which could be time, his death, death of someone else etc. At this point you could decide not to settle, but he could not pull out if you didn't want him to.

This contract would be binding on his legal personal rep so the estate would have to honor it (unless you contracted them out).

You would give a small amount of money now for entering the option agreement, an option fee.

Just think of it as a conditional contract to purchase.

 

Thanks Terry. But what about price. Could he not say 'I won't pull out but the price is $7M'? Would the contract say something like 'first option at market value'?

 

Such a sorry state, wonder what has happened, could have been one of us, or my father......

Being inner-city, I fear the neighbors may ring Council. Nowadays with health and safety concerns, I've seen neighbours complain about snakes, disease and whatnot. Hope he or someone will cleanup before the authorities get there.

 

You agree to the eventual sale price upfront. It can be a figure or a formula - such as the average of 2 valuations, one ordered by each party.

 

I feel sorry for him also. That is why I go and chat to him. I have no desire to move him on. He is living history for the neighbourhood. I have offered to help him clean the place up but he is very obstinant. I will keep up the dialogue as he deserves a better lifestyle with proper care and he has the resources to have that. As well as his land asset, he also has a reasonable pension as an ex public servant. But he has made his choice to stay no matter how out of control his property is.
I helped him when he got ripped off on an online scam (probably a love scam I reckon) and had money taken out of his account.

As you have said it wouldn't surprise me if someone in the street dobs him in. Possibly not an OO but the house on the other side of him is tenanted and that landlord doesn't benefit from a derelict house next door.

 

Sounds like one of those super wealthy cat ladies. Good thing she didnt leave everything to the cat.

That's why its important to get married and have kids. No point being rich if you have got no kids to pass it on to.

 

He is probably suffering from depression or some psychological after effects from his time in the war. Especially with the alcohol and cigarette addiction.

If he has an internet connection and goes online, means he must be still functioning ok.

 

Yes he is not stupid. Just in denial about his miserable circumstances and thinks that is as good as it can get.
He clearly has some strong trauma to be in that situation. I really don't know whether he was in the war or not.

 

I went to see a house like this that was on the market. Vines had grown up the side of the house, through the tiles and into the ceiling. It was stacked high to the roof in ever room. Floor boards rotten, dirt on the bathroom floor... absolutely disgusting. It didn't sell of course. This is that house now:

167 Belgravia Street Belmont WA 6104 - House for Sale #125398454 - realestate.com.au

I wish I had taken photos of it before the reno.