Winnipeg home still standing 19 months after city condemned it

People living on a quiet St. Boniface street want to know why a house condemned by the City of Winnipeg nearlytwo years agobecause of hoardingstill hasn'tbeen demolished.

"If it's not safe, then why is it still standing?" said neighbour Cynthia Otfinowski. "I think it's a health hazard and it has potential to be a fire hazard."

The bushes of the house at 231 Notre Dame St.are overgrown, the grass hasn't been cutand there'sa broken toilet next to the garage.

The mailbox isoverflowing, there isan empty tuna can on the front porchand an old mitt is sitting on what looks like a pile of a rottingwood.

The house was owned and occupied by DonMestdaghfor more than three decades. The 66-year-old had collected so much stuff over the years that he was no longer able to live inside and had beensleeping on the front porch. Before Mestdagh moved out, the water had been cut off for three years because the meter reader couldn't get into the house.

• St. Boniface house condemned because of hoarding

In November 2015, the city condemned the home and forcedMestdaghout.

That was 19 months ago.

'It's a source of vermin'

"There's been mice in the area and some people have reported rats, so basically it's a source of vermin for our neighbourhood," said Otfinowski.

"There's lots of mice around. They're even in my barbecue," said Ray MacNutt, who lives two doors down from the condemned house. "Yeah,they're all in our yard."

MacNuttfears ifthe house isn't torn down soon, it could become a fire hazard.

"Set it on fire and we're right here," said MacNutt. "It's an abandoned old house and we don't want our place to burn down either."

According to the ManitobaLand Titles registry, the house has been sold twice since November 2015.

A city spokesperson said the home was reported vacant in July 2016 and is currently on the vacant building registry.

"The City's bylaw enforcement division and planning, property and development department are aware that the new owner had plans to secure a demolition permit and a reconstruction permit," said spokespersonKaileyBarronin anemail.

Barron couldn't speak to the permit application for privacy reasons but said, "in general, once a demolition permit has been issued, [the] bylaw enforcement [division] expects that demolition would begin in a timely manner consistent with the property owner's plans so that compliance to minimum property standards are met."

New owner says demolition coming soon

The home's current owner,SrenaHomes Inc., told CBC news it expects demolition willbegin in the next week or two.

"We were waiting for City of Winnipeg process, we were waiting for permits," saidArminBarsomian, spokesperson forSrenaHomes Inc.

Barsomian said he wasn't sure when the company had applied for the permits.

He said once the house is torn down a new one will be built in its place. The new home has already beensold to a St. Bonifacefamily who've been given a possession date of Sept. 29, 2017.

"The house, the plans, the square footage of the home we have all that already set in stone so possession is going to be coming up in the near future and, you know, we have to follow the timeline and get things going," saidBarsomian.

Otfinowskiis hopeful the home will be torn down soon, but isn't prepared to bet on it.

"The frustration is that it keeps sounding likesomething'sgonnahappen and it doesn't," she said.

"I think last year we saw people moving stuff out so we thought that was positive progress Hydro comes in, wethink, 'OK, now it'sgonnahappen.' We heard a month ago it wasgonnahappen, we hear again it'sgonnahappen.

"I don't know how many times we need to believe it before we see it."