It seems ludicrous that there is currently nothing our city council can do about derelict houses which have become sites for rubbish dumping, arson, tagging and general mischief - to say nothing of how unsightly they look.
Many locals will remember how long it took before the Rotorua District Councilwas finally allowed to do something about the dangerous, derelict movie theatre which has now been turned into an apartment block in our city centre.
Local communities face enough problems without having their neighbourhoods blemished by homes with owners who couldn't care less about the effect letting their property go to ruin can have.
The latest such property is one in Fordlands, which has featured in this newspaper a couple of times. It has become a place where some locals dump their rubbish, which must surely be attracting pests like rats, it has been tagged and fires have been lit inside.
The locals have, quite understandably, had enough but the local council is unable to do anything to force the property's owner to tidy things up.
It is a disgrace and the owners should be ashamed.
There are health, safety and social issues involved, although it appears that none of these are enough in themselves to give the council any power to take action against the owners and compel them to clean up their properties. Why someone would purchase a property to neither rent it out or sell it on but simply to let it deteriorate into a problem for the surrounding community is anyone's guess.
It is, at the very least, socially irresponsible. What's even worse is that it appears the community or its officials are powerless to do anything about it.
