Neighbors in Avalon Park say long-vacant home is causing them problems

Neighbors in the Avalon Park neighborhood said their community has been plagued by squatters, weeds, rats, and water leaks – all thanks to an abandoned home that's been sitting vacant for years.

The property at 8538 S. Chappel Av. has remained in limbo for years, and neighbors are still living with the consequences.

"No one, including the owner, is being held accountable," said neighbor Beverly Mims Taylor.

After the owner of the now-vacant home died more than a decade ago, it's been boarded up repeatedly. The home was eventually sold to an LLC called "Real Estate Investors Firm" in Florida and completely abandoned.

"We had literally a petting zoo back. here we had possums, raccoons," said neighbor Tamara Holley.

23:59:15 Then it's the rodent problem. We've reported that to the city of Chicago also

According to 311 records obtained by the CBS Chicago investigators, the property has been the subject of more than 50 complaints since 2019. The most recent was a complaint made last week by Ald. Michelle Harris' office.

Recently, Holley's basement flooded, and when her contractor couldn't figure out why the leaks were continuing, she said he came over and found feet of standing water in the neighboring vacant home.

"My contractor went to the back, and the water is up to the back stairs," Holley said.

She said the whole neighborhood has been trying — unsuccessfully — for years to get rid of what they consider a dangerous eyesore.

"Nothing but the same story. It's a private owner. There's nothing we can do but issue citations," Holley said.

Harris said she's well aware of this case.

"When I can't get the city to come in in a timely fashion, I will even send my staff out to cut the grass," she said.

Harris said the owner is three cycles behind in paying their property taxes, and now the property is in the middle of a long and very slow court process.

"I just feel like I wish I could do more. I just legally cannot do any more," Harris said.

The city has tried contacting the owner. CBS News Chicago did too, but so far have not been able to track him down.

Because the court process could still take several years, Harris said the quickest way to do something about it is to get in touch with the elusive owner and convince him to sell. Right now, the city is working on making that contact.

In the meantime, the Chicago Department of Buildings said the property has been ordered not to be rented, leased, or lived in and it's been referred for escalation with the city's Law Department. So the wait continues.

"You want to have an LLC? You want to run off and live wherever you want to? Take care of what you have here in this city on this block. That's important to us," Taylor said.