FORT VALLEY, Ga. — If you lived next door to a house with a roof caving in and a gaping hole in its side-- what would you do?
One Fort Valley couple says they want the city to handle it.
Greg Leeb and his fiance are a couple of volunteer firefighters.
They moved into a home on Samuel Jones Street in May.
The empty nest next door is literally falling apart.
Originally from Chicago, Leebs moved to Central Georgia after his father passed away.
He said he moved to Pittsburgh for a few years before returning to the Peach State in 2023.
His supervisor at work, Napoleon Daniely, Sr., is also his landlord.
He owns a few properties on the street between the train tracks and Fort Valley State University.
On one side of Leeb's home is Daniely's brother, and on the opposite side "has been vacant and abandoned for over 10 years."
As far as his landlord knew, "the lady had died, the house was in probate, and there was supposedly a relative in the area, but they don't want anything to do with the house and since then it's been more and more dilapidated," Leeb said.
The house is clearly neglected with overgrown weeds, roof shingles scattered on the litter-ridden yard, with a gaping hole big enough to fit a person through on the side of the house.
Leeb said bad weather doesn't help.
When it storms heavy, debris from the backyard of 113 Samuel Jones St. blow through to Leeb's property, he said.
A large tree hangs over the volunteer firefighter's backyard from the abandoned home.
"It was trampling over on my side of the property, and code enforcement said go ahead and cut it," Leeb said.
Rather than taking matters into his own hands, though, Leeb said the city should be responsible for fixing the blight.
"I want that house gone because it's deteriorating to the point where there may be structural stability issues, there may be people that are squatting in there, someone may light the house on fire," Leebs said said. "I'm worried about the safety of the neighborhood."
Leeb said he's been in touch with the code enforcement officer overseeing the abandoned home, Rhonda Walker. In a statement, she said:
"I’ve been here since March 2023 to help the city Fight Blight and clean up the city of Fort Valley to attract commerce and provide safety to citizenry. I’m responsible for conducting field investigations and property inspections to uncover violations of nuisance, junk and debris, abandoned/inoperative vehicles, housing and related ordinances along with assistance from the Building Inspector.
The property owners get a 14 day notice and then if no progress is being made I prepare a packet and send it forward to our City Attorney office to appear before Abatement hearing and this is when the Municipal Court Judge renders a decision after reviewing the photographed evidence collected by the Code Enforcement Officer and listening to the owner if they appear before the hearing.
If the owner of a property is deceased, a house cannot remain in a deceased persons name; therefore, it goes through the probate process. Probate Court is the court - supervised act of where if debts need to be paid, close accounts, distributing assets and belongings of an individual after their death if there is not a WILL.
When the property owner is deceased the packet is provided to the probate court via the City Attorney.
Our office have to wait until all steps have been taken and the Judge renders the ORDER to DEMO.
The legalities are performed via the City of Fort Valley Attorney’s and the Municipal Court Judge.
What’s the delay? Procedures... the dilapidated house has been identified but again… please understand we can’t just tear a house down.
The City of Fort Valley are moving in the right direction with so much more to do.
I truly would like to THANK the citizens who support our ambition in demolishing dilapidated houses, because it truly make it a better place to live for everyone..
A few weeks ago a house on Samuel Jones was demolished and another one will be demolished voluntarily by the owner next week.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. I do appreciate the person wanting the house removed, but we can’t just demo a house... several of these houses have been standing for quiet some time."
You can reach out to Walker at 478-357-9256 or 478-825-8261. To file a complaint with the city of Fort Valley, click here.