Justice 4 All: Jacksonville woman says she’s fed up with the ‘eyesore’ property next door

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – This week on "Justice 4 All," we’re getting answers for a Jacksonville woman who said she’s fed up with living next to an “eyesore” property.

Lynn Adams said she has “had enough.”

She’s tired of living next to a mess.

“It’s an embarrassment. I run my business out of my home and when clients come over, they see that,” she told us, motioning to the property next door.

The yard is covered with weeds that are at least 6 feet tall in many places.

The home itself is open, there appears to be a hole in the roof, and there is no electricity.

“It’s a health hazard,” she said, complaining that it’s been like that for some seven years.

“It’s driving down my property values. It’s driving down all the property values here,” she complained.

“I keep up my yard and so do the neighbors. It is not fair to them or me.”

I asked her if she had contacted the owner. “Yes, he doesn’t care,” she said. “He doesn’t care.”

Adams said she has called the city of Jacksonville several times during the last several years and complained.

She said eventually the city will send out a crew that mows the yard once a year but said after a few months the yard is a mess again and becomes a haven for animals.

She said she has also seen vagrants wonder in and out of the house.

As we discovered, the property, which is located on Mockingbird Road in Northwest Jacksonville, has been cited for “overgrowth” by the city’s code enforcement department four times in the last nine years:

Lien / Fine History

The city fined the owner and charged for the cost of mowing the lawn. As you can see, the last two fines had not been paid at the time we wrote this story, totaling more than $2100.

We contacted Jacksonville City Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman. The property is located in the district she represents.

She met us and Adams at the property to discuss what more could be done.

“Oh, that’s bad,” she said as she walked up to the yard. She promised to help. “I can follow up now that I know,” she explained to Adams.

Adams did not know how to reach out to her council representative for help. Now she does.

“I’m really glad I was contacted by Channel 4 because having ambassadors like you in the community to let us know, because we’re not everywhere,” she told Adams. “But once we know, then we can do something about it.”

Pittman contacted management at the city’s code enforcement division and requested that the lawn be mowed.

She said anyone who is living next to a property that is considered a nuisance should always call 630-CITY and report it. Write down the complaint number issued at that time, and if action is not taken within a reasonable amount of time, she encouraged calling your city council representative.

They can contact the department that handles those complaints and help to make sure action is taken.

I did contact the owner of the property on Mockingbird Road. He lives in Michigan. Monir Hussein told me he bought the property as an investment from another investor about three years ago. Court records, however, show a Monir Hussein purchased the property from Life Hacks Investing on Sept. 23, 2019.

Hussein said he was trying to fix up the property but blames problems associated with the tax auction for the delay.

He said he was notified by the city about the most recent complaint and flew down to Jacksonville and had the lawn mowed. He sent us a picture showing what it looked like when it was finished.

He said he will pay the liens/fines on the property and assured me that the property will be fixed up and maintained. He plans to sell it.

If you have a question about crime, safety or the law, email me: jwaugh@wjxt.com. We’ll work to get you the answers as part of our series of reports: Justice 4 All.