Neighbors In Tulsa's Owen Park Neighborhood Frustrated With Vacant Home

Neighbors said they are fed up and worried about the impact of a vacant house in Tulsa's Owen Park neighborhood.

Neighbors said the owner has not been seen in years, while the grass has grown tall, and they are seeing people trespassing on the property.

A city councilor said, unfortunately, it is not unusual to see houses like these around Tulsa.

"When the weeds are as long as I am, it screams 'vacant,'” said Roxanne Snider, the neighborhood association president.

Snider said she had not seen the owner in two and a half years.

"We do not know her status other than she's still listed as owner on the county assessor's website,” said Snider. “We know two years of property taxes have not been paid. We don't know if she's in a nursing home. We don't know if she has deceased."

There are broken windows and code enforcement notices on the door.

"We've called police several times because we know there's activity in the house, and they come out and they say there's nothing they can do without the owner's permission,” said Snider.

The city said last Friday, crews mowed and boarded up some openings.

Councilor Laura Bellis said the city listed the home as priority 3 with the tall grass, but when more complaints came in, code enforcement saw that the grass was blocking the sidewalk, so the city moved the home to priority 1.

Bellis said code enforcement gets more than 22,000 complaints every year, and staff do their best to keep up.

"People have their property rights, and of course, their own property responsibilities to maintain their properties, so one of the biggest mechanisms the city has is code enforcement,” said Bellis.

Snider said she wants stronger enforcement and does not feel hopeful about the future of this vacant home.

"So, it'll sit until it's sold for property taxes, and in the meantime, we have to hope that whoever's breaking in over there doesn't burn it to the ground,” said Snider.

The city said so far in 2024, code enforcement has ordered 775 abatements for properties across the city.

The cost to fix the problem is invoiced to the owner, and if the invoice is not paid, the city files a lien with the county.