Protection From F'closure Eviction No Help For Renters Getting Immediate Boot From Condemned Home Repo'd By Bank; Timing Of Bldg Inspection Questioned

In Enfield, Connecticut, The Hartford Courant reports:

• George Lombardo of Thompsonville left for work as usual Monday morning only to find a notice posted on the porch of the house he rents on Lincoln Street. The house had been condemned as "unfit for occupancy." It was condemned Thursday, Nov. 5, according to the sign posted at the entrance to both sides of the duplex and signed by housing inspector Richard Metcalf. "I don't have a home now, and I just found out this morning on my way to work," Lombardo, 49, said Monday.

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• He called his landlord and found out that the property had been foreclosed about two weeks ago and is now owned by the bank, leading Lombardo to question the timing of a building inspection that determined his home to be uninhabitable. But Peter Bryanton, director of community development, said that the foreclosure and the inspection are unrelated. [...] "There was enough there to say, 'This is a dangerous situation,'" Bryanton said. "If we find it's a danger, a hazard, like we did, then we've got to get [the tenants] out." He said there is no formal process for letting residents know their residence is condemned besides posting the sign. After the signs are posted, tenants are to leave immediately, negating the [...] period a resident would typically have to leave after a foreclosure.

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• "[The home's] been in the same shape for eight years," Lombardo said. "There were no vermin, no leaks, no structural damage. There's a tarp on the roof, but that has been there for years."

For the story, see Enfield Tenants Have To Find New Homes After Duplex Is Condemned.