CAPE CORAL, Fla. -- One Cape Coral woman lost count of how many times she called code enforcement for the house across the street. Neighbors say one house on southeast 34th Terrace in Cape Coral has been in shambles for the past ten years.
"It's an eyesore, eyesore, eyesore," said Nancy Lunsford, who has lived on the block since 2004.
"We saw it go from a beautiful home but after [Hurricane] Charlie it's in shambles. The roof came off, the water came in, and it was destroyed inside," said Lunsford.
She keeps a timeline in order to keep city code enforcement informed of what's been going on.
But when the city comes and checks on the property, they are limited in what they can do.
If there is a violation they can issue a notice of violation, but if the violation is fixed, the clock starts all over again.
"I think things have to be forced a little bit, pushed a little bit on people to get things done," she said.
The current property owner, Anna Collins, agrees with Nancy. Collins bought the property one year ago and seeing it in ruins eats away at her.
"I painted the exterior of the house and when I got stopped by code enforcement saying I couldn't do anything else," said Collins.
She says she needs cooperation from the city to fix it up.
"I want to finish and if I don't have a permit, I'm not allowed to work. I'm just following the law," she said, after submitting the permit back in January.
She is just waiting for the green light.
"Stamp the permit and let me go, let me finish the property after ten years, I think it's just about time," said Collins.
