PONTIAC (AP) — After a lengthy property dispute with Holly Township, a couple has received a deed to a 10-acre parcel that was taken from them in 2009.
Timm and Maria Smith left Oakland County Circuit Court last Wednesday with the deed for the land foreclosed on eight years ago, the Detroit News reported.
The lot was foreclosed after Timm Smith, a carpenter, broke his back and suffered a stroke, and fell behind in mortgage payments. The township then cited the family for blight and safety ordinance violations.
“This is the first step, but we are relieved and excited,” Maria Smith said.
The Smiths and their two children have been living in an apartment since last year after being evicted in 2012 from their modified trailer in the lot adjacent to their original land.
“There’s no animosity here,” township supervisor George Kullis said. “But the house is currently not fit for occupancy, and the Smiths are responsible for bringing it all up to code before they can live there. That means electrical, plumbing mechanical inspections all must be done and passed.”
The township had offered to sell the property back to the family for $20,000, which the Smiths rejected. The family was about to attain the house for free because an appraiser determined it had no value due to no access to a public road. The property’s only access to a public road was a dirt two-track crossing the lot.
Because of the blight violation, Timm Smith said the family must make a decision on whether they should rehabilitate their former house or bulldoze it.
“We will have to see how bad it (the house) is,” Timm Smith said. “We haven’t been permitted on the property for some time and I don’t think the township has done anything but let it rot.”
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