BRANDON, Fla. -- A neighborhood in Brandon says one woman lives inside a house with a year's worth of garbage and rarely comes out. Hillsborough County officials have been trying to get the woman to clean up for four years to no avail.
Homeowners along Green Juniper Lane generally take good care of their property - everyone except the woman at 2002 Green Juniper. It's overgrown with years' worth of vines and weeds. The pool in the backyard is filled with water that's darker and dirtier than any lake, and the stray cats living on the roof aren't the worst animals neighbors have seen.
"The buzzards sitting on her roof...there were five or six of them. Two of them had big rats in their mouths," recalls Yvonne Grassi. She and her husband, Armand, have lived across the street for 25 years, but the last year has been the worst of all.
Photo Gallery: Filthy house in Brandon
"She never comes out of the house," Armand says of his neighbor. "I've not seen trash taken out for, I don't know, a year?"
Armand believes she's piling the garbage up somewhere inside her 4-bedroom house. "She must be," he says.
Hillsborough County Code Enforcement officials have been to the house dozens of times since 2007. In that time, they've handed out $95,000 in fines and put several liens against the property. Yet, still, the woman does nothing.
"There's bugs. There's snakes, rats. It's just filthy," says Maria Rosado, who lives next door. She's tried to sell her house twice, but can't because of her neighbor.
"The neighbors were afraid she was dead inside the property because she hasn't come out for, like, weeks. Nobody had seen her," Maria remembers.
The woman wouldn't come to the door for 10 News either, and we couldn't see through the window because it was caked with algae and mold. That just increases the worry for the neighborhood.
"I called the Board of Health because it's getting to the point it is a health hazard with black mold all over the place," says Armand Grassi.
10 News discovered that, because of Florida law, Hillsborough County officials are limited with how much action they can take. After the fines and liens, the county can't do anything else because the woman still lives there - even if the house is so dirty it poses a health threat.
If you would like to contact your local legislator to take action at the state level, visit: http://www.flsenate.gov/senators/find.