Cayce house vacant for years has been deemed unlivable. Why won’t the city tear it down?

The 1950s red brick house on the corner of Prentiss and Orchard streets in Cayce has been empty for half a decade.

The windows are boarded, the door is sealed tight. A bright yellow placard declares “CONDEMNED. DANGER,” to passersby.

Cayce officials deemed the home unlivable in 2018, but the city has no plans to demolish the structure. Despite complaints from at least one neighbor who says the house is creating pest problems, officials say there’s little they can do.

There are vacant properties across the small town of Cayce in similar states. Why are they still standing?

The house

The house on the corner has been a topic of conversation for at least as long as Anna Percival has lived in the neighborhood, since 2017.

She expected something to happen to the house when the city became involved in 2018, but in her view, very little has been done to maintain the property. She’s had to deal with rat problems, and she watches feral cats laze on the home’s roof and porch. Percival said she’s spent roughly $7,000 on repairs to her own home caused by the pest problems she believes stem from the empty house.

“Every time I have a rat issue or any big bug problem, all the pest control companies, especially the one that I trust, tells me as long as that house is next door breeding rats and feral cats and mosquitoes and things of that nature, (I’m) going to continue to have issues,” Percival said.

She’d like to see the house demolished or repaired.

But Cayce officials say the house is already in compliance with city code and there’s nothing more they can do about it.

The Prentiss Street house could use a coat of paint. There’s some debris on the porch, and at least one window appears broken. But the structure is stable, explained Cayce building official Stuart Jones.

When code enforcement initially learned of the Prentiss Street house in 2018, they kicked off the same process used anytime a vacant home is discovered out of code in the city.

The property owner, in this case Ronald Capps, according to property records, was notified and given 60 days to bring the home back into compliance. In Cayce, there are three ways to do that: 1. Repair the house. 2. Secure the house. 3. Demolish the house.

Capps chose option two, according to Cayce officials. In addition to securing the property by boarding the doors and windows, the property owner maintains the yard to keep that in compliance as well.

“They can keep it that way in perpetuity, really,” Jones said, as long as it stays structurally sound.

Capps did not respond to a request for comment from The State.

Now that the home has been secured and doesn’t violate city code, the matter is out of the city’s hands, said Cayce city manager Tracy Hegler.

As for the pests, officials said the problem is one of jurisdiction.

“We live in a state that has very strong property rights,” said assistant city manager Michael Conley. “I can go to this guy and go, ‘Hey, you have a pest problem.’ He’s going to go, ‘So, it’s not your problem,’ and it’s not. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

The city can act on a pest problem when the house is occupied because there are clauses in state law that require certain health and safety standards for human habitation. But because the home is vacant and has already been deemed unlivable, the city doesn’t have the jurisdiction to investigate, officials agreed, adding that concerned neighbors should contact the homeowner directly.

Hegler added that there isn’t clear evidence that the vacant home is the source of the pests.

Percival has gotten this response as well, but she says she doesn’t know the homeowner and has never seen him.

“I feel like that’s something that the city should be taking care of. I don’t think I should even have to touch that issue,” Percival said.

The standard

The Prentiss Street house is not unique. It’s typical that when a vacant Cayce property falls out of code, property owners usually opt to secure the home, rather than repair or demolish it.

Officials couldn’t provide exact numbers Friday but said they typically only demolish one house a year, if that. Most of the time, the homeowner addresses the problem. The city did not readily have a list of those vacant homes Friday, but officials said they do keep track of them.

Jones, the building official, said he doesn’t believe vacant houses are a widespread problem in Cayce and doesn’t believe there are particularly blighted areas.

Houses that are left vacant are also still monitored by the city, and the homeowner will get notified if the property does fall out of code, Jones said.

There’s also a reason that demolition of vacant homes is so uncommon.

It will take a minimum of four months to get to the point where a problem property can be razed, Jones said, but often it takes much longer. The process can be slowed by homeowner appeals and ownership changes, among other red tape.

Sometimes the property owner will demolish the house themselves. If the city has to do it, it will issue a lien against the property, but there’s no guarantee the city will get that money back, Hegler said.

Hegler added there may be things the city can do to make the process more easily understood by residents. For example, the language on the sign affixed to the Prentiss Street property uses the word “condemned,” but the house isn’t actually condemned. By the city’s view, it’s vacant but in compliance, and it hasn’t been abandoned.

Jones added that if residents see a home in their neighborhood they believe is not in line with city code, they should contact Cayce code enforcement at 803-739-5361.