Poor Fairmount Avenue can’t catch a break: name a Richmond slumlord and dollars to donuts they own a vacant house on the once grand street. Richmond Slumlord Watch today outs Linilton Realty, owner of vacant properties on Fairmount Avenue and Whitcomb Street.

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Richmond Slumlord Watch reports that the City Auditor’s Office just released a report on their audit of the City’s Property Maintenance Code Enforcement Division (PDF) and says that “the results are not surprising, nor are they entirely encouraging”:

In light of issues that have been highlighted on this blog in the past (vacant City-owned property, vacant houses that are not included on the vacant property registry), the report is refreshingly candid, both acknowledging shortcomings in the department and offering practical recommendations for improvement.

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Richmond Slumlord Watch notes the demolition of 606-608 North 29th Street and offers a word of warning to owners of other derelict properties in the area…

Richmond Slumlord Watch does it again, this time shining the light on Eric Burrell, owner of vacant houses in Church Hill North and Union Hill…

Three companies, all managed by Stacy Martin of Hermitage Realty, own 15 vacant houses within 4 blocks of my house (including the 2 pictured above). These companies collectively have over 90 houses on the the city’s Vacant Property Registry, the vast majority of which are in the East End.

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Richmond Slumlord Watch does it again, this time bringing to light what they call The Goswami Scheme:

Ok, “scheme” might be giving the Goswamis too much credit. Basically, their business model seems to work like this:

Buy dilapidated house in North Church Hill.

Sit on house for a few years, let deteriorate further.

Try to sell house three years later for a four-to-five figure profit.

The new Richmond Slumlord Watch is quickly becoming a must-read by digging into the ownership of many of the more iconic vacant houses in the area. A recent post profiles Herman Massenburg’s 1980s disaster at 1300 North 29th Street, another looks at both Charles Parham’s crumbling vacants at 2117-2119 Cedar Street AND his McMansion out by Willow Oaks Country Club.

A new watchdog blog, the Richmond Slumlord Watch, has recently began publishing. In their most current post, they connect the dots on vacants in northside and Mechanicsville Turnpike owned by William J. Earley. Another post looks at the city’s Vacant Property Registry through the lens of vacant properties in Church Hill North.

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