Lafayette House, Abandoned and Forlorn, Angers the Neighbors

They crop up every once in awhile, old homes abandoned by owners underwater financially or dead and buried – and their gradual rot and deterioration becomes a thorn in the side of the neighborhoods they inhabit.

Moraga fought the owner of one such home on Calle Montana, and now Lafayette residents living on Ruth Court on the east end of town want something done about the inadvertent lean-to structure in their midst.

They describe the sagging, creaking structure as a "toxic waste dump" filled waist-deep with trash and animal feces and one, Kevin Cornish, told the Lamorinda Weekly he would like to see it demolished.

Lafayette city officials say their hands are tied as the fate of the 1,624-square-foot residence, built in 1950, will be decided by a judge in a receivership action brought by the city.