I have a home in my neighborhood that was recently purchased and turned into a rental unit. Prior to the purchase the home was very well kept. Now the yards a mess and garbage is often let out for days in the yard. What are the best ways to put pressure on the landlord to keep his property presentable?

Contact your city's code enforcement office. Get a copy of the property code and familiariaze yourself with it. Every time you see something that violates that code contact the code enforcement office and turn them in. You can even do so anonamously. This will result in the landlord getting a letter each time. If the violations aren't corrected the landlord will be charged for the city to come out at make the corrections (and the city charges many times what it would actually cost to mow or haul away trash, for example). Hopefully the landlord will get the hint if they keep getting enough notices.

You can also attempt to contact the landlord directly, but if they've already let it go downhill I doubt they'd suddenly jump into action just because the neighbors don't like it.

Karla in TX