EGLESTON SQ.—The owner of a vacant house at 25 Chilcott Place returned to housing court last week and proved he had secured the house.
The owner of the house, Jamaica Plain resident John Darling, was ordered to secure the property from invaders at a May 21 hearing.
“We also asked an inspector go by the property that morning to confirm that the property was secured,” said Inspectional Services Department spokesperson Lisa Timberlake.
Darling was also ordered at that hearing to secure the necessary permits for building code-required repairs by his next scheduled court date, June 29.
“If, after final inspection, the violation has been remedied, the case will be dismissed,” Timberlake added.
A Gazette phone call to Darling was not returned.
On May 20, police officers went to the house in response to a call reporting squatters. They found an unlocked front door and clothes and trash inside, according to a police report.
Photos provided to the Gazette by neighbor Michael Iceland also show a patio grill inside the house and metal spoons, candles and mirrors that could be drug paraphernalia.
Darling has previously been cited by ISD for improper trash storage and overgrown weeds, as the Gazette previously reported.
The property has been on the Problem Properties list since last year. The list is maintained by the Jamaica Plain Problem Properties Committee—an advisory group of police, ISD and residents that identifies private properties for city inspectors to investigate.