Communities’ Lawsuit Seeks $8M for Property Negligence

The Hampden based Community Law Center announced six communities it represents have filed an $8 million lawsuit against a property owner, who resides in Texas, for keeping 57 properties in a continual state of disrepair.

The lawsuit accuses Scott Wizig, who owns the homes through various LLCs, of owning "deteriorating and unsafe" structures and violating the Community Bill of Rights, according to a news release.

"The lawsuit challenges the practice of purchasing vacant properties at tax sales and leaving them for dead with unaddressed city code violations," Community Law Center Executive Director Kristine Dunkerton said in a news release. "If you own a property, you cannot allow your property to be a nuisance to the neighborhood, much less dozens and dozens of properties across multiple neighborhoods."

Coldstream-Homestead-Montebellow Community Corporation; Alliance of Rosemont Community Organizations, Inc.; Mount Clare Community Council Inc., Carrollton Ridge Community Association, Inc.; Operation ReachOut SouthWest, Inc.; and Greater Greenmount Community Associations are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Calls to Scott Wizig Enterprises were not returned.

The company’s blog describes Wizig as "Texas’ largest provider of owner financing for homes, condos, townhomes, land and commercial properties."

In a 2004 Houston Press article, residents in Buffalo accused Scott Wiznig Enterprises of purchasing homes in the city’s most blighted neighborhoods and then selling the homes in bad condition through a rent-to-own swindle.