SAN DIEGO — Despite a court order demanding that a hoarder's home be professionally cleaned, the property remains an eyesore in Ocean View Hills.
The home is located on Mariner Drive. In June 2024, two days before a judge was scheduled to visit the property, it suddenly caught fire. Cleanup has been at a standstill ever since.
According to court paperwork, the court-appointed receiver, Richardson Griswold, wants to move forward and sell the property. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday morning in civil court.
Neighbors tell CBS 8 that the homeowner, Lisa Golden, continues to unlawfully live at the home with her dog, even though the property was condemned. Out of fear for their safety, some declined to go on camera.
"She is squatting in the house," said neighbor Eddie Mead. "There is not anybody allowed in that property because it's condemned. I've reported it to the police several times, I've spoken to the City Attorney about it, I've supplied videos of her coming in and out of her front door, in and out of her side door."
The windows are all boarded up on the home.
Mead said Golden uses a generator for electricity.
Back in March, the city inspected the home and took photos. There were piles of garbage as high as four feet tall, boxes everywhere, clothes, rotting food, and dead rats. City inspectors couldn't even get inside some rooms because there was too much stuff in the way.
In May, the court-appointed receiver, Richardson Griswold, began cleaning up the home for the second time. It originally cleaned up the home in 2021.
However, after the fire in June, all the work that had been started was destroyed.
According to San Diego Fire-Rescue, the cause of the fire is undetermined. The damage is estimated at around $150,000.
A spokesperson for the department also released this:
"There were a number of accidental cause scenarios present (candles were one accidental cause present) at the scene, and there were also the circumstances of the occupant having issues with being forced to vacate the home by the city or county. The time of her enforced vacating of the dwelling and the fire occurrence were considered a "suspicious" coincidence."
She added, "It's not unusual for the investigators to be unable to determine the cause of a fire based on how it burned. Often, all of the evidence is destroyed."