The owner died. The house burned. The neighbor is fuming.

Kathi Carlyle is tired of waiting for someone to repair the burned out hulk of a house that looms over her backyard.

As the first year anniversary of the fire approaches, Carlyle said her pleas to the city to address a neighborhood nuisance have been ignored.

“It’s like a personal assault having this in my home,” said Carlyle, who has lived in her South Everett home for 17 years. “I’m a frustrated person.”

The story behind 823 S. Fruitland is a long and to Carlyle at least, drawn-out affair complicated by the death of the owner and a drawn-out probate. The current owner said she’s completing the legal steps to tear it down and will replace it with a new one this fall.

The trouble began Sept. 19, 2017, when wind drove fire from a neighboring yard into 823 S. Fruitland. No one was hurt but the early morning blaze left the one-and-a-half story house in shambles. Peeling paint and a jagged roof greet passers-by.

Carlyle said the first home was repaired. But she observed no significant effort to repair the more-damaged property in the months that followed. In March, six months after the fire, she complained to the city.

Evelyn Lusignan, the city’s spokeswoman, said the city is sympathetic but treads carefully around the rights of private property owners. City codes give property owners six months to address nuisance conditions before the city steps in.

The situation was complicated by the 2015 death of owner Ingvar “Swede” Sunford. His estate, including the house, were still in probate when the fire struck. A family spokeswoman said the original owner had limited resources for repairs.

The probate and two changes in ownership in July complicated code enforcement efforts.

The city held a hearing June 21 to address the sub-standard conditions. The estate entered a voluntary corrective agreement a few days later. The agreement set an Aug. 5 deadline to clean up the property.

Benton County property records indicate it transferred to Scott and Robert Sunford, on July 23 and to Johnnie Sunford of Richland three days later.

At Sunford’s request, the city extended the clean-up deadline to Sept. 17.

Johnnie Sunford is working diligently to remedy the situation, said Vicki Westphal, a Realtor at Windermere Group One / Tri-Cities who is representing her.

Sunford signed a real estate contract with a builder on July 31 and completed testing related to the demolition in August.. She secured a demolition permit Aug. 22.

Westphal said demolition will be complete by Sept. 16. Construction of a new home will begin the following day and should be complete in December.

“This is probably the best possible outcome for this property, and the neighborhood is going to benefit by having a brand-new home in place of a condemned property. The owners are doing everything that’s been asked of them to comply and will continue to do so,” Westphal wrote.

Lusignan acknowledged the situation is frustrating to neighbors but that the combination of a deceased owner, extended probate and fire are unusual. She said the city is chiefly interested in seeing the owner make reasonable progress..

For Carlyle, a year is too long to live with an unsightly nuisance that she calls a health hazard.

“I’m tired of breathing this stuff that comes out of that house,” she said.