Fair Lawn man fined $21,600 for property maintenance violations

Mitsu Yasukawa/ Staff Photographer

Lee Albert stand in the doorway of his Fair Lawn home.

FAIR LAWN A Hartley Place resident who for years has been fighting the borough on tens of thousands of dollars in property maintenance violations was hit with his latest set of fines Wednesday: $21,600.

The grey house, which has cracked steps to its front door and scrubbed out red graffiti outside, also could have a potential buyer. For years Lee Albert, 65, has wanted to rid himself of the home and move out of the country, but has been held back by the legal issues surrounding the site. Some nearby neighbors also have been unhappy with the state of his property over the years.

Albert pleaded guilty Wednesday in Fair Lawn Municipal Court to all 18 pending violations he received over a six-day period in June. The violations are for blighted property, failure to cut weeds and grass, and excessive debris and rubbish on the property.

The fines comes out to $1,200 per violation, though the maximum possible fine per summons is $2,000, Fair Lawn Municipal Court Judge Steven C. Schechter said.

Municipal Prosecutor Marc Ramundo said Schechter found Albert guilty this summer of a similar set of violations dating from 2013, and he was fined the maximum amount per charge totaling about $30,000. Those fines remain unpaid. The tickets issued over the summer were for the same issues at the site, as Albert failed to fix his property, Ramundo said.

These were just the reissuance of the same summonses, Ramundo said. He added that it would be exhaustive to go to trial all over again.

Albert told the judge he was unable to take care of his property or hire an outside company to do so because he has been ill and traveling to Thailand for medical treatment over the summer.

I wasnt well enough to be here and take care of the property, said Albert, who also did not attend that first trial.

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Fair Lawn man fined $21,600 for property maintenance violations