Councils say the problem of derelict, unoccupied buildings in New Zealand is getting worse.
It means people in busy areas are being forced to live next to completely dilapidated houses with smashed windows and graffiti all over them, sometimes for decades.
And Local Government New Zealand is calling for a law change to allow councils to act.
One four-bedroom home smack-bang in the centre of a bustling Auckland suburb has sat empty for more than a decade.
For as long as 14-year-old Annalayla can remember, this has been her view.
"They asked me 'where did you live' and I would just be like 'near the creepy house' and they would know immediately," Annalayla said.
There have been 16 complaints to the council about one Te Atatu South home - with people concerned about rats and fire risk.
But it's not legal for the council to act.
"We don't have powers to just march on in, it has to be quite a serious issue for us to actually respond to," Auckland Council compliance manager Kerri Fergusson said.
It's only if the building could cause injury or death that councils can move in.
Action 'might' be possible if there's visible proof of a massive rat infestation - or major fire risk because of hoarded rubbish - but the bar is extremely high.
And councils are completely powerless if a building simply looks terrible.
The Building Act 2004, which allows for the serving of notices regarding the unsanitary nature of a property or if it is deemed structurally unsafe, says there are powers for the council to prohibit occupation and if necessary fence the property at the owners' expense.
The Health Act 1956 has powers when a building is considered to be offensive or likely to be injurious to health that allows the council to apply to court for an order for the property to be made safe. An order such as this can result in the council carrying out the work with the costs charged onto the land.
Newshub tried to contact the owner of the home to ask why it's sat like this for 12 years, but had no response.
Newshub believes the owner lives overseas and a search on the property's address revealed he also owns another house just down the road in another bustling street, which is also uninhabited and in a similar state of disrepair.
Further south in Whanganui, Mayor Hamish McDouall said absentee owners are responsible for the 10 percent of his city's CBD buildings that are derelict.
"Some people are simply using these buildings as some kind of financial finesse, some kind of tax exemption or tax rort, and they don't look after the buildings, and it's really demolition by neglect," he said.
So the council said they are constantly fixing awnings and facades at their own cost.
Local Christine Tancred wanted to buy an abandoned building to convert into accommodation. But she had to give up when the council couldn't find the owner.
"They don't know where they are - they go to rack and ruin - and there's nothing anybody can do about it," Tancred said.
Local Government New Zealand, which represents councils, said they desperately need more power to act.
"The problem is growing, there's no doubt about that," Local Government NZ president Stuart Crosby said.
"And at the moment, you know, we have our hands tied behind our backs."
It wants a law change, to define derelict buildings like Ireland has. Then owners could be forced to fix or sell, after a grace period.
"There could be a threshold of three years, five years, then action could be taken," Crosby said.
It's taking the demand to Government this month.
In the meantime, Annalayla hopes the house next door will be bowled and replaced before she leaves school.
And that she'll get some neighbours - instead of this.
