Garbage spews out the front and back doors, some windows are boarded up and others, not; the lawn goes uncut, the hedges, untrimmed.

Natasha Priest’s three-storey brick house on Springhurst Ave. shares a wall with a near-mirror image of itself — only its aging neighbour hasn’t been lived in for at least the decade since Priest and her husband, Sean MacMahon, moved in.

Upkeep of the vacant semi-detached Parkdale home has been a source of ongoing annoyance for those along the street, particularly those who are attached, in red brick, to it.

“We bought our home figuring it was a waiting game, they’d unload it,” said Priest. “It’s absolute frustration. As a homeowner, what can you do?”

Priest has called bylaw officers over the years about myriad concerns: rodents in the attic, debris outside, structural concerns, vagrants getting in, the smell.

“The place reeks to high heaven,” said Priest.

The final straw came on a recent Monday afternoon when she arrived home to find the doors of the offending twin wide open, garbage “vomited from the door” across the yard, a pagoda statue that had resided in her back yard now holding forth in the front.

Someone had broken into the vacant house.

Between Sunday evening when a neighbour noticed the front door of the vacant house open and Monday afternoon when Priest called police, the intruder rearranged Priest’s lawn ornamentation, tore out the bell box of her house, and, on the other side of the property line, cracked a pipe in the basement. The bowels of the vacant house were flooded, though the water didn’t creep over to Priest’s side of the wall.

“My main concern is that we’re putting money into construction and making improvements and if anything in that house damages (ours), I’ll lose my mind,” said Priest.

“I think the city can do better for people who live here. If we ever want to sell, we’re probably hindered a bit by this thing that we’re attached to.”

According to property records, the vacant house was transferred to Hans Krug in 1963 for $2. The Star was unable to reach Krug or those believed by neighbours to be family members.

Semi-detached houses line the streets of Toronto’s downtown. They fit on the city’s historically long, narrow lots and are cheaper. The average price for a semi-detached home in Toronto in April 2014 was $702,332, compared to $965,670 for a detached home.

But sharing a wall can raise a host of problems. In April, a semi-detached Victorian under renovation partially collapsed, rendering the neighbouring house unsafe. That drove about half a dozen tenants from their homes.

Mark Sraga, director of investigations at Toronto’s Municipal Licensing and Standards, said the property adjoined to Priest’s house has been the subject of complaints over the years, mostly concerning external property maintenance.

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“I wouldn’t say it’s been a problem address,” said Sraga. An inspection in August 2013 found the vacant home secured; investigators will follow up on complaints received after the recent break-in. He said the owner has complied with directions from city inspectors.

Bylaws require that vacant houses be maintained and secured, said Sraga. If officials detect an imminent risk — the danger of collapse, for example — the city can issue emergency orders demanding an owner take immediate action. If they fail to do so, the city can step in and do the work, later charging the property owner for it to cover expenses. But the department plans to propose bylaw changes that would allow the city to demolish abandoned, problem buildings, he said.

“Ultimately we have the authority to deal with immediate safety concerns. It’s the less severe conditions that cause most of the concerns for adjacent property owners, that takes a bit more time to deal with,” said Sraga.