For the last 20 years, the house located at 6601 S.E. 25th Place has blipped on and off the city’s radar. The house sits unoccupied, but over the years the front lawn has been littered with broken appliances, tires, furniture and sometimes even cars. Neighbors have grown weary of the eyesore.

King County property records indicate that the house is owned by Allan Benyon of Seattle. He is only the second owner of the house, built in 1942, which was owned by his parents, both deceased.

Since 1999 there has been a clear pattern. After a flurry of complaints every year or so, the city works with the owner for several weeks, or even months to get the site cleaned up. Then the pattern repeats.

The sequence repeated this past summer after new complaints from neighbors and subsequent inquiries by the Reporter.

The file of paperwork is thick. Case reports, phone records and copies of vouchers for services go back to the late 1990s. Each time, a code enforcement officer from the city would work with the homeowner on the problem to varying degrees of success.

No one from the city has ever been inside the house to check on its condition or if anyone is living there. According to city attorney Katie Knight, the city has no basis to enter the home.

Despite clearly and repeatedly violating city codes, the homeowner has not been fined.

The first complaints to the city about the home came at the end of September 1999. Within just a few weeks, the debris was removed.

In late March 2002, the site again came under scrutiny with more debris in the front yard, this time with an abandoned car. Yet again, the cars and trash were eventually moved off the property and the yard was cleaned up.

As the years passed, the pattern was well established.

In April of 2011, a neighbor again complained to the city, this time in great detail.

The complaint said, “the property was littered with abandoned household/industrial items so as to constitute not only an extreme eyesore, but an extremely dangerous situation.”

It continued; “The owner/residents are clearly in violation of Chapter 8.24 of the city’s Municipal Code. There is an abandoned vehicle with expired tabs (Jul 05) that obviously has not been moved for many months; there are several abandoned refrigerators on the lot. There is at least one abandoned stove with oven door still attached … There is an abundance of debris that has been neatly stacked against the house (neatness notwithstanding, still a fire hazard, I would imagine). There are automobile tires that have been neatly stacked out in the open (great nest for vermin). In general, the condition of the lot is abysmal.”

Again, the city’s code enforcement officer talked with the owner, asking for it to be cleaned up. A month later the owner said he needed more time, until the end of the year. Finally, there were some results.

In June 2011, the code enforcement officer, Jimi Serfling, contacted the owner after yet another complaint was received.

Notes from a call on Sept. 26, 2011, show that Serfling and the owner talked about how to move forward.

“Owner stated he knows he has a problem with collecting things and recognizes that he needs to clean up the yard,” the case notes said.

Not long after, Serfling, who works part time for the city, met with the owner at the site. He told her he was looking for the title to the car so it could be moved. By early November, the car had been removed, but other debris remained.

Public documents received by the Reporter, shows that after a check on the house in December, 2011, there have been a dozen or more calls and site visits. There was some progress, but not enough.

“I’ve been personally working on it for a year,” Serfling said of the case. “I initially contacted the homeowner with a courtesy notice. He called back and we worked through the problem. He said he would be dealing with it.”

Yet, the city got another complaint in April 2012, saying, “It seems that what he is doing is making it worse. Uncovering things that were hidden in the past.”

The home is located on a narrow street on a hillside, a couple of blocks up from West Mercer Way. The view of the house is partially obscured by trees. Houses along the street are built closely together.

Serfling set a new compliance date for June 4, with the stipulation that by then no items should be in the yard. If it wasn’t taken care of, there would be enforcement actions. By the end of July, it was cleaned up .

One of the home’s neighbors, Anne Whitehead, who had complained to the city in the past, was glad it was finally cleaned up.

“He is a very nice man,”  said Whitehead of her neighbor in July after the clean-up was finished.

“I complement Jimi,” She continued. “She has worked diligently on this. She’s responsible for having finally gotten him to clean it up. I’ve been calling the city about this once a month for a long time, and its noticeably better. It’s just the front yard, but that’s what I was concerned about.”

The homeowner lives in Seattle, where there has been similar issues at the house where he lives in the Eastlake neighborhood. County records indicate that the 2200 s.f. house built in 1913, was also owned by his parents.

It too, has been the focus of numerous complaints about trash and debris in the yard and the alley behind the house. Similar to the City of Mercer Island, the City of Seattle has dealt with Benyon with varying degrees of success over the years.

In a site visit in 2007, a Seattle code officer counted 17 recycling containers, a large accumulation of wood, furniture, appliances, doors, containers and shovels in the rear yard.

A Seattle officer said that Benyon has faced fines in the past and has paid them.

After complaints in 2010, the city sent a $500 citation to the Benyon without a warning first.

City of Mercer Island code shows that  fines are typically $50 for the first day there is a violation; $75, the second day; and $100, a day after that.

The city has been reluctant to fine Benyon, offering him other kinds of help, such as vouchers for trips, to the King County solid waste transfer station.

City attorney Knight notes that situations like this are not solved easily or quickly.

Knight said, “Our goal is to get compliance rather than punish for non-compliance.”

Mary L. Grady contributed to this story.