An abandoned home in Devonshire poses a potential health threat to neighbours, The Royal Gazette has learned, but Government says it is powerless to act at the moment as the owner cannot be located.

The property - located off Sousa Estate Road - is piled high with garbage and assorted junk the owner collected before leaving the Island over two years ago.

Since then it has deteriorated to such a state that even Health inspectors cannot penetrate the property due to fears for their own safety.

"He was a complete scavenger," Health Department Pest Control Supervisor David Kendell said of the owner. "I don't think a day went by that the man didn't go to the dump and bring something back."

One neighbour told The Royal Gazette the junk in the yard includes an old boat and jet ski as well as assorted metal, dozens and dozens of tiles, machinery, industrial wire and blocks.

The material is stacked perilously high all around the house, Mr. Kendall added. "I'd be very concerned if a neighbourhood child got in and played around there," he said. "The way the stuff is stacked up; it could come down at any time."

And the property has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes adding more anguish for the neighbours.

"It is absolutely teeming with mosquitoes," one neighbour said, fresh on the heels of a Government warning this week that a mosquito which carries the West Nile Virus to human is established on the Island.

But under the guidelines of the Public Health Act, Mr. Kendell said the only relief Government can offer neighbours is to periodically access the property and empty what containers are collecting water.

"Even that is getting too dangerous for officers," he said.

Mr. Kendell said the last time he attended to the property, he had to cut through the house to check the back because the sides have become impassable.

Inside the home is also jam-packed with junk. "Of about eight rooms, only one can be accessed by a little path," Mr. Kendell said.

All of the materials inside and outside of the home are rapidly decaying as well.

For the moment, however, Mr. Kendell said his hands are tied. All efforts to contact owner Mr. Brady have been unsuccessful.

As the Health department cannot find the man, the department is unable to serve legal notice on the man "and do what is needed to abate the nuisance" - clean up the property.

"It is an administrative nightmare," Mr. Kendell said.

And if Government takes on the responsibility to clean up the property, he estimates it will cost up to $30,000 of public funds.

"Without being able to locate the owner, what recourse does Government have to recover these funds?" Mr. Kendell said.

If the Health Department succeeds in legally notifying Mr. Brady, they can begin court proceedings for permission to sell off any saleable materials around the home as they clean.

But Mr. Kendell doubts any of the material has monetary worth.

Works and Engineering has additional powers over derelict houses, he added, but the property in question is not quite considered derelict yet.

Mr. Kendell said the Health Department is working on the problem and, while he understands the frustrations and fears of the neighbours, for the moment little can be done.

But, Mr. Kendall said he recently received an address for Mr. Brady and will send a registered letter with legal notice to - hopefully - jump start progress.

If successful, Health will still need court approval to take action, which may take some time.

The matter is the most complicated Mr. Kendell has faced in the course of his career, he said: "It's a doozy."