An appeal to Bradford’s Board of Health on Tuesday kept a High Street property on the nuisance list, and led to an unusual discussion about responsibility and whether the city should intervene in real estate transactions.

The nuisance property was 92 High St., owned by Herve Auguste of East Lansdowne, who attended the appeal hearing by phone. The property was condemned in 2023, Auguste bought it in 2024 and in 2025, the Board of Health declared it a public nuisance.

Auguste said he’s put more than $40,000 into the house already, working on the foundation and interior.

“If you knew in the city that it can’t be used, why did you let me buy it?” he asked during the hearing. “I try to do this, they let me buy it then the problems start. Every time I go there I spend a lot of money and now look at where I’m at. Why work like that?”

A board member asked if Auguste had bought the property sight-unseen, or if he had been to Bradford to look at it himself. Auguste said he took the “five-hour trip” to look at the house before buying it.

“The city isn’t made aware before a sale is made,” said health director Brandon Plowman. “Anybody can purchase a property in the city without the city’s knowledge of the transfer.”

Solicitor Mark Hollenbeck added, for the record, that the city used to have regulations in place requiring a city inspection before sale, but that was ended well before Auguste purchased the High Street property.

Auguste said he had wanted to fix up the place and rent it out, but it’s become too difficult for him. Now he plans to sell it, he said.

“You can list it as-is,” said board member Tom Riel. “We’re not preventing you from selling it.”

He explained he had redone a significant amount on the inside of the home, and sent photos to the board to show the work. However, the board hadn’t received them. Some back-and-forth took place before Auguste agreed to text the pictures to Plowman’s phone. And then there was some confusion over whether the photos depicted work done at that specific house, as Plowman hadn’t been inside to inspect it since last fall.

When the city presented its case for code violations, they involved the exterior. Plowman said the siding is in poor condition on the entire structure, several of the windows were in poor condition and one was held in with spray foam. The soffit and fascia was peeling and wood trim on the rear of the structure was missing or deteriorating. He outlined “severe deterioration to a large section of the lower structural component” of the house, an overgrown tree, a large amount of rubbish and “what appears to be broken asbestos siding” in the yard. There was exposed electrical on the exterior of the house, a missing handrail and the lawn was overgrown, Plowman said.

Proper addressed Auguste. “The pictures you sent are only the interior. What we’re considering here this evening are the exterior. No matter how beautiful the interior looks, if there’s violations in (the exterior), the interior comes second. It appears while you’ve made significant progress on the inside, the exterior has shown no progress.”

Proper started to spell out the options moving forward, but board member Kris Goll made a motion to uphold the public nuisance order. It was seconded by Riel.

Before voting on it, Goll asked Auguste, “When was the last time you’d been in Bradford?” After thinking for a few moments, Auguste said more than four months.

Goll voted in favor of the motion, as did the remaining board members. Auguste asked what was next, and Proper explained the city would send him a formal notice within a week.