925 5th St NW- vacant and charged

.. but not taxed at the vacant rate. Probably doesn't matter much since it is $132,827.64 in arrears. Last year the owner Anthony Cheng, also known as Tony Cheng, owed $97,326.43 for the 2013 tax year. The same amount was taxed to the property for 2012. Mr. Cheng may have been a little too preoccupied with his indictment to pay much attention to this vacant piece of Mount Vernon Triangle property.
This property came to this blog's attention back in 2008, when a reader submitted a question, commenting that Mr. Cheng had removed the roof. From the street, it is hard to see a roof. And yes, this is just around the corner from where there was a recent roof collapse, but the buildings are not connected.
There were two recent permits issued, which maybe the last one is a reason for a lower 2014 tax rate. The first one, B1214203 issued 9/26/2012 was for "paint,repair door remove plywood from windows". The second, B1305270 issued 3/29/2013 was to "Brace facade wall to secure, alteration and repair."
Recently Mr. Cheng and his son plead guilty to the bribery charges. There may be some jail time and fines. At the end of the year it should all be over an done with, and the Chengs can get back to paying the property tax and ignoring the property.

1417 5th St NW- occupied

Back in 2007 blogger DaddyFiveOh posted "Buy Me", a look at the shell that was 1417 5th St NW.  It had been one of many problem properties in the area, but now it is occupied.
According to the DC Tax website, the property was bought in November 2007, by someone who lists an address several doors down. In early 2007 the house was on the market, as a shell, and it appears that there was a complete renovation. Looking at the old photo taken by DaddyFiveOh, the job done to bring the house back looks amazing.

925 5th Street, NW

From the mail bag:

"Love your vacant property blog. I have a question about 925 5th Street NW. Tony Cheng (the owner of the property) has removed the roof (it had a tree growing out of it anyway). The back of the property is secured by plywood. Drug users and homeless are using the building by pulling off the plywood and/or climbing over the plywood. This is clearly a violation. The building is not secure and I'm not sure that you can have a vacant building without a roof. What do I need to do to get this property properly reported as a nuisance, condemned, fixed, etc..."