Illegal rooming houses in Norwich

NORWICH, Conn. (WTNH) -- There's more than meets the eye with these Norwich homes. A single family, two bedroom home is what they're supposed to be but Firefighters responding to a medical call found multiple bedrooms illegally added on all floors.

"Obviously if there's a fire or an issue upstairs, then the person can't get out," Patrick McCormack of Uncas Health District said.

The Uncas Health District and building department were alerted to the code violations. Dangerous electrical hookups and makeshift walls divide the basement, main floor, and front entry ways into bedrooms, individually locked and rented.

There was also a bedroom in the garage. News 8 has been to these two houses before back in 2008 for a septic system problem and neighbor complaints brought officials there and in 2010 they were back again.

The owners faced fines then too. This time the health district is contacting the States Attorney's Office to see if they may also face criminal charges for their repeat offenses.

News 8's Tina Detelj asked McCormack, "Is there any way that you can make sure that they don't do it again. Can you do inspections every month or every year?"

"Well again, that's the source of frustration for us. We shouldn't have to continue to go back to the same property but again we're aware of it," McCormack said.

"I didn't see this before the casinos. Once the casinos came in, that's what we began to see," Stephen Haney of Norwich said.

Stephen Haney says these are not the only homes turned into rooming houses.

"Well a lot of times you see the Asians. They'll come in five or six at a time and the same number different ones will come out of the houses and it's very obvious what's going on there," Haney said.

The city is hoping people will report what they see. No one can move back in until all the illegal construction is torn down again.