The process of maintaining a zombie house can take years, and it often starts with a phone call from residents complaining about an issue they’ve spotted at an abandoned property – overgrown grass, broken windows, piles of trash. After that, it’s up to the town to track down the responsible party or address the problem. Often it’s a mix of the two, costing the town in both dollars and manpower.

Click through this interactive timeline to see real examples of how officials in the Town of Babylon addressed one zombie house and how much it cost. Note that although the town will front the cost of maintenance, officials add that cost to the property’s tax bill.

The first complaint on file for this house was May 8, 2007. This is a truncated version of the complaint log.