PLACENTIA

City officials are preparing to seek court permission next week to demolish the rundown apartments at 219 S. Melrose Ave. The City Council voted last month to tear down the apartments, which had been declared a public nuisance in June after being the source of complaints from neighbors for more than a decade.

The property owners, Mangal and Ofelia Verma, were given until Sept. 24 to demolish the three-unit building before the city steps in to do the job. City Atty. Carol Tanenbaum said that if a judge grants the city permission to tear down the apartments, the city would hire a contractor, who would be paid through a lien on the property.