City, state investigates alleged car lot on Tulsa home's front lawn

In a quiet neighborhood of homes just south of Tulsa International Airport, neighbors told 2 News us they often see cars, trucks and vans with for sale signs on the front lawn, in the driveway and along the curb of one house in the 7800 block of Marshall Street North.

It's been going on for quite a while, according to Scott Sickler, "Over two years."

Sickler contacted the Problem Solvers when he felt his complaint didn't get attention from Tulsa's Code Enforcement office. "I waited to see if anything would happen or if anything would change down where the house is located, and it never did."

A check of Tulsa's Code Enforcement website shows it received complaints in 2023 and 2024 about a used car lot operating on a property zoned as residential on East Marshall Street North.

As the Problem Solvers drove up to the house on July 31,crews saw Jose Cante moving cars off the property.

When asked if he sold cars Cante said, "Oh no, I'm a mechanic."

He claimed he sometimes brings cars home to work on them.

When 2 News arrived one vehicle had a for-sale sign. A photo taken by neighbors later that day showed several of the same cars on the lawn with price tags.

Brant Pitchford with Tulsa's Code Enforcement Office sent an email saying:

Case was posted on 5/23/23 for running a business out of a residentially zoned property. The compliance date was 6/7/23. 6/7/23 the inspection notes show that there were no violations present.

This happens a lot with zoning type issues. We post a notice, and they comply with the notice. If the violations return after our last inspection, we must rely on the neighbors to report that case again.

Unfortunately, this is can be a daunting cycle, but now that we have a repeated violation of the same nature we will not close the case immediately, we will monitor for a short period of time after the compliance date with one or two more inspections to ensure the violations doesn’t start back up.

This cycle can sometimes take a few cycles for owner or landlord to understand that we are not going to stop responding to complaints.

We also checked with the Oklahoma Used Motor Vehicle, Dismantler, and Manufactured Housing Commission.

We are aware of the situation and I’m not at liberty to discuss any information about the case at this time.

As far as dealer requirements, if an individual purchases a vehicle with the intent to make a profit they are operating as a dealer and would need to be licensed with the “Oklahoma Used Motor Vehicle Dismantlers and Manufactured Housing Commission”, and all licensing requirements would have to be met prior to license approval, all of our dealers must comply with all local zoning laws.

Thanks, Doug Tessier – Investigator, OUMVDMHC

By mid-afternoon July 31, when 2 News returned to the area all the cars were gone.

More Problem Solver stories

• City, state investigates alleged car lot on Tulsa home's front lawn

  Cathy Tatom

• PRIORITY 3: Tulsa Code Enforcement backlog tops 2k cases

  Cathy Tatom

• Endless telemarketer calls causing endless frustration

  Cathy Tatom

• 'It's not 'yay' now,' | Sapulpa woman loses $100 in scam, warns others

  Cathy Tatom

Contact the Problem Solvers:

• 918-748-1502
• problemsolvers@kjrh.com

Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --

• Download our free app for Apple , Android and Kindle devices.
• Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
• Like us on Facebook
• Follow us on Instagram
• Follow us on Twitter