World War 3 is about to start with our next door neighbor ***PICS*** ***UPDATE***
All of the houses on my block are sinking. Our house is and our next door neighbor's house is....the houses were built in 1890. It's expected.
Well apparently the neighbors have saved enough of their money (cause I know it costs about 20k) to get theirs repaired. The work started Monday. Problem is, their house pretty much ends at their property line, where ours starts, so where are they doing all the work? In OUR yard. We basically don't have a yard any more.
First when they dug everything up, there were HUGE mounds of concrete and dirt all over our yard. Then they brought in the dump truck and "shoveled" the mounds into the trucks and hauled them away. Which all that did was ground the mud into our lawn and then when they "shoveled" it all they dug up all our grass with it. Now today they brought in the cement truck and now theres piles of wet cement all over our yard. I'm sooooooo pissed.
Can they even do that???? The neighbors claim that it's going to be fixed, but we have no grass left. We know they aren't going to lay sod to replace the grass so, what? They're going to lay down grass seed?? In NOVEMBER?? Right. Cause grass will grow in Ohio in December....I don't even know what to do about it....
This was Monday when they first started....
Also Monday above....right where the head of that excavator is, is our brand new $2000 deck that we built this summer....
ALL of this is OUR yard!!
This is the hole of their basement where they just poured concrete....that hole extend is on our property too
And this disaster goes all the way to the front yard too. Our entire yard is destroyed.
We don't even know what to do!! Should we call the police and tell them they're destroying our property????
****UPDATE****
So a lot has transpired since I last wrote....starting with getting a letter in the mail yesterday because "someone" complained about our deck....Because we didn't get a building permit to build it and because I guess it's supposed to be 5' from the property line. You can see in the pics that it's obviously not. (We didn't think we had to worry about the permit because we thought that applied to permanent structures. We didn't dig when we built our deck, it's not permanent. ANYWAYS, we were in the wrong and we ARE moving our deck. My fiance went up and talked to the city (found out the neighbors DID pull a permit) who told him that apparently our deck is the "talk of the town" and it was def my next door neighbor who complained. Because it cost him an extra grand to get his house worked on because they had to work in "confined spaces". So that let us know that he's pissed and doesn't want to play nice...And complaining to the entire city....(It's allllll about who you know and this guy knows a LOT of people)
I also called the homeowner's insurance....they noted it in our "file" and said that we pretty much have to wait until they don't fix it before anything can be done...I also called the police station just to see what they thought. She sent an officer out to my house...we talked to him for over an hour. (Thank God it was one of my favorite cops). Anyways, all he really said was the same thing as the ins. co.. We have to wait until they don't fix it first. And even at that, it's pretty much a civil matter, not a criminal matter. Yes, they were trespassing, but I don't have "no trespassing" signs in my yard and it's all open property. And we gave them permission to come onto our property. We just didn't give them permission to destroy it.
And while we don't want this equipment on our property, it's kinda too late. I can make them stop if I want, but all that's going to do is prolong the situation. Cause then they really won't fix it. And it will be a bigger eyesore for us, for longer. And it will leave them with a big gaping hole for all this time too. Until we sue them and go through all the crap. (Which takes FOREVER)
The officer's advice to us was to keep doing what we're doing, with taking pics and documenting everything. Maybe talk (kindly) to the contractor when we see him and let him know that we have clay tile sewer lines in our front yard and to please keep the machinery off the front lawn so our sewer lines don't collapse. And in that conversation, ask (again, kindly) what the plans are to repair all the damages. The officer said *most* contractors will not repair this stuff, that it will be up to the homeowner...but we'll see. So. We're just riding it out. Hopefully they will be considerate and repair everything....if not, we're going to court. And we don't need anything in writing from them either. What are they going to do? Deny the fact that they made that mess?? I have the pics. And if he denies the fact that he said he would repair everything, and that conversation never took place, well then we never gave them permission to enter our yard. Cause it was all the same conversation. He won't deny that because he'd be screwing himself. Because if we didn't give the permission to enter the yard THEN it's criminal.
Oh and he did also say that they do really need to have it roped off, marked off, SOMETHING. Because right now that huge hole in the ground, there is NOTHING letting people know it's there. It's another lawsuit waiting to happen. We've got waaay too many kids in the area...
I'll keep you posted. Happy Thanksgiving!
this is terrible, this is happening to a few houses across from us, and it is very pricey to fix! i feel for you all!
i would call and tell someone they are destroying your property, and you want them to pay to fix it
oh that sucks...if they mess it up then they MUST fix it. i would def get someone else involved though in case they try to get out of fixing it. not sure who to get involved tho...possibly the cops...maybe call and just chat with them and see what can be done. good luck i'd be pissed too
contact an attorney. Legally they are trespassing and causing destruction of property. They do have to pay for your property to be returned to its prior condition. According to how big a brouhaha you want to instigate you are also w/in your rights to call the police and have them issue a citation against the neighbors.
How do you expect them to fix their house? Are they really just supposed to let their house continue and sink and be destroyed just so you are not inconvenienced. The damage to your yard is temporary. What if you were the one fixing your house? Would you want them complaining about doing what you have to do?
continue to take pictures and if they dont fix it take them to small claims court
Oh, and I should add, that yes, they claim it's all going to be fixed but apparently they (the neighbors) had to have some work done and the city came in and also destroyed our yard. (I say apparently because my fiance and I weren't together when this happened). They promised to fix it all then too and didn't. My fiance was just screwed on that one. So. It's not very believable that this is going to be fixed as promised.
I am sure they don't have a permit for this. Call city hall and rat them out, and tell them the situation. There should be an inspector on site very quickly, and I *think* he can issue a 'cease and desist'. From there, I'd see a lawyer about recouping the costs of fixing your land, etc.
Good luck and peace,
Kat
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on Nov. 25, 2009 at 10:00 AM