My plan to go to jail real soon

[rdawson808]

Sorry, it's early and I have to share my frustration...

In the early summer of last year a crew showed up to work on the house next to ours (you know where this is going). They ripped the back wall off, gutted the remaining house, laid a new foundation for an extension, framed the extension, etc. More than a year later they are still here working. At 7am this morning with a circular saw running out back.

In the meantime they have

--reserved the two parking spots in front of our houses for the entire year+;
--left trash in our backyard;
--thrown their trash in our garbage cans;
--took down our fence (we're not actually sure if it's ours or theirs);
--ripped down one of our downspouts;
--landscaped such that our backyard could no longer drain rain water (this was finally fixed);
--punched two small holes in our bedroom wall that abuts their house (they are row-houses);
--built their house so that it is slightly on our (landlord's) property we think;
--delivered dry wall at 7am on a Saturday which was dropped inside their house right beside our bedroom, then left and did no work the rest of the day; and,
--this morning they MADE MY WIFE CRY when she asked them to please not work until 7:30 or 8.

So here is my plan: First I get some gasoline and a lighter to torch their house. Now, there's a significant risk here--we live in attached row-houses so any fire there could endanger my (rented) house--so I have to be careful. After the fire has run it's course, I take a recipricating saw and chew through all of the remaining framing. Once this is completed a sledgehammer and jackhammer takes out the foundation. When the guys show up the next morning to work, I take the sledgehammer to their trucks. Finally I'll slash their tires.

That should get me a good number of years in jail. Or I can do my best to sabotage their open-house (whenever the hell that will be) when they try to sell the house so that the offers, if any, are less than what they want (>$800K) and they lose all of their money.

Anyone have any better options? We have absolutely no legal recourse regarding the parking or noise. I tried to call the guy that owns the home at 7:15 this morning but of course his phone was turned off. So I could only leave him a message.


b

 

[AdamG]

The freedom to own your own private property comes with the responsibility to let other people do with their property what they wish.

 

[johnapril]

This is all too common and a shame. In an ideal world you could take a long vacation. I would avoid any direct confrontation but see if there isn't a noise ordinance in your city that you could ding them on. We have happy go lucky lawn services that show up at the crack of dawn, as well as psycho neighbors who love pets more than people. I feel your pain.

 

[horton]

There may be town or city ordinances concerning when they may begin work. However I doubt you'll get far with those unless the violations are extreme.

There are also nuisance laws (people are not free to do as they please with their property as suggested by prior post) but again I doubt you'll get far with these unless you're extremely upset and willing to spend $$$

I think the wisest course is perhaps to pursue more subtle means.

Is the owner of the other property also going to live there, or will they rent it out? If the former, you may try contacting them politely and ask if they can talk to their contractors.

You might also try and contact your landlord. LLs often know one another and your LL might ask the other to tone it down a bit.

 

[rdawson808]

The city allows dawn-to-dusk noise including contractors.

AdamG, I agree with you that the right to own property etc etc, but one must be a good neighbor and that's all I'm asking. Yesterday they left at 11:30 and never came back. Why then do they need to show up again at 7am? They could have done this work yesterday afternoon. At a minimum that table saw could be inside the house. That's only this one problem.

They have no consideration for us. They only care about the money they will make. In the case of the contractos that means doing the work they're paid for, for the home owner/investor that means doing the job at the lowest possible cost and getting the best return possible. But in the midst of all of this they impose a cost on us. They should be considerate enough to reasonably control that cost as well. But they don't. They are not good neighbors because they are not considerate of others. And that's not right and it makes me want to burn their house to the ground.


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[LA Guy]

I think that you are probably screwed on the noise violations, and if I am right in assuming that the spaces in front of your house are public parking, (and that they have no special permit for those spots), the only recourse you have there is to park your cars there through the night, so that they are screwed when they sho up in the morning. If they do have a special permit for those spots (pretty sure they can't actually get those,) then you're good and screwed there too.

However, if the house is built on your property (you can easily look this up at the City Hall) then I would just contact your landlord and kindly inform him of the situation. That would really stick it to them (of course, it will also probably prolong your agony, but no one ever said that revenge was without cost). Also, you should kindly tell your landlord about the damage caused to his property (e.g. the two holes drilled into your house.) I'm sure that he will appreciate it. Pretty sure that the contractors and the homeower would be held responsible for that.

You could also challenge the contractors to a fight, but imhe, academics, with few exceptions, usually come out of such fights the worse for the wear. I'd invest in at least six months on intensive Krav Mag, a serious, full contact jiujitsu, or boxing training (these will all build up your reflexes, conditioning, and pain resistance) if you decide to embark on this route.

 

[rdawson808]

Originally Posted by LA Guy

I think that you are probably screwed on the noise violations

Yeah, they are within their "rights," we just want them to be good neighbors.

Originally Posted by LA Guy

and if I am right in assuming that the spaces in front of your house are public parking, (and that they have no special permit for those spots), the only recourse you have there is to park your cars there through the night, so that they are screwed when they sho up in the morning.

Actually, you can go to the city and reserve the spots for special uses like parking a moving van or having contractors come to your house. You pay $10/day/spot. So they have reserved 2 spots for a year which sums to about $7500. The only thing we could do is go the police and try to reserve two spots ourselves, but we would have to have a valid reason--and have to hope that they give these two spots rather than the two in front of these two. And that would just be mean to our other neighbors and woulnd't hurt the jerkos at all.

Originally Posted by LA Guy

However, if the house is built on your property (you can easily look this up at the City Hall) then I would just contact your landlord and kindly inform him of the situation.

Already done that. We have informed both the owner and the property manager. The city inspector has been out to see all of the problems. Whether or not anything happens with it is another matter.

Originally Posted by LA Guy

You could also challenge the contractors to a fight, but imhe, academics, with few exceptions, usually come out of such fights the worse for the wear.

Hilarious. I would definitely take a beating there, if for no other reason than that there are 4 of them over there and it's only me. Any takers to help me out and challenge them to a rumble?

I'm banking on them just losing most of their money. The "silent investor" was by one day to look at the place and introduced himself. He was a nice guy and invited us in to see the place. Given all of the additional space they have designed it horribly. I mean, it's like they gave no thought to what people would want. A galley kitchen in a $800,000+ home? I don't think so. No real closet space to speak of? Crazy. Plus, the guy said outright that they were way overbudget. So I'm hoping that it all goes down the drain.

They've had the mortgage for 2 years almost (unfortunately the property only cost them $165,000). They have the construction costs and all that entail They want to sell for $820,000, so we have heard, but with the market here cooling pretty significantly, they'll never get it. The price they are asking will get you twice the space or water access here with another house.

Anyway, it is inconvenient at best, infuriating at worst, but there's nothing we can do in the end except hope they lose their money.

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[GQgeek]

And to think when I opened this thread that I half expected to you recant your position on affairs with students!

 

[johnapril]

Let them stew in their own juice. This is really typical of what I have seen with contractors who work on cheaper construction. Max profit, no quality. Worry, because you're probably living in something built with a similar work ethic and substandard materials.

If you ever want to chat with pros:

http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime

 

[marc237]

Make sure you meet all prospective buyers and tell them how glad you are that the renovations seem to have gotten rid of most of the odor. When you are asked "what odor?" Simply explain that the relatives did not find the bodies for days and days and what with all the blood, etc, the odor was just terrible. Might deter sales.

 

[Stax]

I would buy the biggest power amp I could afford, position my stereo speakers in an optimal location, cue up the Starland Vocal Band's Afternoon Delight and blast it on a continuous loop.

 

[johnapril]

Originally Posted by marc237

Make sure you meet all prospective buyers and tell them how glad you are that the renovations seem to have gotten rid of most of the odor. When you are asked "what odor?" Simply explain that the relatives did not find the bodies for days and days and what with all the blood, etc, the odor was just terrible. Might deter sales.

Law suit.

 

[Quirk]

Originally Posted by rdawson808

Hilarious. I would definitely take a beating there, if for no other reason than that there are 4 of them over there and it's only me. Any takers to help me out and challenge them to a rumble?

Right-O, Riff! Teach dem Sharks a lesson. But foist, we gotta have a war council. Doc's Candy Store. Midnight.

 

[marc237]

Originally Posted by johnapril

Law suit.

Sure, but I figured it was slightly less problemmatic than learning a martial art and starting a rumble or setting fire to the building.

 

[rdawson808]

Originally Posted by johnapril

Law suit.
But would it be grounds for suit if I told the truth? Such as how raccoons were living in the house before they started the rehab? Or the squirrels that were getting into our ceiling (and one must wonder about theirs)? Or how about how the framing sat for ages in the rain before the Tyvek was up and protected (is that a problem? I don't know, but it sounds bad to me.)? How about how the foundation had to be patched after some of it fell off the outside? edit: I forgot: there's also the kids down the block who always have friends over on Fri and Sat who then walk up and down the street in that drunk college-girl way (i.e. yelling, laughing really loudly, etc.). I think they will lose out just because of bad design. They have two little verandas one on top of the other. The top one overlooks a carpark the other is right beside it. Car grills will be at eye height if you sit in a chair there. There's a selling feature! b