Who to Sue: the Neighbor, the Builder, or the County?

[megamooo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maryland

Hello,
We really need some advice. We purchased our new home in February 2008, in a neighborhood of 13 estate homes. The future owner next door to us is an attorney, and has been allowed to use his own builder in the construction of his home, due to the fact that he assisted our builder with another land transaction. The neighborhood's remaining 12 homes were built by the same reputable local builder. Throughout the last 6 months, we have voiced our ongoing complaint that the grading of this neighbor's yard would cause substantial water runoff/damage/erosion to our lot and driveway. (This guy has graded his yard 2 to 3 feet higher than our the height of our land bordering our driveway.) We have asked our builder's site superintendent, this owner, and even the county building inspector to do something to prevent a problem; minor grading revisions were made, yet we have been told over and over that his grading correctly corresponds with his approved county building plans.

Last week this guy installed an irrigation system and sod. Just as we feared, our driveway now has a constant heavy stream of water running down it. The area in front of our driveway is now filled with a large pool of water that never has time to evaporate. We have had enough of the diplomacy. We need to hire an attorney, as we feel our property value has and will continue to decrease as a direct result of this problem.

Our questions:
(1) What type of attorney should we hire?
(2) Would an attorney take our case on a contingency basis?
(3) Who should we sue: our builder who has allowed this to happen, the homeowner
causing the problem, or the county who approved the grading? (It is our
understanding that our builder's name currently remains on this land plat until
settlement.)


Thank you, thank you for all and any help that you might provide us. This guy wants to settle and move in by the end of this month, so we need to make a move quickly.

Laura

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maryland

Hello,
We really need some advice. We purchased our new home in February 2008, in a neighborhood of 13 estate homes. The future owner next door to us is an attorney, and has been allowed to use his own builder in the construction of his home, due to the fact that he assisted our builder with another land transaction. The neighborhood's remaining 12 homes were built by the same reputable local builder. Throughout the last 6 months, we have voiced our ongoing complaint that the grading of this neighbor's yard would cause substantial water runoff/damage/erosion to our lot and driveway. (This guy has graded his yard 2 to 3 feet higher than our the height of our land bordering our driveway.) We have asked our builder's site superintendent, this owner, and even the county building inspector to do something to prevent a problem; minor grading revisions were made, yet we have been told over and over that his grading correctly corresponds with his approved county building plans.

Last week this guy installed an irrigation system and sod. Just as we feared, our driveway now has a constant heavy stream of water running down it. The area in front of our driveway is now filled with a large pool of water that never has time to evaporate. We have had enough of the diplomacy. We need to hire an attorney, as we feel our property value has and will continue to decrease as a direct result of this problem.

Our questions:
(1) What type of attorney should we hire?


**A: real estate/construction.

#########
(2) Would an attorney take our case on a contingency basis?


**A: no


############
(3) Who should we sue: our builder who has allowed this to happen, the homeowner
causing the problem, or the county who approved the grading? (It is our
understanding that our builder's name currently remains on this land plat until
settlement.)

**A: did you contact the country to inpect and review the grading permit? Did you have a civil engineer inspect and provide a written report?

#############

Thank you, thank you for all and any help that you might provide us. This guy wants to settle and move in by the end of this month, so we need to make a move quickly.

Laura

**A: then move as fast as you can.

 

[megamooo]

We contacted the county inspector twice. The first time he forced the owner to have the grading modified; they put small swails in the front yard and back yard in an attempt to direct the water away from our house. The inspector did not force the owner to change the actual height and slope of the land. The second time the inspector brought the owner to our home, and insisted that the grading was in compliance with the approved drawings. He assured us that he knew what he was doing, and that he felt confident that we would not have any substantial water runoff or erosion. Nevertheless, that has turned out NOT to be the case.

Should we contact the inspector a third time? Should we even try and put our concerns in writing to the builder himself? Or should we go straight to a lawsuit?

Thanks so much!

 

[HomeGuru]

We contacted the county inspector twice. The first time he forced the owner to have the grading modified; they put small swails in the front yard and back yard in an attempt to direct the water away from our house. The inspector did not force the owner to change the actual height and slope of the land. The second time the inspector brought the owner to our home, and insisted that the grading was in compliance with the approved drawings. He assured us that he knew what he was doing, and that he felt confident that we would not have any substantial water runoff or erosion. Nevertheless, that has turned out NOT to be the case.

Should we contact the inspector a third time? Should we even try and put our concerns in writing to the builder himself? Or should we go straight to a lawsuit?

Thanks so much!

**A: hire an engineer and an attorney.