Problem neighbor--how to be proactive?

I'm considering buying a particular plot of land to build a house in the country. The location is exactly what I wanted and the price is right. I already have friends and family in town. The situation is close to ideal.

But here's the problem: There's a particular retired neighbor who--instead of say, collecting stamps--decided long ago to take on harassment of neighbors as his full-time hobby. He's very smart and makes sure to stay within the law, but he has cost many people much time, money, and aggravation over the years. Occasionally he steps out of bounds, and in two of these cases restraining orders were awarded against him. He's cultivated a few neighbors as allies, but for the most part the sherrif, local government, and neighbors are all sick of this guy.

As luck would have it, his favorite type of harassment is to try and block people from building on their properties, and my building site would be within sight of his front door.

The good news is that I'm exactly the kind of guy who can avoid problems with neighbors. I intend to design a not-so-big house that fits the local historical style of building, I have a track record of working easily with planning departments and local government, and I don't keep lots of rusty vehicles on blocks on the front lawn. In short, reasonable people never get their knickers in a twist over the things I do.

The bad news is that, based on the information I've heard from multiple residents of this town, none of that will matter to this guy. He wants to cause problems. He attends all the county planning meetings and tries to stop any and all projects in his town. Trying to deal with him as a reasonable guy has been tried and doesn't work. Meanwhile, thousands of dollars in legal fees and construction delays are lost until the issues are resolved at the county government level or in court. The reason he has been such a successful nuisance in the past is because he knows the local laws well and has unlimited time--he's retired, remember--while the other party typically starts losing money on legal fees and construction delays the moment he becomes a problem. He has the advantage, and it costs him nothing.

So, I’m looking for a strategy. If he doesn’t bother me, I surely won’t bother him. But if he attempts to resume his pattern with me as his next target, I want to be aggressively proactive. So far, I figure the best way to fight a guy like this is to take away his primary advantage--the fact that his hobby costs him nothing--by slapping him with a lawsuit the second he attempts to block my project. If he has to show up to court with a lawyer, then the rules have changed and he's out of his comfort zone. And I’m hoping that I would be able to use his spectacularly long and varied history of neighbor abuse to my advantage.

Sorry this is so long-winded, but it’s a tricky situation. I'm in California. Any advice?

Writer, have your building plans follow applicable building and zoning codes and get your building permit. After that, the deer complaints with be baseless.

HomeGuru said:

Writer, have your building plans follow applicable building and zoning codes and get your building permit. After that, the deer complaints with be baseless.

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Building the house by the book is exactly the idea. However, I think you greatly underestimate the delays and costs that a determined individual can pile up on your project by protesting every last detail of a plan and working all the possible legal avenues. Even approved plans can be thrust back into the approval process again if a squeaky wheel is loud enough, which can result in delays of weeks or months. From your screen name I assume that you've built a house or two yourself, so you know how costly those delays can be--especially if you're paying two mortgages or rent and a mortgage during construction.

My concern is not that he will successfully block the building of the house. My concern is that he will tie things up long enough to cost me tens of thousands of dollars, as he has others.

This is why I'd like to have a way to counter his move that will make his little game much less appealing, preferably one that puts his finances at stake as mine already will be.

Any ideas?

fool4aclient said:

Building the house by the book is exactly the idea. However, I think you greatly underestimate the delays and costs that a determined individual can pile up on your project by protesting every last detail of a plan and working all the possible legal avenues. Even approved plans can be thrust back into the approval process again if a squeaky wheel is loud enough, which can result in delays of weeks or months. From your screen name I assume that you've built a house or two yourself, so you know how costly those delays can be--especially if you're paying two mortgages or rent and a mortgage during construction.

My concern is not that he will successfully block the building of the house. My concern is that he will tie things up long enough to cost me tens of thousands of dollars, as he has others.

This is why I'd like to have a way to counter his move that will make his little game much less appealing, preferably one that puts his finances at stake as mine already will be.

Any ideas?

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**A: oh brother.

HomeGuru said:

**A: oh brother.

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Other residents in the exact same situation have in fact lost thousands of dollars because of this guy. Local government staffers have quit their jobs because of this guy. Did I mention the two restraining orders that were awarded against him?

I'd welcome any actual legal insights you could bring to this matter. However, if I need condescension from a grumpy lawyer I'll drop by the local impotence support group and get it in person.

fool4aclient said:

Other residents in the exact same situation have in fact lost thousands of dollars because of this guy. Local government staffers have quit their jobs because of this guy. Did I mention the two restraining orders that were awarded against him?

I'd welcome any actual legal insights you could bring to this matter. However, if I need condescension from a grumpy lawyer I'll drop by the local impotence support group and get it in person.

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**A: hahaha, your user name fits to a T.

I'm sure there's a lawyer or two here with enough brain cells to maintain a quorum who could contribute some meaningful thoughts on this issue. So far the "free advice" is overpriced at best.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Listen, you have been told the parameter with which you can 'fight' this idiot. No one can tell you any different simply because we are not at your township meetings, we don't know the people on the planning commission or the zoning board, we don't have the time to come over and kick the crap out of your neighbor or anything else.

And short of denying him the same rights you expect, he has every right to do exactly what he is doing by showing up at those meetings.

So, if you want a magic pill that will stop him, try a 40-ott shotgun. Because that's it.

There are always solutions

WOW what is up with the grumpy people here huh??
Anyhoo I happen to have a little experience with people like this nut neighbor of yours. Geez does every town have one of these or what??
This is how I handled my town's resident retiree/village ogre: We had a small newspaper where you could post free editorials. So I did, and it was all about grumpy guy and how he terrorized his neighbors and even on occasion people who drove down his street. This guy was a NIGHTMARE!!! So, what the article did was keep his ass busy trying to check me out so that his neighbors had a little peace for a while. I can't even tell you how many free dinners this got me. If they could have named the town after me, they would have done it!! Basically, my article "called him out", I detailed how many times he went to court, how many people he sued, how many town meetings he hijacked, etc etc etc etc!!! And he couldn't even find out my address, couldn't find out a THING about me!! Wasn't so smart now, was he? So, in addition to keeping him busy, it also raised public awareness about his antics. People were just too scared to do anything about him and his BS. Most people are afraid of people like that. My article started the ball rolling, after that, other people finally got some cajones to do something about this guy, and people that had been afraid to say no to him in the past were finally doing so.
But if you aren't doing anything wrong, then you don't have to be, give him a taste of his own medicine. I don't think you have anything to worry about as far as $$ goes, as long as you have the proper permits yada yada, but someone needs to hit this guy where he lives. If I was there, I would do it, its my specialty. But if there is a local newspaper, or reporter or anyone else you can sic on this guy, that would be a good place to start, create a distraction for this miserable piece of dukey.

krispenstpeter said:

Listen, you have been told the parameter with which you can 'fight' this idiot. No one can tell you any different simply because we are not at your township meetings, we don't know the people on the planning commission or the zoning board, we don't have the time to come over and kick the crap out of your neighbor or anything else.

And short of denying him the same rights you expect, he has every right to do exactly what he is doing by showing up at those meetings.

So, if you want a magic pill that will stop him, try a 40-ott shotgun. Because that's it.

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Let me put it another way: McDonald's was successfully sued over too-hot coffee. If this guy wants to screw with me and try to drain my building funds while I attempt to build my primary residence, is there no legal basis for me to sue him, given his clear pattern of harassment? Is there a precedent for this sort of thing?

Positively said:

WOW what is up with the grumpy people here huh??
Anyhoo I happen to have a little experience with people like this nut neighbor of yours. Geez does every town have one of these or what??
This is how I handled my town's resident retiree/village ogre: We had a small newspaper where you could post free editorials. So I did, and it was all about grumpy guy and how he terrorized his neighbors and even on occasion people who drove down his street. This guy was a NIGHTMARE!!! So, what the article did was keep his ass busy trying to check me out so that his neighbors had a little peace for a while. I can't even tell you how many free dinners this got me. If they could have named the town after me, they would have done it!! Basically, my article "called him out", I detailed how many times he went to court, how many people he sued, how many town meetings he hijacked, etc etc etc etc!!! And he couldn't even find out my address, couldn't find out a THING about me!! Wasn't so smart now, was he? So, in addition to keeping him busy, it also raised public awareness about his antics. People were just too scared to do anything about him and his BS. Most people are afraid of people like that. My article started the ball rolling, after that, other people finally got some cajones to do something about this guy, and people that had been afraid to say no to him in the past were finally doing so.
But if you aren't doing anything wrong, then you don't have to be, give him a taste of his own medicine. I don't think you have anything to worry about as far as $$ goes, as long as you have the proper permits yada yada, but someone needs to hit this guy where he lives. If I was there, I would do it, its my specialty. But if there is a local newspaper, or reporter or anyone else you can sic on this guy, that would be a good place to start, create a distraction for this miserable piece of dukey.

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Yeah, I guess every town has at least one of these guys. I have no problem standing up to him, but I know that he understands how to work the system. I'm mostly evaluating options. Will a lawsuit work? A newspaper campaign like the one that worked for you? Toilet papering his house at random intervals and inviting the Hell's Angels over to his place for a party? I don't know. The shotgun solution is problematic in that being rented out for a pack of cigarettes in the big house doesn't fit nicely into the dream house scenario.

What I do know is that I want to understand what my options are going in. If a lawsuit won't be effective, then I'll take that option off the table. That's really all I'm trying to learn here.

You must realize that this entire thread is based on " what if's" since you have not bought the land yet and do not know for a fact what this neighbor may or may not do. You may be overly paranoid but if not, hey don't buy the land and look elsewhere.

HomeGuru said:

You must realize that this entire thread is based on " what if's" since you have not bought the land yet and do not know for a fact what this neighbor may or may not do. You may be overly paranoid but if not, hey don't buy the land and look elsewhere.

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Fair enough. On the other hand, this town is our first choice in the area and I'm not inclined to let one bad apple cross the place off our list. If I do buy the property--or any other property for that matter--I want to be proactive about any problems that might get thrown my way. There's a certain amount of improvisation that you always have to do, but I'm a big fan of planning ahead for any contingencies I can predict.

Anyway, thanks for all your comments. I'll probably book a consultation with a local lawyer and review the situation with him.

Good luck.