Neighbor troubles

[pitapa]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

I wanted to know if there were any cases where someone sued their neighbor for being a nuisance?

I have lived at my present address for 7 years. Almost from day one we have had nothing but trouble with my next door neighbors. We live in what most would consider a townhouse.

To sum it up over the last 7 years my family and I have lived next to people who have allowed their animals to use their floors as their litter box, they have had plumbing problems and have thrown bath water etc out the window,in the past have had a broken freezer sit for 4 months with food in it. ( we had asked them on several occasions if there could have been anything in their basement that could have been creating the horrific smell we were experiencing in our house.) we had checked ours on numerous occasions and could not locate the cause of the odor. We had an exterminator in and he felt it was coming from their house and finally the eldest child went downstairs and found that it was a freezer that had died.

We have witness knock down drag out fights between the children and we never wanted to be the neighbor that call the cops we thought we should just mind our own business. Well after all of this. Two of the boys had a fist fight that originated in the house and ended up outside and one shoving the other into my husbands car and creating a huge dent in the side of the car.

My husband did not personally see them go into the car but did see them fighting out in the middle of the street in the vicinity of his car. Of course they denied any wrong doing and unfortunately he did not notice the dent until 3 hours after the fight when he had gone to the store and was getting out of his car and notice the big dent.

Since this event took place they are trying to be as obnoxious as possible. They are fairly big people and they stomp and jump and make my entire house shake. It appears that they sit along side our common wall and bang the floor w/a hammer in the same spot for hours.

When we get company they stare down my visitors and make them feel unsafe and uncomforable.

I do not want to stoop to their level and play the same games, nor do I want to let them know that what they are doing is irritating us to no end.

I have considered calling the police, but by the time they would get here they would stop or they would see the police and stop and some of the other things seem to be hard to prove.

There have been reports to our local government about the condition of the outside of their property. They have tall grass in the summer time and junk cars that they store in the back of there house and have been told remove them and maintain their property only to have more tall grass and junk cars.

The back of there house has some much junk piled at the back door that you can't even see it and with all the complaints that have been made by my neighbors I feel that calling the police about my situation is only going to fall on deaf ears.

I would like to know if I can sue them or the owner of the property for the condition for which it is in as I think that is the only thing I will be able to prove.

We feel trapped, if we would try to sell our house now, we would not get our full potential with their property being in the condition it is in. But I don't know how much more of this I can stand either.

Please I need advise!!!!!!!!!

pitapa

 

[tcsmpsi]

If you are going to do anything, the first thing I would do, is start calling law enforcement as you feel necessary, and quit 'worrying' about what the neighbors think (or 'not' think, as the case may be) of it.

This will provide the best documented concerns. You MUST conduct yourself in your very best manner when working with law enforcement. Your neighbors will most likely be themselves.

If there is junk/garbage/etc as you mention, most all jurisdictions have an agent and/or department of Environmental concerns.

Explain articulately and to the point the problems you perceive to law enforcement. Don't be emotionally chaotic. If you give them a chance, they will most likely have relevant information to help you along (in your particular jurisdiction).

 

[danno6925]

Here's what I did...

I live in SE Pa, and had a similar problem once. You're dealing with the worst possible neighborhood nuisance - Human Trash. Here's how I dealt with mine:

There is often an ordinance as to how high your grass can get. Find out what that height is and buy yourself a ruler. The day it goes over the line: CALL THE COPS or the codes enforcement office. I had to use the township codes enforcement office, since my trashy neighbor used to monitor police band radio with a scanner (the scumbag was selling drugs out of his house). If they are in fact only renting the property, repeated violations of their lease can get them evitcted. Document as many violations as you can!!

There are noise ordinances in almost every township in PA. Read yours, and the second they violate it: CALL THE COPS.

If they seem to quiet down every time just as the cops get there, buy yourself a camcorder (as I had to) to record the times they are being loud, or any other activity they engage in that is troubling you. Make sure there's a dated time stamp in the corner to reflect when they are doing it.

If your walls shake easily, you can put up cheap, glass fronted photos and document when the idiot neighbors knock them off your walls with the camcorder! I taped the same photo falling off of the wall 13 times in a 24 hr period.
Above all else - CALL THE COPS. It's what they're there for.