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Mad as Hell....

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bsprtsgrp

Guest
What is the name of your state? Massachusetts

We have a situation with our neighbor. They live in a comprehensive permit development that abuts our property where there is specific zoning attached to the properties (36 houses). They were given a building permit for an addition to the existing home. The permit did not require a grading plan to be submitted with the structure details. When they excavated the lot for the addition they we suppose to truck the fill off site. What they did was re-grade the lot so that they now stand 4 feet over our new fence that we installed to create privacy based on what we saw from the addition plans. Because the lot is in a comprehensive development and that they are non-conforming lots, it requires a variance to change the lot dimensions.

Where the lots meet along the fence line is an easement on our property that we granted the town for street drainage through our property and into a catch basin. What has happened is that because of the severity of their grade change (42 inches) the runoff from their property is now being diverted onto our property and we now have a major erosion problem on our lot from the runoff within the easement. This is to the point now where the riser for one of the drain caps is totally exposed on one side where we have lost 4-5 feet of land for 15 to 20 feet. We notified the town that the pipe may be undermined and that they allowed this to happen by letting the neighbor illegally regrade the lot without a waiver from the comprehensive permit and and also by :mad: not taking into consideration the runoff that was engineered into the original site plans that were signed off on by the town.

We do not know what to do at this point. Sue the neighbor for property damage and/or the town for letting it happen. Could we ask for an extinguishment of the easement because it now has become a burden on us?
 


HomeGuru

Senior Member
bsprtsgrp said:
What is the name of your state? Massachusetts

We have a situation with our neighbor. They live in a comprehensive permit development that abuts our property where there is specific zoning attached to the properties (36 houses). They were given a building permit for an addition to the existing home. The permit did not require a grading plan to be submitted with the structure details. When they excavated the lot for the addition they we suppose to truck the fill off site. What they did was re-grade the lot so that they now stand 4 feet over our new fence that we installed to create privacy based on what we saw from the addition plans. Because the lot is in a comprehensive development and that they are non-conforming lots, it requires a variance to change the lot dimensions.

Where the lots meet along the fence line is an easement on our property that we granted the town for street drainage through our property and into a catch basin. What has happened is that because of the severity of their grade change (42 inches) the runoff from their property is now being diverted onto our property and we now have a major erosion problem on our lot from the runoff within the easement. This is to the point now where the riser for one of the drain caps is totally exposed on one side where we have lost 4-5 feet of land for 15 to 20 feet. We notified the town that the pipe may be undermined and that they allowed this to happen by letting the neighbor illegally regrade the lot without a waiver from the comprehensive permit and and also by :mad: not taking into consideration the runoff that was engineered into the original site plans that were signed off on by the town.

We do not know what to do at this point. Sue the neighbor for property damage and/or the town for letting it happen. Could we ask for an extinguishment of the easement because it now has become a burden on us?
**A: sue both.
 

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