S
Slipshod
Guest
What is the name of your state? PA
Tell me if I am crazy or if I may have a case here. I really don't want to pursue it but I am being threatened with a lawsuit myself and would like to have something to deter them with.
Background - I moved into a 35 year old house on 1.6 acres in April of 2003 in a nice neighborhood. My house was $120,000, it needs a few updates, but overall it's a very nice house. General house prices in neighborhood seem to range from $100K to $250K+. There is a yearly neighborhood picnic and most everyone we have met has been pleasant.
I just received an "anonymous" (I think I know who it is though) letter from one of my neighbors that apparently has been sent to everyone in our neighborhood. (envelope says 2 of 18)
This letter states that they had their house and property appraised because they may soon have to "turn their home into cash". The value seemed low to them.
They state they were penalized by MY property. They say the appraiser described our property as a "blighted property and house" and that "the indicators were in place to predict that the entire neighborhood was now succeptible to blight" for the following reasons: (my responses follow the **)
1. One blighted residence invites other like minded people to move in.
** - I take this as a PERSONAL insult as it is clear that they are talking about ME and not my property with the term "like minded people". The misuse of the term "Blight" is particulary offensive.
2. There is a perpetual garage sale in your neighborhood.
** - We DID have probably 6 garage sales over the summer to get rid of a lot of items dug up through the move. A lot, I agree, but hardly defined as perpetual. Noone asked us to not have them and we broke no local laws. Also, how would an appraiser know how many garage sales we had?
3. snow fence erected to keep leaves and debris out of neighboring property.
** - This fence was not erected by me but by my neighbor who told me that they were considering doing it when we were talking during the summer saying that every year, the whole neighborhoods leaves seemed to blow into his yard. I said sure, no problem. It is not on my land. Also, not erected until at least a month and a half after the last garage sale. Did the appraisal take place over 6 months time? Seems unlikely to me.
4. complaints made to township officials (4)
** - I have never been notified of any complaints against me or about me. I have no idea what they are talking about here.
5. vehicle (old boat) placed in yard (front).
** - The "old boat" has a brand new ($6,000.00) motor, a brand new ($1,500.00) cover, it looks nice and is registered and in operating condition in complete accord with local regulations on boat storage. Also not moved onto property until at least a month and a half after last garage sale making this list more suspicious in the claim that an appraiser actually listed all of these things.
6. toys strewn about property and neighboring wooded area.
** - My yard is HUGE. I have a 3 year old boy and YES... sometimes some of his toys are left in the (MY) yard. Nothing more than some balls and his little wiffle ball bat tee. The "neighboring wooded area" claim is just plain false. Even if it wasn't, it is part of my land.
7. summer furniture on porch in fall and winter.
** - I have 550 sq ft of porch in the back of my house. I have a picnic table and a loveseat/swing on my porch. These came with the house and sat out there for YEARS before I moved in. (we are friends with the previous owner) Another baseless charge.
8. garage door remains open revealing cluttered and unsightly garage.
** - a) our garage door has probably been open an average of 5 hours a week going back to April. b) Our basement has flooded FOUR times since we moved in, forcing us to keep things in the garage until we are sure we have the problem fixed. (which I think we have)
9. yard often contains litter
** - I would need this to be explained to me in more detail. I could go take a picture of my yard right now and have them try to find "litter".
The letter continues:
"We asked the appraiser what we could do - she said there are a few remedies available to us. It's time to gather and compare ideas. If this mess cost us $20,000.00, what will it cost each of us in the future? I am tempted to sell my house at a discount and then sue for the difference. The appraiser has seen this done, successfully: the problem is that we are not ready to sell just yet. I feel that if we don't stop this blight, we will see a trailor moved in next of maybe some junk cars."
** - (I left the poor punctuation and nearly incoherent last sentance intact from the letter)
The letter continues:
"I think we had better have a meeting, or go to the township meeting and ask for this to be stopped---- dress up because we will be on TV. January 1, 2004"
**- local meetings are on public TV.
- end of letter -
Now... I plan to write a "rebuttal" (that will look similar to my responses here) and distribute it to my neighbors.
This seems to me as if it could be Libel since they are trying to get the whole neighborhood against us. This has caused a lot of emotional stress for my wife and 15 year old daughter as well.
Am I right?
Also, while I don't think they have a chance in heck of winning a lawsuit against me for lowering their property values (especially based on that list) I wanted to see what people here think of their chances with such a suit.
Thank you very much for your time.
Tell me if I am crazy or if I may have a case here. I really don't want to pursue it but I am being threatened with a lawsuit myself and would like to have something to deter them with.
Background - I moved into a 35 year old house on 1.6 acres in April of 2003 in a nice neighborhood. My house was $120,000, it needs a few updates, but overall it's a very nice house. General house prices in neighborhood seem to range from $100K to $250K+. There is a yearly neighborhood picnic and most everyone we have met has been pleasant.
I just received an "anonymous" (I think I know who it is though) letter from one of my neighbors that apparently has been sent to everyone in our neighborhood. (envelope says 2 of 18)
This letter states that they had their house and property appraised because they may soon have to "turn their home into cash". The value seemed low to them.
They state they were penalized by MY property. They say the appraiser described our property as a "blighted property and house" and that "the indicators were in place to predict that the entire neighborhood was now succeptible to blight" for the following reasons: (my responses follow the **)
1. One blighted residence invites other like minded people to move in.
** - I take this as a PERSONAL insult as it is clear that they are talking about ME and not my property with the term "like minded people". The misuse of the term "Blight" is particulary offensive.
2. There is a perpetual garage sale in your neighborhood.
** - We DID have probably 6 garage sales over the summer to get rid of a lot of items dug up through the move. A lot, I agree, but hardly defined as perpetual. Noone asked us to not have them and we broke no local laws. Also, how would an appraiser know how many garage sales we had?
3. snow fence erected to keep leaves and debris out of neighboring property.
** - This fence was not erected by me but by my neighbor who told me that they were considering doing it when we were talking during the summer saying that every year, the whole neighborhoods leaves seemed to blow into his yard. I said sure, no problem. It is not on my land. Also, not erected until at least a month and a half after the last garage sale. Did the appraisal take place over 6 months time? Seems unlikely to me.
4. complaints made to township officials (4)
** - I have never been notified of any complaints against me or about me. I have no idea what they are talking about here.
5. vehicle (old boat) placed in yard (front).
** - The "old boat" has a brand new ($6,000.00) motor, a brand new ($1,500.00) cover, it looks nice and is registered and in operating condition in complete accord with local regulations on boat storage. Also not moved onto property until at least a month and a half after last garage sale making this list more suspicious in the claim that an appraiser actually listed all of these things.
6. toys strewn about property and neighboring wooded area.
** - My yard is HUGE. I have a 3 year old boy and YES... sometimes some of his toys are left in the (MY) yard. Nothing more than some balls and his little wiffle ball bat tee. The "neighboring wooded area" claim is just plain false. Even if it wasn't, it is part of my land.
7. summer furniture on porch in fall and winter.
** - I have 550 sq ft of porch in the back of my house. I have a picnic table and a loveseat/swing on my porch. These came with the house and sat out there for YEARS before I moved in. (we are friends with the previous owner) Another baseless charge.
8. garage door remains open revealing cluttered and unsightly garage.
** - a) our garage door has probably been open an average of 5 hours a week going back to April. b) Our basement has flooded FOUR times since we moved in, forcing us to keep things in the garage until we are sure we have the problem fixed. (which I think we have)
9. yard often contains litter
** - I would need this to be explained to me in more detail. I could go take a picture of my yard right now and have them try to find "litter".
The letter continues:
"We asked the appraiser what we could do - she said there are a few remedies available to us. It's time to gather and compare ideas. If this mess cost us $20,000.00, what will it cost each of us in the future? I am tempted to sell my house at a discount and then sue for the difference. The appraiser has seen this done, successfully: the problem is that we are not ready to sell just yet. I feel that if we don't stop this blight, we will see a trailor moved in next of maybe some junk cars."
** - (I left the poor punctuation and nearly incoherent last sentance intact from the letter)
The letter continues:
"I think we had better have a meeting, or go to the township meeting and ask for this to be stopped---- dress up because we will be on TV. January 1, 2004"
**- local meetings are on public TV.
- end of letter -
Now... I plan to write a "rebuttal" (that will look similar to my responses here) and distribute it to my neighbors.
This seems to me as if it could be Libel since they are trying to get the whole neighborhood against us. This has caused a lot of emotional stress for my wife and 15 year old daughter as well.
Am I right?
Also, while I don't think they have a chance in heck of winning a lawsuit against me for lowering their property values (especially based on that list) I wanted to see what people here think of their chances with such a suit.
Thank you very much for your time.