What to do about messy neighbors? (Glen, Hope: condo, credit, buying a house)

[LItraveler]

Hi!
Do you have any information about what can be done about messy neighbors? We have a house in a middle-of-the-road neighborhood, and are thinking about putting it on the market. The neighbors next door do not take care of their property, it is overgorwn, and littered. There is also a large broken down RV in their driveway. Their house is old, and poorly maintained.

I am sure that the condition of this house will affect the selling price of mine. After all, when buying a house, you can always change/update your new house, but not a whole lot can be done bout neighbors...or is there?

Thank you in advance...

[mmdj43]

Originally Posted by LItraveler

Hi!
Do you have any information about what can be done about messy neighbors? We have a house in a middle-of-the-road neighborhood, and are thinking about putting it on the market. The neighbors next door do not take care of their property, it is overgorwn, and littered. There is also a large broken down RV in their driveway. Their house is old, and poorly maintained.

I am sure that the condition of this house will affect the selling price of mine. After all, when buying a house, you can always change/update your new house, but not a whole lot can be done bout neighbors...or is there?

Thank you in advance...

Call the town that you live in and explain the situation. There are some zoning laws that the town can enforce. I had the same exact situation. My next door neighbors, although they were nice, were very messy with old cars in the driveway, etc. We called the town and they came immediately. In our town, you are only allowed to have one unregistered vehicle in the driveway, my neighbor had 3 so he was forced to get rid of the other 2. Years ago someone complained to the town about the huge mess they had in their own backyard and the town came and gave them a fine. So there are certain things that the town can enforce. Good luck with it. When I sold my house, the buyers were willing to overlook that which they said they are planning to put up privacy fencing. After all, we overlooked it when we bought our house, so obviously someone else is willing to do the same. Hopefully you'll have the same situation.

[LongIsland]

Your local Village/Town/County Government (in that order) are your best recourse, but don't expect anything to change quickly. Depending on the neighbor, he can stall it for years.

[mmdj43]

Originally Posted by LongIsland

Your local Village/Town/County Government (in that order) are your best recourse, but don't expect anything to change quickly. Depending on the neighbor, he can stall it for years.

Actually, and surprisingly, our town sends representatives fairly quickly. And one of the neighbors on our block just told us that the other neighbor had received letters from the town requesting that they clean up the property. So I give them credit for their quick response, although I'm not sure how responsive the rest of the towns are.

[Glen NY]

I knocked on my neighbors door and politely requested that he clean up some very specific things. I tolerated it while I live next door to him but his mess was about to cost me thousands, maybe tens of thousands so I had to do it. It is a matter of dollars and cents. If he were reluctant I was prepared to offer him an incentive, if it became an issue I was also prepared to call the town. He was understanding and removed the rusty snowblower(mid summer) and a few other items.

[FIRE-GUY]

Originally Posted by Glen NY

I knocked on my neighbors door and politely requested that he clean up some very specific things. I tolerated it while I live next door to him but his mess was about to cost me thousands, maybe tens of thousands so I had to do it. It is a matter of dollars and cents. If he were reluctant I was prepared to offer him an incentive, if it became an issue I was also prepared to call the town. He was understanding and removed the rusty snowblower(mid summer) and a few other items.

Mr. Clean what about the old van and all the lawn mowers he had laying around??

[Glen NY]

He hid them in the yard just long enough for me to sell the house. LOL

[MrsC]

Thankfully your neighbor understood the situation. "Visual Pollution" is the standard upstate, crap everywhere in everyone's yard. It's a shame that these messy pack rats do not realize the investment they have, especially if they would clean up their refuse and buy a couple of cans of paint!

[condonhelp]

I live in a condo and a neighbor's patio is always messy. The board said there is nothing they can do. What can i do?Thanks in advance,condohelp

[CampingMom]

We had that same problem when we were selling our first place-the old RV even had a tree growing up through the middle of it at the neighbors house.Every fall he'd go around town getting everyone's bagged leaves and using them to insulate his foundation. Problem was-the wife worked for the town and was the town clerk. So no help there-most towns though will enforce it where needed.