im probably going to start a war with this comment but ya know aint ya never heard live and let live. The guy has his property and as long as he isnt creating any kind of auto shop thre or drag racing these cars what do you care? he pays property taxes if he owns the place and hey as far as im concerned that gives him the right to park a couple of cars in his yard. I mean come on one mans junk is anothers treasure I dont know what you drive , except its a ford truck. Suppoused some of the neighbors got together and started in with pickup owners parking trucks in a residential neighborhood. (I have the same problem with a couple of idiots in my area, They live closer to me and they dont like the fact i have two passenger registered pickup trucks with ladder racks on em, which are dual purpose vehicles for my company and my recreation. Hes complained to the township and the cops came to my door telling me its illegal. I took photos of every commercial vehicle parked on a street overnight ( including vans with commercial lettering on them and passenger plates) and told the cops if they were going to bust my chops they had better bust everyones.. Since then ive been left alone)People do have a right to live and frankly if a person has a couple of cars on THEIR property what business is it of yours? In the grand scheme of things is it all that bad? Are there drug dealers there? are there kids there with loud radios and drag racing where your kids cross the street? Are the Hells Angles and 400 of their closest friends having orgies on the lawn??
My point, sir ,( and im not trying to start an argument or flame war with ya but this is my opinion which you did ask for and prolly differs from yours and several of the other posters here) is unless you do everything above and beyond the law ( is your grass within limits ? do you do any un-permited home improvements including trimming trees?, do you have all your vehicles parked in the right spot and properly documented at all times? do you NEVER make noise at night? do you or your kids never have parties or loud friends or radios?) people who live in glass houses should be the last to throw stones

as to the dogs there are chemicals you can buy that cause an unpleasant smell to them and wont hurt them that should stop the dogs from pooping on your grass

 

I thought all these vehicles are parked on the street ?

 

[QUOTE=amsnss]Hey all,

I have a neighbor who recently decided to park 4 cars at the bottom of his yard and store stuff in them. The cars are in plain view of my house and the road that runs by our houses.
snip
[QUOTE]

Million, That's not the way I read his post. Sounds like the cars are on the grass. BTW has the original poster come back recently?

 

As I mentioned before, everyone else in the neighborhood of about 10 homes abides by the rules and regulations set forth when the subdivision was developed. I do my part to keep my property in order. Grass mowed, trees trimmed, nothing stored outside in view of others, I do obtain proper permits for building/burning, etc.

The whole point of this post is, why have codes if there is no one to enforce them?

I feel that everyone in the neighborhood (with 1 exception) does a good job of policing themselves to make sure we have a nice neighborhood.

I do have a party at my home once or twice a year, but there is no loud music, no people running around the yard acting crazy or being loud. I don't keep any outside pets due to the simple fact that I have no way of controlling them since I don't have a fence. Everyone else in the neighborhood is the same (with 1 exception).

I've witnessed the gentleman step outside with his animals and watch them roam all over the subdivision to do their business and play, he constantly fights with his G/F (I understand this happens) outside where everyone can hear their yelling matches, he feels the need to drive like a maniac in an out of his driveway. The person that lives directly next to him has put rebar in the ground on his property line to keep the gentleman from driving through his yard.

IF this guy was the type of person to pretty much keep to himself, not let everyone else hear his business, and controlled his dogs, I wouldn't mind the cars. Everyone in the place knows his business, and I for one have enough business of my own to take care of. This gentleman parked his truck in my yard about 1 year ago (right after his moving in) behind my building. The next day, I receive a cop at my door asking if I know the gentleman and if it's my truck. Apparently, the truck was stolen and involved in a hit and run. The police towed the truck and the guy sat in jail for 6 months.

I normally would let everything go, but he has made his ignorance and disregard for others a problem for my family and others around us by letting his animals run wild and the cars and junk in his yard decrease the property value of my home that I try my best to keep up as well as those around us.

 

In your first post you mention "regulations for our subdivision". Those sound like homeowner's association type rules and may not be enforceable by the county or come under their jurisdiction. If this is the case then you and your neighbors will need to band together and create a HA to enforce the rules for your subdivision. Be careful though IMO homeowner's associations have the ability to run out of control of their original intent. Sometimes the demon you know can be better than the one you don't know.

 

Actually Howdy, these are as "NEAR" laws as anything else...

They have to be on file at the County Clerks, whatever you're legal entity is that controls property values, etc...

And that is why they need to be part of the disclosure at the closing on the property...

And,
Agree... not everyone is fine with what homeowner associations stand for...

But they are first and foremost (in the purerest sense) a way to keep the neighborhood "up" for JUST such things as this... and give property owners some recourse to stop an eyesore next to their million dollar home...

Or actually to stop ANYTHING coming into the lot next door that YOU wouldn't want in there... that's all...

while some may not agree with this and want to leave it as open range...
it is what it is...

 

"Nearly," a law is just a rule and I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with a HA. I'm just saying that when ever you enter into a contract such as this, it's not that enforceable. Not saying that it isn't enforceable, just that sometimes, even when you win, you lose. For example, look at landlord/ tenent laws. In a perfect world a non-paying tenent could be evicted in the timeframe stated in the contract. In the real world this rarely happens.

If I understand this situation right, there is an agreement in place. How come nothing has been done? Say the HA decides to go to court and ask a judge to enforce the contract. Then the HA can impose a fine, pay to have the cars cleaned up and bill the guy. That's great in a perfect world, but in this world how many thousands will it cost the HA in legal fees, to bill the guy a grand or so? And will he ever pay the bill? He would probably laugh at the judgement.

I think HA work great to give people peace of mind when they move into this type of neighborhood, but I'm too cheap to buy into one. I'd rather DIY this type of thing. I'm pretty tolerant of my neighbors and they are of me. From flood to windstorm, we've helped each other out.

If it was me in this situation, I'd go talk to the guy. At least to tell him to keep his dogs under control. If he made an effort, great. If he flipped me off, I'd go call his PO from my front lawn, waving at him the whole time.

 

It seems to me that amsness doesn't want this guy gone so much as he wants to get back at him as a grudge. Amsness could fence his yard to keep the guys dogs out, but doesnt want to.
The only ones who win in a law suit are the lawyers. Have you ever tried to take someone to court? It's expensive and worthless.

Just a few pay backs that work.

Call the local utility company, give his name and address tell them you want your power turned off and give a date. Tell them you sold the house. Give them a date when you know he will be gone for a couple of hot days.
Do this with the cable and water as well.

Buy 40 pounds of furtilizer and do his yard when he's gone. That will keep him buisy.

Call his house from a pay phone and ask for his girlfriend then hang up and call the police and report a domestic at his address.

Put a clown suit and some little kids underware in the trunk of his car. Again, call the police.

Now that I've got you thinking I'm sure you can come up with a few ideas of your own that will make you feel better. Don't pick on the dogs it's not thier falult they have a bad owner.

 

I've done some research into leash laws and such, being that I had a neighbor who relentlessly let their dog out to do it's business wherever it wanted, and still they kept an immaculate yard...

First, at best, dogs are a nuisance you should not have to put up with.

Second, they are as bad as loaded guns left out in the yard for the neighborhood kids to play with. In certain areas, that's taken further, in that just like when someone pulls a gun on you, you have a right to defend yourself, when a dog threatens you, you have a right to shoot first and ask questions later.

Third, I like dogs.

Somewhere between those two extremes lives most municipalities' leash law.

That being said, the dogs are huge problem, in and of themselves.

The cars, well, that's another matter. Here in Lindenhurst Village, it would be outrageous to have that happen. Any cars without plates, or plates visible enough to be checked if valid, the owner will be subject to a ticket for unregistered storage of a vehicle on residential property. And mind you, this is not a co-op, building association, housing association, condo, etc. It's just the "village" of LIndenhurst, within a certain area of the town itself. Most of Long Island is the same way, but here enforcement seems a little more vigorous...

I've had one (and still have another one, my '74 F250), and been fined $25 for it. Had to get rid of it too, before the ticket was settled. I understand the reasons, and I will comply, and still complain about it because it was applied to me. However, right across the street, a kid has three cars that are questionably registered (and certainly not legally inspected when the cars don't move and new stickers appear) parked in the STREET. Village can't do anything, and it's inconveniencing everyone around.

The original poster has a right to be PO'd. He bought a nice house, expected the rules to be followed, and is now stuck with unenforcable codes. If nothing else, I think you should be given back a portion of the cost of your house because the building association didn't live up to their end of the bargain...

 

thats why i live in the country, many acres no {masked profanity edited out by FTE }next door,
hell i can pee in my yard if i so choose to. Why anyone in there right mind would live where there is a committee telling me what i can and can't do is plain nuts. If you call that freedom my friend come visit me and I'll show you freedom. At my place you can: runaround naked,swim naked,suntan naked,shoot a gun,bow, whatever, mow the grass at night if you so desire. Anything goes now try that in your little crowded sub division with your cute little committee sending you noticies and policies and whatever, no thanks no WAY.

 

I`m with you on that archer1,I live out in the country also,A H.A. would have a field day with me,I could just hear them "You cant have 10 trucks,2boats,and 4cars!And me,"But the trucks are for my biz.Them=WHAT!NO COMMERCIAL VEHICLES! I love living out here!

 

No, no, no. I don't want to pay this guy back for anything. No grudge being held other than junking up the neighborhood. I just want to know that it's going to be OK for me to let my 3 yr old play on his swing knowing that this guys dog isn't going to see him as a a big milk bone and attack him. Also, like I said before, I work hard to keep my home nice, I expect everyone else to do the same. My house is the oldest house in the subdivision at 5 years old and his is the newest at 2. It works to everyone's benefit for everyone to take care of their place.

I don't have any pets, indoor or outdoor, so I don't feel that I need turn my home into a prison with a fence just to keep out the animals that are allowed to run wild.

Like I mentioned, we were all made aware of these conditions at closing on our properties, so it's not like this is all new information. Honestly, I would prefer to live in the country with a lot of land and distant neighbors, but this is all I can afford for now, so I, along with the others living there, are trying to make the best of what we have so we can one day get to that distant country setting.

I paid 63,000 for my house new in 99. 1344 sq ft and .75 acre lot. Last year it appraised at 80,000 with my added 576 sq ft deck. I would like to think that in 5 years, I can get 80 or 90,000 out of it instead of the 63,000 I paid for it. What would be the point in that? I realize that 63,000 is a stretch on depreciation, but I'm only trying to make a point.

 

King and Archer... then you are lucky !
And are able to live where you want....

We have to live closer into the metroplex because of work locations in that we don't WANT to drive for hours into the office and turn around and do it again...

Given that you probably DON'T bother your neighbors and your ideas of living conditions don't intrude on others, that's fine... (except for the pee flowing downhill and leach into your water supply :-)

Every worked a dairy farm... it's like RIVERS of the stuff - yech :-)

 

Then you have the proper attitude then...

Unfortunately until a legal entitiy can help you, it may be up to you TO put a fence in to protect your child...

Do you have a local paper you can call to ask if they can do some anonymous investigation for you ?

May not impact this guy, but sometimes public pressure will help... and won't get the "revenge on you" factor elevated...
Good luck, I KNOW this is wearing on you and your families relaxation factor...
it's sad, but it takes all kinds to make up a world...

And it's RARE that a neighborhood can bring the worst up to the better level, but it happens sometimes.... typically the worst brings most DOWN to their slum level... it my be best to move...
but given the eyesore next door, you WON'T get top dollar for your house....

 

Clearly your neighbor has found his way around the laws that i think are archaic and stupid, and you could do the same thing. I dont think its right that someone has many old cars on their yard, but if ya have one or two that clearly have a use for them ( Parts or project) and they aint getting picked apart and left in various states of disrepair leaking and all you should be allowed to have em i mean hey you have paid for the property and you pay the taxes you should be able to use it as you see fit