What kind of lawyer would I need?

[whoisjohngalt]

Quick question - what kind of lawyer specializes in a right of quiet enjoyment law? I am not a tenant nor a landlord so I am not sure if I would need a RE lawyer....

Help please!!

Thanks
Lena

[Deleted]

If someone is violating noise ordinances, you call the police. You don't go straight to an attorney for that sort of stuff.

If someone is harassing you, you also call the police & then follow up with Anti Harassment or DV restraining orders.

Can you be a little more specific about the situation? If laws are not being violated, then this would be a civil case & they are quite expensive to conduct. There may be other solutions that are more cost effective.

[whoisjohngalt]

Our neighbors across the street. the situation is this - it's two brothers who own 3 parcels of land - they live on two and one in between they are pretty much using for commercial activity - sifting dirt, so we have construction vehicles going in and out all day, EVERY day, weekends included. I've been told: they are very smart and wouldn't be doing it if it was illegal (which is BS, my DH called town's zoning and planning board) and they own A LOT of business and land in our town and have been here forever and a half and know people, etc.

So, my plan is to 1 - go ask them nicely to stop 2 - send a certified letter asking them nicely to stop and 2 - look into legal action. I want to know if I have a leg to stand on before doing ANYTHING.

We are new to the area, this town and even this state, so I want to do all my homework before really embarking on anything.

The dust from all that dirt goes over our property sometimes, depending on which way the wind blows

My DH is saying we should wait and let the town officials handle it, since they already talked to the them and will be sending them a letter to stop this activity. But knowing everything else I am not holding my breath

Lena

[Deleted]

Using residentially zoned land for commercial activity is a complaint lodged with zoning board. You will need to pursue it rigorously and there may be some retaliation/vandalization of your property at which point you move to anti-harassment and police intervention.

Yes they are smart, but doesn't mean they follow the law. Might be they just know enough to abuse it & that most people are stupid and if you feed them a convincing line of bullshit that they accept it and roll over.

You can see a civil law attorney, but it can cost you upwards of $40k to take it all the way through final ruling when the other party fights you.

[Deleted]

Lena,

As Chef mentioned, the process is to go through your City's planning/zoning dept usually through a person who is the Code Enforcement Officer. Do not do this yourself. Sounds like someone has already filed a complaint. About the best thing you can do is to keep checking with the Code Enforcement Officer and BE NICE. There is a process they have to go through and it is long and slow, especially if these guys are the kind that will call their lawyer and file lawsuits.

I have a fair amount of experience in filing these complaints both professionally as well as personally. The last one was for my back yard neighbor who built sheds and stored 55 gallon drums up against my fence. I couldn't have the fence replaced until he removed his crap. And he wanted me to PAY him to removed his illegally stored crap!

It took about 2 years to complete the process.

Do you own or rent?

[whoisjohngalt]

We own. Bought this house last year. The whole neighborhood was build 20 yrs ago and most of the owners are still original owners. There is no "city" department, this is a small town and everything is done on the town level. Zoning Director? - not sure the exact title - was going to send them letter last week, so I guess we'll see what happens, but like I said - they seem to be the family that owns everything and knows everyone, so...... let's hope the official process works.

It just totally sucks bc it took us a long time to find the house that we liked, we wanted privacy and quietness and if it wasn't for this nonsense, we would have exactly that.

Lena

[findingdeadbeats]

Our county no longer does building or safety inspections due to loss of state funding for those positions....

We have people moving into my subdivision and setting up camps on the empty wooded parcels. The latest one last week they drug in a nice bright blue 1970's single-wide mobile home and set it up without a building permit. (Can't get building permits here due to lack of water/sanitation/power.) They now have about 10 people living there with no plumbing, electrical, water, etc.... Not a damn thing we can do about it, because there is no longer any code enforcement and they were the ones who typically fined them to death or made them move.

We have another section of our subdivision that the HOA says has some older people who are now living in fear of going outside on their own property due to the armed encampment next door that moved in and took over. Apparently shooting guns is their hobby and the elderly people are now living in fear that they will take a stray bullet if they piss of the homeless people...

The only recourse we seem to have here anymore is to call in anonymous tips to the drug line when we think people are illegally making meth or growing excessive amounts of weed. That typically gets them inspected and all of the "residents" with warrants disappear for a while into jail...

Sign of the times, I think.

[whoisjohngalt]

Sroo, my DH tells me it's been going on even last summer, but I was so damn pregnant that I never went outside, so don't remember it much. They told the Zoning director that they've been doing this for years, and never had a problem She congratulated them on being able to do it that long, but said that they would need to stop, so we'll see

Lena

[Deleted]

"They told the Zoning director that they've been doing this for years, and never had a problem She congratulated them on being able to do it that long, but said that they would need to stop, so we'll see. "

Sounds like you've got yourself a good Zoning Director. Call her up, introduce yourself and tell her that you appreciate what she's doing. If you're really serious about getting rid of the problem mark on your calendar to give her a call once a month to check the status. You don't want to be a pain, but you want to let her know that you care. It can be too easy to get distracted on other matters and sooner or later she going to get some political pressure to back down.

The other thing you can do is to see if there's a neighborhood watch group. My guess is that you're not the only one who is bothered by this issue and numbers count.

We got rid of some long standing drug dealers after DH and I moved in. It took a while but we got it done!

[whoisjohngalt]

Thanks Bonn, oh believe me, I will be on top of this.

So, if I am reading it right, the consensus are to not call lawyers, etc and just wait and let Zoning Director handle it??

Lena

[findingdeadbeats]

It is legal to grow here with an $100 RX available to anyone who goes to ask for it.

[skweet]

Best Option: Make Friends, and ask them to stop.

Also Best: Buy the property and do with it what you want.

Bad Option: Going to zoning, and trying to get it to stop. Many people still believe that they have a right to do what they want on their own private property. Zoning at best will get them to stop doing one thing that you don't like, but there always seems to something more annoying that is completely legal.

A neighbor called me some pretty nasty names in a subdivision hearing, stopping me from dividing a 2 acre parcel into 4 nice 1/2 acre lots. So, in a moment of anger, I built 4 tiny rental units bunched up in the, 1/4 acre, corner next to her house (completely legal, without review). Each rental had a dog kennel and I built a dog run that paralleled her property. I am not necessarily proud of being vindictive, but she could've minded her own business.
Point being friends try to accommodate each other, enemies get into wars, and going to zoning does not make you a friend. The brothers sound sophisticated enough to know exactly what they can and cannot do with their own property. They will likely, also, know of any codes that you are breaking, which you may not want to change.

Worst: Get a lawyer involved. Your attorney will encourage you to fight for your rights until your money runs out. The brothers may decide to drag things out forever. A lawsuit like this, if you were certain to win, could cost you $100ks, and take years.

Try to make friends, or learn to ignore what they are doing.

[moxie]

Call Muscleup.

[Deleted]

Lena, if it's true that when the wind blows the wrong way all that dust ends up on your home / garden, I think it is highly unlikely that it doesn't do the same thing to the homes to your right and left.

I understand that you're furious, but I would try to tone it down a notch, hook up with your immediate neighbors to the left and to the right, and do my damndest to be pleasant and work with that zoning person.