I'm actually currently in a bit of a pickle. My old neighbor and I hate each other. He has hence decided to move out. He has had his house up for sale for about 3 months and supposedly had offers, but all withdrew at the last min. They claim that his neighbor's (me) unkempt yard devalues this very run-of-the-mill middle class neighborhood. My ex-neighbor contacted the city to cite my overgrown lawn and other minute violations (i.e trash bin out over 48 hours). The city contacted my landlord to get us in trouble. We fixed it and everyone was A okay, except my ex-neighbor. Now he hired a lawyer to threaten to sue my landlord if she doesn't evict us, because of two parties I threw at night. Apparently, his prospective buyers found out and all withdrew their offers.

I've contacted as many people I can who could help me, but I'm still looking for help. I have 10 days from today to respond or they'll sue my landlord (who really does trust me and just wants this handled swiftly). I thought he was out of my life for good after he moved, but now he's blaming the non-sale of his house on me and not because the current economy is in a tank. I'm not going to completely rely on my friends of friends who knows a lawyer, so I'm asking anyone with expertise in the law to help chime in so I know where to get started with this debacle.

I will pm the letter to anyone who's willing to help. Thank you.

 

He has no ground to stand on. It would be a long stretch to link together you having parties and a sale falling through on a house. I think the fact that buyers couldnt get approved for their loans or chickened out because of the market is far more likely. Call his bluff, you have nothing to lose.

 

I sold my last place because I thought its value had peaked, but also because the guy on one side like to blast his stereo late, and the guy on the other let his property go to sh*t. (Lucky for me he wanted to transfer to another state and the need to sell his house made him clean up the yard when my house was on the market.)

I don't care if my lawn or my neighbors lawn is the nicest one on the block, just so it does not look like the one on Malcolm in the Middle. When I was growing up, my dad was a great attorney but could not use a screwdriver so our house did not look as nice as everyone elses. I did not like that and am now sensitive that my house look kept up.

It is impossible to tell if your property is a mess or if your neighbor is a total dick. I'd say put in whatever effort it takes to keep it looking ok and be rid of the guy. He won't get any money out of you, but you will get hassles from a lawsuit.

There is a term in local politics called the "bubba factor" which is used to descibe the various states of crapdom of some properties, and moves by the neighbors to pass more and more ordinances so they don't have to deal with it.

I can put up with some of it, but you don't want to drop half a mill on a house and have your neighbor let his lawn die, park a rusty pickup and a bass boat in the driveway and have three dogs under the porch. My sister lived in a low rent starter home nieghborhood and some rednecks moved in next door. They brought a rusty toyota pickup cab-camper for the driveway, a free roaming pitbull and dad taught the four under age 10 boys how to pee in the yard. She had a tough time selling.

I can show you a very nice cluster of homes near me where some guy built a chicken wire pidgeon coop in the front yard. You can bet the neighbors hate him. This is in a new development, three year old homes in the half mill range (which in Minnesota is generally a nice place). That guy is wierd.

My mission in life is to not be that guy. I am lucky now that my neighbors are good stewards.

 

The neighbor isn't right in the head = you lose. This guy will continually cause problems for your landlord and she'll have to throw you out to get this behind her. I'd look for a new place.

 

Make a super low-ball offer on his property.

 

This reeks of a nuisance suit.

That said, call the bluff AND make a low-ball offer on the house. Heck, go 50/50 with your landlord.

 

Why don't you just mow your lawn regularly? Also, excessive noise IS an actual complaint, so they do have a point there... I don't think he's right to sue you, but why don't you just clean up your shit so he leaves? Problem solved?

 

When I say the yard is crap, I mean there's patches of grass growing. It just looks ugly, not a jungle. It's never been a real yard since I moved in, but he's using these issues as a legitimate concern. As for nuisance after quiet hours, yes, a couple times we've had small parties in which he got angry over. He also crashed our Thanksgiving dinner of 20 people by calling the cops. The police showed up at the door and apologized for having disturbed our small gathering.

My question is, though, how do I respond to the other attorney's threat? I have all the possible rebutles, but where do I start? For instance, "Hello Mr. -, I'm calling in regards to the letter sent to Mrs. 'landlord...' I don't know what to say after that if he starts throwing law jargen at me. I'm trying to get the whole thing dropped instead of going to court or having the be forced to end our contract. Thanks.

 

Ask around for recommendations, find a lawyer, sit down and talk with him/her about your case (it's confidential and also locks him out of using the same atty) and get an opinion. Find one that specializes in property disputes. It sounds like he has already thrown down on you, so now it's time to return the favor. The sooner you consult a lawyer, the better prepared you will be to face his garbage. A lawyer will examine his accusations and give you an analysis of merit. The only thing it will cost you is time at this point.

It doesn't sound like he has a leg to stand on. It also sounds like a classic case of people being able to sue for whatever the heck they feel like. It takes a while for civil matters to come before a judge, so you will have time to prepare. Good luck, I hope it works out for you.