Neighbors Driving Down Prop Value

[Chike]

State: WAHello, another post from me. As you can see from my username, I've found this message board useful since I was a renter. :)What can I do about my messy neighbors? I live in a decent, middle class neighborhood. My house is worth a bit. But I'm afraid my neighbors are driving down my property value. They have no front door. Seriously. I would love to talk to them, but the only way to get into their house is to go through a 7 foot tall fence, face their pitbull and rottweiler (no joke) and go up some deck stairs onto their deck and go through their sliding glass door. It makes no sense, really. I've had the meter readers ask if they can look through my backyard into their property to read the meters because they have the dogs, don't seem to ever be home, and they have no idea where the front door is. The other problem just occured - the county sheriff came by a couple weeks ago with a mug shot - it is a guy I've seen a lot around the property. He is a meth addict and has some stolen property they would like to talk to him about. They warned me to keep things locked up tight. He seems to be the son of the woman who owns the house. I've called them when I've seen them but no action has occured. Lately they have decided not to use their garbage can. They get pizza from takeout and leave the box in the front yard, which usually blows into my yard. They get McDonalds - they leave their bags, cups and scraps on their porch - it blowns onto my property. They have NEVER picked up their dog's poop and their backyard, now that it is getting warmer, is starting to smell like a toxic waste dump. I can't even go into my backyard without wanting to retch from the fumes. It's like decaying... well, you know. But decaying for years. The house next to them has been for sale for a while - and hasn't sold. This is a very desirable neighborhood. I've tried looking through the laws for WA but can't find anything that would help. I've called animal control but they can't do anything except leave notes saying to clean things up and get the dogs to stop barking. My prop. tax shows that my land value has gone down. Records show it doing nothing but go up pretty much since last year when (according to other neighbors) things started really going downhill next door. I'm in Seattle proper, where prop. value is still skyrocketing. Any recourse?

[Casswallawn]

"Planning and/or Zoning didn't have any ordinances regarding upkeep?"I'm sure there is something... there seems there ought to be, but I haven't found anything - could be I'm looking in the wrong places?As to the other points: No, I don't want to get out of here. The house I own is wonderful - my dream home, and I got it for a steal. The other neighbors are also wonderful - this is the only sore sport on the whole block. Media? I suppose I could if things get completley out of hand (which I don't discount). But I get along with them ok at this point - almost afraid of making them enemies. The dogs look ok. Almost too fat if you ask me. Probably because they've never been out of the yard and on a walk in their lives. In the year I've been here they've never been on a walk. Like I said, I've called out animal control because of the constant barking, but they didn't site them for how they appeared. They are mistreated though - in my opinion. The owner of the house occupies the residence - at least part time. I see her there maybe about a week out of the month. The rest of the time it is relatives of hers. According to other neighobors there are cousins, nephews, grandchildren... all staying there. I guess I'll keep looking into the laws. Found trash in my front yard today from them. Gross. It just, well, sucks, that this place is the ONE ba spot in the neighborhood. It wasn't this bad when I looked at my house before I bought. I never saw the dogs, there was no trash in the yards... Thanks for all your help!! :)

[Gwendelyn]

Information provided on the message boards is general in nature, not specific legal advice and does not create an attorney/client relationship and, unless otherwise noted, pertains to U.S. law. Please abide by the Terms & Conditions and rules for posting which include:

*Select the one best message board for your question; no spamming.

*Post respectfully, no "flaming" or foul language.

*Include your state location.

*Be cautious in providing your contact information

*Do not name other individuals or businesses

*No advertisements, solicitation or copyrighted information without permission.

*Use upper and lower case letters and standard punctuation; please turn off the "caps lock" key.

[Anoki]

"I've tried looking through the laws for WA but can't find anything that would help."Planning and/or Zoning didn't have any ordinances regarding upkeep?You could start complaining to the mayor and other local politicians to implement such a law. This could literally take years, though.You could try the media, make a good sob story out of it with the neighbor currently trying to sell, and that the city has no laws for it, and won't do anything to help. (Bringing the local government into the mix will make the media more interested in the story.)Do the dogs appear healthy? Are they skinny and malnourished? If so, that could be animal cruelty, a criminal offense. Also, owning Pit Bulls are illegal in many communities across the country. You could look into that, if you haven't already.Is the house habitable? If the outside is that bad, what about the inside? If you could have the house declared uninhabitable, having a boarded up house next door might be better than the current arrangement. One possibility is the house going up for auction in a year or two, and someone could purchase and remodel it.

[Enam]

Trash like that won't change and will outlast you.It's unfortunate but one option is to get out of there.

[Chayne]

Try calling your City-planning and Zoning Division, or simply Zoning Dept. they ought to have anything. You ought to be ready to simply provide them with your tackle, plus they may lookup the remainder (residential zoning area and any relevant laws). It's also advisable to have the ability to document a problem together. Or even, request where you can go.

[Umair]

Several towns possess a home maintennce signal--I'd a rental home where the tenant ws required to slice the lawn--but a friend might contact rules each time it got a bud inside it! Ditto regarding discovered trash.And if its not owner-occupied it might come under some rental home preservation problems?I Would also examine if fees along with other public expenses were compensated--some locations may trim harder on blighted deadpaying qualities simply to have them back on spending aspect of equation.Sorry, I want I'd a great answer.