I own a home in a declining area...

I own a home in a declining area...

Member since 2018 · 16 posts · 0 votes

My apologies in advance for being verbose, but the details are necessary. I've been living in my home for 7+ years and I've seen the neighborhood change with some property owners renting out their homes instead of selling them.

In that span of time, I have dealt with and encountered a slew of issues from many of the renters - the noise ordinance issue being the biggest complaint, based on many of the culprits blasting loud music from their cars at all hours of the day and night, with no regard for the time of day and who they were disturbing.

Yes, I have called, the police - along with other neighbors, but being that I have lived the closest - with the culprits either living beside me, across from me and now adjacent to my bedroom windows as the others have either moved or stopped.

The other issues have been lessened, like the previous renters shooting as they have moved, but all of this tension has been building. The main culprit, which are the renters living adjacent to my bedroom windows: are what I presume to be family of 8 to 10 people: an old man, an older woman, another woman in her 30's and another woman, a man, 3 toddlers and 2 high school aged kids - all living in a 3 bedroom/2 bath home. How? I don't know how that's allowed as it should be illegal.

The adults constantly party in the front yard. They have cookouts in the front yard. They have get-togethers - all in the front yard regularly. The noise is constant. I would not care what they did - if it did not affect my right to the quiet enjoyment of my home. Me and my family have either had to plan our sleep around when they would stop partying in their front yard, which is adjacent to our bedrooms.

Also being awakened by them has been spectacular - nothing beats being jarred awake at 6:15am by a toddlers screaming at the top of their lungs horse playing in the front yard. After they awakened all of us at 2:'35am while they were being loud while they were drinking and hanging out in the usual place - in the front yard.

All of them collect some type of government assistance, so I am surprised that this is being allowed as far as this many people living in one house. I thought there were guidelines in place for how many people were allowed to rent a house?

I have ended up asking them to keep down by having to shout out of my window, because of the time of night and the noise.

However, when I was awakened at 2:35am, this had been building for over a year of being awakened so many times or having to wait for them to stop their festivities in the front yard and to quiet down - I snapped. I went outside after I called the cops and both times the officers went by, they'd be quiet, so the officers wouldn't hear them being loud.

They keep the lights in the front off while they're "hanging out" so that makes it difficult for officers to see what's going on until they get up on the house - by that time, they have quieted down long enough for the officers not to see or hear anything.

I got tired of the 30+ calls regarding their noise not making a difference in how much noise they consistently made daily and out of a week - they would average at least 4 nights out of the week to be a complete and utter nuisance.

So after being awakened at 2:35am and seeing their usual ploys, I went to stand where they could see me and proceeded to stand there for five minutes before they realized that I was standing there.

The old man asked: "are you okay?" To which my reply was that I would have been fine if I were still asleep. The man then asked if they were being loud. I replied that I enjoyed being jarred awake at 2:35 and coming out of the house in my pajamas. They never once said: hey sorry for waking you. They really do assume that they're entitled to be as noisy and loud as they want to.

So that led to being jarred awake at 6:15am by the toddlers and then them being excessively loud during the early morning thereafter. I snapped again and proceeded to yell out the window, which got their attention. I told them how loud they always have been and they're not the only ones that live here. The one lady threatened to hit me with a brick, which I told her if she wanted to go that route. She also said "we're gonna have a party" and I said "good, I'll come too."

The nuisance and abatement officer is involved, but they have limited resources and he is pretty much a one man show in handling these issues. The owner of the property is useless as he does not care what they do as long as they send him the rent check. He does not even live in the same state and the most response that I've gotten from him are nasty responses.

I own and am contemplating selling, but my plight is that none of them work, so they're home hanging out, being loud all the time. I know educated buyers study the neighborhood before they buy. I am dreading that they'll be just as much of a thorn if I sell.

In the interim, I halfway thought about trying to approach the one lady that I exchanged words to try to smooth things over, but I don't know if that will resolve anything at this point. It's been over a year with these same ongoing issues. Your thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. 

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Member since 2016 · 13k+ posts · 12k+ votes
8y

Contact the welfare office and report the situation directly to their handler. If they have people living there illegally you may be able to get some results. You could also report the situation to the buildings department and see if there are occupancy violations. Report any and all property violations to the inspector to apply pressure on the owner. File a report with child welfare and you may get lucky. Be persistent as your goal is to make their lives miserable enough to force them to move. Stay on top of the welfare office with repeated complaints.

You need to do what their landlord is unwilling to do. 

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  • Lender · Pensacola, FL · Member since 2017 · 658 posts · 626 votes
    8y

    Another potential resource to look into is a neighborhood association.

    When I lived in San Jose, California, I was a member of my local neighborhood association. I would attend the monthly meeting from time to time (this was back when my entire net worth was in the equity of my house). Our elected representative on the city council would have his aide attend, who brought us the city hall news affecting the neighborhood (building permits, zoning changes, programs in the works) and would report back on the concerns we had. The wheels of government turn slowly.

    One city-wide issue was graffiti, which prompted San Jose to implement a graffiti abatement program. But before that program was established, one of the neighborhood associations took the bull by the horns and offered a $100 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a graffiti artist. The law of unintended consequences took over when the 14-year-old doing the tagging turned himself in. The judge released him to the custody of his parents because he was a minor and that neighborhood association was legally obligated to pay the kid the $100 reward money.

    It took me a few tries to figure out the system when I had to deal with my noisy neighbor here in Pensacola. Most of my life has been spent with people who want to get along with their neighbors. I hope I only had to deal with a one-time outlier, but time will tell.

  • Member since 2018 · 16 posts · 0 votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Account Closed:

    Another potential resource to look into is a neighborhood association.

    When I lived in San Jose, California, I was a member of my local neighborhood association. I would attend the monthly meeting from time to time (this was back when my entire net worth was in the equity of my house). Our elected representative on the city council would have his aide attend, who brought us the city hall news affecting the neighborhood (building permits, zoning changes, programs in the works) and would report back on the concerns we had. The wheels of government turn slowly.

    One city-wide issue was graffiti, which prompted San Jose to implement a graffiti abatement program. But before that program was established, one of the neighborhood associations took the bull by the horns and offered a $100 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a graffiti artist. The law of unintended consequences took over when the 14-year-old doing the tagging turned himself in. The judge released him to the custody of his parents because he was a minor and that neighborhood association was legally obligated to pay the kid the $100 reward money.

    It took me a few tries to figure out the system when I had to deal with my noisy neighbor here in Pensacola. Most of my life has been spent with people who want to get along with their neighbors. I hope I only had to deal with a one-time outlier, but time will tell.

    Hi Roger: I'm in the process of establishing a neighborhood network, which is quite an involved process, but it is a necessity, as there is power in numbers. Some want to form an HOA, because the neighborhood is an older community, where there are still lots of original owners, but they are older and I know they are not all able-bodied as they're aging.

    I've been going through comparing information as to what it would entail to have an HOA that impose the by-laws mainly consisting of the violations: noise. I already know and understand the hesitation that many have with HOA's, but I know there needs to be something in place at a community level that would help enforce the county ordinances.

    I have my hands full trying to get the neighborhood network established, but with so many long-time residents sharing the same concerns, I know it will be ideal.  Before I lived here there was a neighborhood watch and there is a local restaurant that has been in the community for many years, they were able to pay for a building for a sherriff's annex, which has been sitting empty.  

    I know there's a lot involved in this whole process, but it definitely needs to happen to help (hopefully) balance some things out.  Thanks for your advice, all of it is much appreciated.  

  • Rental Property Investor · San Jose, CA · Member since 2015 · 401 posts · 221 votes
    8y
    If you are the only one in the neighborhood complaining .... tough luck. You probably just need better noise insulation for your home. If there are several complaining, I have heard of a case where a whole neighborhood bang together and sued the landlord for renting the house out to gangsters. They ended up with about $25K each, about 20+ of them.
  • Member since 2018 · 16 posts · 0 votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Albert Ng:

    If you are the only one in the neighborhood complaining .... tough luck. You probably just need better noise insulation for your home.

    If there are several complaining, I have heard of a case where a whole neighborhood bang together and sued the landlord for renting the house out to gangsters. They ended up with about $25K each, about 20+ of them.

     It's definitely not just my complaints, other home owners share the same concern.  I heard of a similar case.  That's a pretty impressive outcome.  I'm about on the verge of filing a lawsuit against the owner, but I need to get certain things in place if I do go that route.  One officer suggested a petition with signatures of other residents that share the same concern, but I am unsure of how many signatures would even be required.  These type of issues are cumbersome.

  • Sherman Oaks, CA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    8y

    I don't have the answers, but I do know a dude who had to move out of state for work, and he rented out his house to Section 8 thinking that was a good idea. Well fast forward and he had all the issues going not next door but at his house. That one house basically ruined the street with this and all their friends now associated with that house. Anywho, it took about 3 years for the street to get back to normal. Needless to say those section 8ers did some damage to the house and the others on the street were not happy for a bit with that front yard scene they had to deal with.  IDK if this applies to your situation as his hood was mostly all home owners. Stuff happens. 

  • Member since 2018 · 16 posts · 0 votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Matt R.:

    I don't have the answers, but I do know a dude who had to move out of state for work, and he rented out his house to Section 8 thinking that was a good idea. Well fast forward and he had all the issues going not next door but at his house. That one house basically ruined the street with this and all their friends now associated with that house. Anywho, it took about 3 years for the street to get back to normal. Needless to say those section 8ers did some damage to the house and the others on the street were not happy for a bit with that front yard scene they had to deal with.  IDK if this applies to your situation as his hood was mostly all home owners. Stuff happens. 

     It sounds all too familiar, because they have run that house down even more.  And, the front yard scene is definitely similar to this situation, because they tend to always be in the front yard doing everything, which I really do believe it's due to the house being too crowded.  The noise, the traffic and before it was the loud music blasting from the cars at all hours.  That has been diminished...thankfully, but it took me saying something time and time again - after me and my family being jarred awake numerous times.  

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