Time to take civl action?.....neighbor issues

[sooxies]

At my mothers house her backyard neighbor's lawn is graded 8 inches too high.  It is creating a drainage issue which you can clearly see from the pictures.  This has been an issue ever since the (her/our) house was built.  A couple months ago, a surveyor from the city was sent out and the grade is in fact 8 inches too high making him in violation.  The city cannot force him to do anything about the issue and which essentially leaves my mother to take civil action.  He was sent a letter once from the city since they came and surveyed saying that he was in violation (I need to call the city to get a copy of the letter to see what it stated).

 

We really do not have any interest in talking directly to him because he clearly seemed to take the letter as a joke.  I say that because he has not confronted us let alone fix the issue.  We have also had issues with him dumping yard waste onto the property (separate issue).  For some reason he has always had some dislike towards us.  Lawyer's aren't cheap without a doubt but it's getting kind of old dealing with the issue.  I believe it's time to let the court system do it's job.   

 

I'm kind of venting here and I really can't think of any other options?  We may have the alderman for the district communicate with him through us.  

 

Thanks for reading fellas 

 

[JAG1]

I live in Oregon where we can get a lot of rain. Sometimes the power company disconnects power all over town because the utility in ground vaults are filling up.

 

On my place we had an unsightly wash occurring in winter so I took a small excavator and dug a small meandering creek and strategically located rocks for effect.. Sometimes we get so much rain it sounds like the Russian river. It's nice. Eventually I will build a small bridge over it.

Edited October 2, 2016 by JAG1

[IBMobile]

  I know the code here says 'no grading is to be done that will cause water run off on to another parcel' but some code violations the city makes money on and the others are to make you think their doing their job. 

  Years ago a home owner in my neighborhood had a similar problem, back yard flooding, other home owner didn't care, city code people worthless and lawyers trying to suck every dime out of her.  Some of us got together one Saturday  installed a French drain, trenched a drain line from the back yard to the front, cored under the sidewalk and drained all that water into the street gutter.  It was faster than the city hacks and cheaper than an attorney. 

  I hope you get this predicament resolved quickly, inexpensively and  with minimum aggravation.    

[sooxies]

1 hour ago, IBMobile said:

  I know the code here says 'no grading is to be done that will cause water run off on to another parcel' but some code violations the city makes money on and the others are to make you think their doing their job. 

  Years ago a home owner in my neighborhood had a similar problem, back yard flooding, other home owner didn't care, city code people worthless and lawyers trying to suck every dime out of her.  Some of us got together one Saturday  installed a French drain, trenched a drain line from the back yard to the front, cored under the sidewalk and drained all that water into the street gutter.  It was faster than the city hacks and cheaper than an attorney. 

  I hope you get this predicament resolved quickly, inexpensively and  with minimum aggravation.    

Thank you for the story. Also wanted to add that of course when the city was came out to the property they obviously didn't see a drainage issue because it was 85 and sunny out .  I want to get these photos sent to the city just to prove that there is in fact a drainage issue caused from the improper grading.  

 

It still is frustrating that city/county can't force him to fix the issue and it has to be dealt with civil action.  But, that's the way it is.  I feel a little bit for him because this is his BUILDERS FAULT not his landscapers (he has some minor things).  I wouldn't expect him to know all of the city codes on his newly built house (pretty sure he's the original owner).  But he's the only ding-dong whose lawn is graded so high of all the neighboring houses.  It's so hard to miss I can't believe he wouldn't say something to the builder when it was completed.          

[KATOOM]

Sadly depending on where you live and how those laws are written, you may just save time and money to address this issue yourself by digging a trench and installing a french drain.  Even if you took him to court and won, it sounds like he's not the type of guy who would make anything easy from that point on.

[CTcummins24V]

As stated, some perf pipe/french drain or this...on a small scale, or all the above Wisconsin? All clay up there? 

 

[sooxies]

4 hours ago, KATOOM said:

Sadly depending on where you live and how those laws are written, you may just save time and money to address this issue yourself by digging a trench and installing a french drain.  Even if you took him to court and won, it sounds like he's not the type of guy who would make anything easy from that point on.

The alderman came over today.  We're fortunate enough for him to be one of our family friends and he's also on the city council.   Turns out this issue would have to be dealt with the developer who sold the land (even though the builder is the one who really at fault).  He said our case will be pretty strong against the developer assuming they are still in business. Also stating that a simple letter from my mothers' attorney should be enough to have the issue settled.  It could drag on, but one thing will lead to another and the issue will be dealt with.  He has run into a handful of drainage issue cases in his 15+ years of being an alderman but he said this was the worst he's ever seen.

 

All in all, he's going to try and do what he can with the city and if not it's onto the developer.  Attached is the letter that was sent to the gentleman from the city.  It is a public document with public information so I am not going to bother hiding his identity.  It is a PDF; two pages.      

20161003125856449.pdf

[sooxies]

3 hours ago, CTcummins24V said:

As stated, some perf pipe/french drain or this...on a small scale, or all the above Wisconsin? All clay up there? 

 

To the best of my recollection it is clay where the house is as with a lot of other parts of the state