Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New Jersey
Duplex House
I own half of a duplex house. The other half was owned a woman who lived there with her daughter and grand daughter. Last May the mother passed away. Since then the daughter has stopped taking care of her half of the building.
The lawn has not been cut and there�s garbage all over the yard mixed with broken household items. She lets the dog crap all over the deck and rarely cleans up after it.
This greatly depreciates the value of my side too. If I were to try and sell my half not many people would consider buying it because of how bad the other side is.
Is there anything I can do?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Duplex House
1) Talk with them (you have probably done this); 2) put it in writing (keep in mind a judge may read this in the future, so be objective, factual, detailed, and reasonable AND explain it is impacting the value of your property and your ability to sell); 3) complain to the town and ask for inspections, citations, and enforcement... If all else fails, file suit for diminished value, etc. I might be aggressive, and clean it up myself (hiring others allows you to quantify your damages if you sue). Self-help is allowed in some circumstances, like if a tree falls on your property, so why not here? Possibly a tough claim to prosecute, but the idea is to get them to clean up.
Re: Duplex House
Your first course of action should be to complain to your town's code enforcement officer. The code enforcement officer may file a complaint against your neighbor to clean up their property, especially if they are permitting dog excrement to accumulate on their deck.
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