Problem With Coal Delivery and Neighbors

Hello everyone,

I hope I'm posting this in the correct forum, and if not, I apologize to the mods ahead of time. Anyway, I'm hoping someone here has experienced what my family is currently experiencing and can offer up some advice.

Our neighbors have two vehicles, one of which they park in front of our house, blocking the access to the coal bin. We have politely asked them to move their vehicle when the coal truck comes but they refuse to do it. Now it's to the point where they won't even answer the door when the coal guys show up. We have not made a big stink about them parking in front of our house - really, we have no say since we don't own the street and have a garage anyhow. However, when it becomes as difficult as it is for us to have coal delivered, and I have to worry about my family being without heat/hot water, I start to take it personally. The guys who deliver our coal have been great about it, and have found ways to work around it, but they have reservations with putting coal chutes over/near the vehicles because of liability concerns and I completely understand that. Aside from us, they should not have to deal with this either and the last thing I want to do is waste their time and resources or constantly cause an inconvenience to them. I don't want it to reach a point where they will just start refusing to deliver to us.

We have tried to resolve this on a personal level and got nowhere. I contacted the borough today to see if we have any options, such as paying for a parking permit or having a small section reserved as no parking and got nowhere. They said that there is nothing that can be done except to call the police every time, which is going to cause an additional inconvenience to someone else. I find it a bit hard to believe that, given the circumstances, there's nothing we can do, but I don't know for sure.

Our neighbors hate us because we bought the house out from underneath them and have even gone as far as telling us as much. They also hate the fact that we have a two year old that we won't sit on the couch and keep quiet all day (yeah, they actually asked us to do that). It's even to the point where if our kid runs through the house too loudly, they turn on their music and blare it at an obnoxious level. I'm sure by now you have an idea of what these people are like.

I was just wondering if anyone on here has any experience with something like this and what, if any, course of action was taken to resolve it. At this point, my only options are to call the police every time we have a delivery (and even they can only do so much) or move the opening from the front of the porch to the side, which will still make it difficult for delivery. Any advice/guidance is welcome.

Thanks!

Wait until they leave and park your car in that spot,......or get some jacks and roller dollies shouldn't have to, bit offer them $20.00 to move the car

Carbon12 wrote:Wait until they leave and park your car in that spot,......or get some jacks and roller dollies shouldn't have to, bit offer them $20.00 to move the car

Jacks and roller dollies, not a bad idea..

I wish I could park there, but the lady gets home from work before me and doesn't move her vehicle again until the next morning and we only have one vehicle. I was able to get a neighbor to park there once so that there would be no problems with delivery, but I'm unable to do that every time (they have a bad rep with everyone on the street, too). Oh, and it doesn't help that they're both too lazy to shovel their vehicles out, so the one that blocks the chute is snowed in and they just plow over the snow with the other one until it becomes packed ice and then share that vehicle since he works night shift and she works day. It's like everything is against us in this one

Have you talked to a lawyer, there may be something in the law you could use against them. As in they are interfering with the operation of your house, or something like that.

grumpy wrote:Have you talked to a lawyer, there may be something in the law you could use against them. As in they are interfering with the operation of your house, or something like that.

I haven't spoken to a lawyer yet, but I'm pretty sure it has to be in violation of some borough ordinance that the secretary may not be aware of. Right now, the town website that contains the ordinances is being updated and all the data hasn't been moved over so I have to wait until that's finished or until I have a chance to get to the borough offices to review the ordinances. They're closed by the time I get home from work. That's why I said I find it hard to believe that there's nothing that can be done about it except to call the cops. If I have to talk to a lawyer, I will, but I'd prefer to resolve this directly with the borough if at all possible, since I'm confident there's some kind of violation here. I'm considering filing a formal complaint with borough council once I have enough information to solidify my case.

People buy houses to get away from things like this so they can live in peace. If at all possible and if they want the house that much, offer to sell it to them. You just might be calling their bluff and it might break the ice.

Its a big hassle to move but so is dealing with the constant stress from sullen neighbors. You have to decide which way gives you the opportunity to live in peace. I know you get your back up to think of them forcing you out, but the stress could cost a lot more in years of your life or health. Right and wrong are not in question.

Look around here, maybe post your issue.

http://real-estate-law.freeadvice.com/real-estate ... -law/1449/

I knows a guy,...who knows a guy,..... Here's what I'd do. Leave a polite note 2 days before the next delivery asking them to please park in your driveway the day of the delivery. If not, you will call the authorities to come move their car.

Ever see the movie Backdraft? The part where the guy is parked next to a hydrant so the firemen punch out his windows and thread the hose over his seats?

Okay, I'm just kidding.

If it were me, I might talk to a lawyer and have him write a letter to the neighbors. Sometimes just that is enough to scare people into changing. May not work in this case, but at least you have documentation that you have tried. Then again, for the cost of a lawyer, you could probably pick up a hunter's special car and park it there.

I am constantly amazed at what jerks people can be. Good luck!

I would call this Harassment.. Perhaps they would like to explain themselves to the judge.. There must be an avenue , if this was about mail.. there are laws..

They are obstructing commerce. There must be a law concerning that.

franco b wrote:People buy houses to get away from things like this so they can live in peace. If at all possible and if they want the house that much, offer to sell it to them. You just might be calling their bluff and it might break the ice.

Its a big hassle to move but so is dealing with the constant stress from sullen neighbors. You have to decide which way gives you the opportunity to live in peace. I know you get your back up to think of them forcing you out, but the stress could cost a lot more in years of your life or health. Right and wrong are not in question.

I've considered this as a last resort, but I know they would be unable to get the financing (which was the problem before for them) and couldn't afford to pay cash for it. We're only here seven months, so the balance on the mortgage isn't much less than it initially was. These people are up to their ears in debt, two car payments, a motorcycle payment, house payment, numerous credit cards, they charged the remodeling of their kitchen and bathroom... so this would never work out in our favor (we hear them fight about this stuff ALL the time). Couple that with the fact that this house was everything we wanted in a home, especially in regards to our son (huge yard, right next to the park). The coal heat was just icing on the cake. It makes it harder to part with. I know it's not the only home that would suit our needs, but for what we could afford, it was everything we wanted. However, I definitely see your point regarding stress and at what point it becomes not worth it to subject ourselves to it any longer.

It's unfortunate that things have to be this way. We haven't directly given them any reason to treat us this way. In fact, after the dust had settled in the beginning, they actually talked to us like civil human beings up to the point where they asked us to keep our kid quiet all day. After that is when this stuff started. They're a middle-aged couple acting like children who didn't get their way. I think the most frustrating part about this is that we've tried to be the bigger people here and resolve this between us, but they've been completely stone-walled about it and it's basically forcing us to be confrontational (which we aren't at all) and to escalate the problem to the borough and police.

Carbon12 wrote:I knows a guy,...who knows a guy,..... Here's what I'd do. Leave a polite note 2 days before the next delivery asking them to please park in your driveway the day of the delivery. If not, you will call the authorities to come move their car.

Good idea, I think I'll give this a shot next time and see how it works out. Thank you.