ALL THINGS REAL ESTATE Call the city’s Code Enforcement office to report neighbor’s unsightly front yard

Q: I live in a Fairfield subdivi sion and happen to live next-door to a family that does not take care of their house or yard. The yard might get cut every other month, the shrubs have not been trimmed since they moved in, approximately 12 years ago. The backyard is nothing but weeds and dirt. Is there anything I can do to get them to take care of their yard and house? I am afraid if I ever try to sell my home, the sight of this unsightly place will drag the price of my home down.

A: Obviously you are correct that your neighbor’s house will have an effect on the sales price of your home, not to mention the enjoyment you get from your property.

The city has an interest in the condi tion of the front yard from a health and safety perspective.

That means the city’s Code Enforce ment office can get involved if things get nasty enough. I’d suggest you look up their number and drop a dime on the neighbor.

If the owner is cited and does not remedy the problem, the city could take care of it and bill the homeowner.

Will this happen? I don’t know. It typically depends upon how bad the property is, how many times code enforcement has been called, and most critically, what the code enforcement office’s manpower looks like.

Code enforcement can handle any local municipal code violations.

Probably the most commonly violated ordinance of this type is the parking of a vehicle on the grass or dirt.

But remember, other than a number of rather limited issues, the city is helpless to make people keep their yard, or house, looking attractive.

Unless you can show a health hazard, such as dog excrement and the like, there isn’t anything you or the city can do about the condition of the backyard.

If there are, for example, bad odors coming from the yard, you may be able to file a nuisance action. But other than that, you’re out of luck. If you live in a home built after the mid-1980s, you likely have some CC&Rs that govern your neighborhood. You may not even know it, but they’d be recorded at the County Recorder’s Office. That may have a provision against overgrown or dead landscape that would

Frankly, the exact problem you have is exactly what CC&Rs are designed

Q: My neighbor has put a swimming pool in his backyard. When he did, he changed the grading and now all the rainwater from his lot pours into my backyard and floods it. Is there any-

A: Your neighbor can’t change their grading if it unreasonably negatively impacts your yard.

The legal question is what constitutes unreasonable.

If you believe the amount of water flowing into your yard crosses the line, you have a right to file a lawsuit demanding that he remedy the problem. That usually means the installation of a drainage system.

I’m afraid there is no easy answer as to the level of intrusion that would constitute unreasonableness and make your neighbor liable.

Courts decide these issues on a caseby-case basis.

For the moment, the best you can do is document the problem with videos and possibly an inspection by a soils engineer to give you a better idea of whether there’s something you can do about it.

Tim Jones is a real estate attorney in Fairfield. If you have any real estate questions you would like to have answered in this column, you can send an email to AllThingsRealEstate@TJones-Law.com.