{"id":6181,"date":"2024-12-13T07:06:08","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T12:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/?p=6181"},"modified":"2024-12-13T07:06:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T12:06:12","slug":"am-i-the-nuisance-or-is-my-neighbor-what-the-law-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/am-i-the-nuisance-or-is-my-neighbor-what-the-law-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Am I the Nuisance, or Is My Neighbor? What the Law Says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The law of nuisance came from Merry Olde England, and it crops up in property cases to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, a nuisance is both private and public. Consider a body shop that emits fumes or dumps oil \u2014 impacting specific residences, and creating a public hazard at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or perhaps it feels more personal \u2014 like that constant late-night party noise next door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So let\u2019s take a look at how these laws function, and what a private deed holder needs to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s a Private Nuisance?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Private nuisance laws exist to protect the comfort of your home. As you might expect, people sue their neighbors for all sorts of annoyances that they\u2019re unable to resolve person-to-person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loud noises, offensive smells, heavy or hazardous obstacles \u2014 anything that interferes with the use or enjoyment of property in an unreasonable, ongoing, and substantial way could be deemed a nuisance. A nuisance is distinct from a trespass, which involves someone deliberately entering the property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When some sort of menace affects just one or a few people\u2019s homes, it might be a private nuisance. In this case, the affected individual(s) bring a legal claim against whoever\u2019s responsible for the alleged nuisance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There could be grounds to ask a court for an injunction against the responsible party. An injunction serves as a limitation. It could restrict the hours when an activity may go on. Or it could prohibit the nuisance outright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is the nuisance really substantial? Or is a neighbor just being oversensitive? Courts take into account the sensitivity of the average person in a given community to try to answer that question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courts also balance the harm of the nuisance against the reason it exists. The idea is to try not to put undue hardship on either side of the dispute. And courts may reject a case brought by someone who would have known about the issue when they moved into their home in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some nuisances are both private and public. For example, if a private wall has fallen and blocked access to a public road it would be a public nuisance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that brings us to\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s a Public Nuisance?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s something that unreasonably threatens a right that people hold in common. That is, public nuisance law applies to parties interfering with the health, safety, and property rights of a whole community \u2014 not just one or a handful of affected people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course a state wants to prevent the spread of diseases, the leaking of toxins, or anything that threatens public health, safety, or comfort. So, private parties can be held liable for abatement<\/a> (removal) of public nuisances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State laws prohibit public nuisances. These laws include lists of things like dumping, discarding old TVs or fridges, or putting advertisements up on someone else\u2019s property without permission (or a court order).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it a crime to create a nuisance? Typically, a private nuisance is a tort, not a crime. But creating or maintaining a \u201cpublic or common nuisance\u201d is often classified as a misdemeanor. Remember Arlo Guthrie\u2019s song Alice\u2019s Restaurant Massacree<\/em>? In the lyrics, the young offenders were charged with creating a nuisance because of the garbage they dumped at the bottom of a cliff in New York on Thanksgiving. Under New York\u2019s Penal Law, someone is guilty of criminal nuisance<\/em> when illegally or unreasonably (given the circumstances) \u201ccreates or maintains a condition which endangers the safety or health of a considerable number of persons.\u201d Dumping  Alice\u2019s garbage could be considered a public health menace. New York nuisance law also bans maintaining any place where people gather to engage in outlawed activities. Either way, New York State makes this crime a class B misdemeanor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some statutes target certain vices or sexually explicit media or activities carried out in public. Nuisance law enables governments to seek court-issued injunctions against buildings or homes implicated in things like illegal drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

States also use nuisance laws to address physical obstructions and various activities that interfere with people\u2019s own rights to enjoy their properties. But because nuisances are usually localized, states pass a good deal of authority on to the local governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in fact, many cities and townships do address the ways people annoy their neighbors. But state law typically says local ordinances can\u2019t just declare some specified activity a nuisance per se<\/em>. Before taking action, the local government has to show that actual danger, health risks, or public harm is resulting from whatever they\u2019re calling a nuisance. As a familiar illustration, let\u2019s look at that classic annoyance: someone who leaves old stuff around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuisance ordinances often say people can\u2019t use their home properties as places to keep cars without registration and insurance. But an inoperative car isn\u2019t an automatic nuisance. So to get someone to clear their property of their prized antiques, the local investigators might need to find hazardous parts, for example, that could harm kids who play around the cars. Same for removal of any kind of debris, decaying buildings and so forth. Something that\u2019s just ugly usually won\u2019t be enough to constitute a nuisance under the law. But something that presents a public hazard usually will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neighbors Too Close for Comfort?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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State laws have traditionally protected the right of property owners to the \u201cquiet enjoyment\u201d of their homes. If you feel like quiet enjoyment has been sabotaged by your neighbor, local rules and laws can back you up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources of authority are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n