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As some of you may or may not know I am a licensed insurance agent. Yesterday 5 minutes before 5 pm my assistant tells me one of my insured's is on the phone. I say ask if I can call her back in the morning. She says it's urgent. I take the call thinking maybe she was involved in a motor vehicle accident or something happened to her house. I come to find out neither is the case. So I ask what's going on. She asks me if I or my boss knows of a way to prove the value of her house is going down. I was like what? I asked her to explain. She is in the town of East Hills BTW. She said 2 years ago the town allowed someone to build this great big house next to hers, she claims the retaining wall is more than 4 feet tall and their main living space is on the 2nd floor so they can see right into her yard and kitchen. She's been fighting with the town for 2 years on this. For what? What does she think the town will do. Anyway from reading some similar threads on CD I realize she will not win. I asked her if the neighbors bother her, have late night parties, loud music etc... She said the house bothers me. I basically told her to give up the fight and that she's not going to win. If the builder got the proper permits and variances then there is no issue with the way the home was built. Why she thought I would know how to prove her home value is going down is beyond me. Personally IMO I think she's over reacting. She is a very nice customer but the situation which does not really involve her home insurance was not an urgent call and could have waited till the next day to discuss. Now granted I am not in her situation so I really don't know how bad it is. I told her I was sorry she was going through this but if the town is ignoring her and not willing to do anything (not sure what she expects them to do) I told her to give up and deal with it. Nothing she can really do.
East Hills code is 32ft max height for buildings and 4ft for fences.
Uniikely a two-story home exceeds the 32ft. There would also be the question of the retaining wall (if it does exceed 4ft) qualifying as a fence. If it is and does, I would guess the most they could hope for is the town requiring the homeowner to make the fence comply with the height restriction.
There are other code items to consider, such as setbacks. Another unlikely avenue, but worth exploring if the "problem" consumes you to that level.
If a variance was needed and obtained to get around any code issues, the time to complain was two years ago. The variance process requires posting public notice, and your client had the opportunity to voice their concerns to the town at that time.
If the town has been ignoring your client for all this time, there is either no problem or the town doesn't care. If the former, there's nothing to be done. If the latter, get involved and help elect people who do care.
If they can't learn to live with it, the best option is to move. She could also build her own big house on the existing property in a way that will mitigate the neighbor's view lines to her kitchen and yard.
They could also plant some trees that will grow large to create a privacy screen.
Tell her to build a better house or move and that no one really cares. She’s in east hills sell at a nice price and move out east where she has more land and space between her neighbors and she’ll probably get a better house.
Update customer called again thinks that her Replacement cost value on the home should be lowered due to her home value going down. I told my boss to handle the call. She's not letting up on this. Example: if her home is being insured for 650,000 she feels it is too high because the contractor she hired told her the value of her home has gone down. I asked her if she believed him and she said she hired a professional with experience not some guy off the street.so in essence she firmly believes what this contactor told her. The home needs to be insured to value but I have never come across this situation where a client thinks the dwelling amount should be lowered due to the fact that a bigger home was built next door and has made the value of her home go down.
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She could also build her own big house on the existing property in a way that will mitigate the neighbor's view lines to her kitchen and yard.
