I still laid from being a kid in the 1970s my Italian old school from Brooklyn neighbor had a huge fight with someone McMansion next door towering over his beloved garden and backyard of his cute little home of 50 years.

He sued the heck out of them, used friends in building dept to slow every permit, stopped every one he knows in trades working there anything other than a sky high price. House took 8 years to be built. Then he blocked CO. Finally he goes to builder I am old give me $40k will drop all lawsuits. I will agree to everything just give me a check $20k and put in writing nothing more will be built there this is last CO I am signing off on. Builder agreed.

Guy got permit, about to list home. My old Italian Neighbor bought a train ticket, went to Manhattan, went to his favorite Italian restaurant for Dinner seat in front by window, Broadway show great seats in front, then he checked into hotel, stayed in lobby and had drinks by Piano bar, then breakfast buffet in hotel and train back.

While he was gone house next door burnt to ground. Builder lost home to bank. My old Italian neighbor bought it and tore down what’s left and expanded the yard.

But I think I he was a retired mafia member. You and me dont have the balls or money that pull that off

You will need to hire a lawyer probably. I don’t think MOCO will do anything. They’ll say work it out with the builder directly. Are you in a neighborhood association that also handles building permits?

What are the new laws? Per this does not look like MontCo will do anything unless “severe” damage - so only recourse is civil suit?

https://www3.montgomerycountymd.gov/311/Solutions.aspx?SolutionId=1-EAY9X

Of course you should contact the county. It isn’t going to get better. Take tons of photos and video and push until you have a resolution. There are laws about water runoff and drainage. Act now.

Any updates to this? They built a giant house next door (almost entire lot is concrete - house is the bare minimum 5 feet or so from all the property lines) and now our basement floods (we have been here 15 years and this has never happened). Does not look like Montgomery County will do anything unless there is damage to our property greater than 50 percent of its value. Anyone else been through this? Anything we can do?

fyi - some good information from this website: http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/neighbor-disputes-over-water-damage-29724.html

Definitely talk to them and call the county, but before getting an attorney involved maybe call your homeowner's insurer, too? They might be willing to use one of their lawyers to protect your home.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can ask the neighbor to split the cost of a drain with you. My parents were building when their neighbor contacts them about a similar issue. My parents paid to put a French drain in since they wanted to keep the peace.

Why would OP have to split the cost? MoCo will require the builder/owner to deal with runoff. When we (our neighbor actually) called about an issue up the hill from both of us the county was out pretty quickly. We had to pay a lot of money to shield our view of their monstrosity, but the county was all over the water problems.

Oh you are one of THOSE neighbors

Agreed. I don't know the specifics and the law, but I'll give you an opposing viewpoint.

I bought a townhouse condo in DC. Apparently the builder (who renovated the property) added concrete to the property in order to prevent water intrusion into the building. Well when he did that - the neighbors backing into the property line (the alley is an easement - about 3 ft wide - and belongs to my building) started complaining. Actually, let me rephrase, 1 out of the 10 neighbors complained that their yard became "flooded" and killed their fish in their man made pond. The other ones didn't give a shit at all.

All of this happened before I bought the property - but in this case - I think the neighbor is being unreasonable. They wanted the status quo - where my building was having water issues. Firstly - there's very little the builder could do on our end to stop their yard from being lower than ours. Apparently there was a lawsuit, and the neighbor lost.

My point - the builder is not necessarily in the wrong.

Why don't you get a french drain discharging to the street

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can ask the neighbor to split the cost of a drain with you. My parents were building when their neighbor contacts them about a similar issue. My parents paid to put a French drain in since they wanted to keep the peace.

Why would OP have to split the cost? MoCo will require the builder/owner to deal with runoff. When we (our neighbor actually) called about an issue up the hill from both of us the county was out pretty quickly. We had to pay a lot of money to shield our view of their monstrosity, but the county was all over the water problems.

Oh you are one of THOSE neighbors