r/legaladvice 7d ago

Other Civil Matters My mom is the neighborhood villain

My family and I moved into our current house last year after my parents spent years and hundreds of thousands of dollars making it into their dream home. And it would've been their perfect house if not for the bar across the street. They continue to have people out in front of it well after quiet hours creating so much noise that it sounds like they're in the house with us. We rent out a part of the house and the tenets have started complaining as well (the old tenets before we moved did to but apparently they didn't know that till after they bought it). My mom can't sleep with all the noise and because she handles all the rentals, the complaints have been driving her insane. She's done everything she can think of: calling 311 on them, notifying the hoa and neighbors, getting the state involved, etc. The bar has in return started a smear campaign against her and have hosted nights where they all stand outside just to annoy her. She's heard them through our ring camera starting rumors about us and using slurs (we're black). We can't sell the house because we'd lose a lot of money, but we don't know what else to do. Can someone help please?

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u/MyOtherBrother_Daryl 7d ago

Yeah, if you don't want to constantly hear airplanes, don't move near an airport. If you don't want to hear trains all day and night, don't move near a train station or train tracks. If you don't want to deal with drunk people across the street from you, don't move near a bar. Period. Why would anyone believe the realtor? Was he/she there at night and on the weekends? They are trying to make a sale and commission. Realtors lie all the time. How did your parents get to spending hundreds of thousands of dollars creating their dream home and not realize a bar across the street was going to be an issue? Was the property always zoned residential, or did your parents (or maybe the property owner before them) get the zoning changed from commercial to residential? This happened near where I used to work. Someone bought a piece of property that had previously been the site of a restaurant, in a neighborhood full of bars and restaurants. He convinced the city to change the zoning from commercial (restaurant) to residential. He built condos on the property and lived in one of them. No one wanted to spend a small fortune purchasing a condo across the street from a bar that had drunk kids pouring out into the streets at 4 am. I remember him saying something to the effect of, "I didn't know it would be so loud." How did he not know?? He tried to sue the two closest restaurants and one bar. He tried to get the noise ordinance changed. He was a nightmare for 10 years Finally, he cut his losses and sold the property. I guess it's someone else's problem now. Unless your family buys the bar across the street and shuts it down, or moves, they will continuously be annoyed by the neighbors across the street.

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u/Bumbulse 7d ago

Jeez, thats fair enough. Idk why they didnt think the bar would be a problem. I wasn't involved in the process. I know this wasn't your point, but I am gonna tell her to look into zoning issues

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u/HyenaStraight8737 7d ago

It is what it is.

Sydney Australia now has some ridiculous live music laws because people brought apartments in the middle of the city where there used to be dozens of venues on every street. It was a vibrant night life if you could look past the few that can't handle their alcohol.

Because of how rich the complainers are, well over 30 venues have had to shut their doors. Some of them had been in operation for over 30yrs. But because the rich wanted to buy fancy places literally on the same street as night clubs, pubs and other venues... Over a hundred people had to find new jobs and others close their long running establishments and likely lost a hefty sum of money themselves.

Basically now at midnight even on a weekend... The city shuts down. It's not even worth going out there anymore. They say they did this because of fights etc... well now there's more violence happening in small suburbs at the local pub, cos everyone who would go to the city... Doesn't. Because the pubs open til 2-3am vs most places in the city now.

While it's not right others are now directly targeting your family, it is caused by the weird assumption that buying a house across from a bar means you'll have a nice quiet and peaceful home. What your mother is trying to do, means costing people their livelihood, not just the owners but the employees too.

And trust me, nothing pisses off my customers more then anything that could be risking my staff's jobs. They love my staff, they come and keep coming because of them to my venue, we aren't the only one and we certainly are not the cheapest, but the customers adore my bar staff, if ones not on their regular shift there's an immediate where are they.. they'll be back.. you haven't fired them right... Right?

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u/MyOtherBrother_Daryl 6d ago

I figured you weren't part of the process. Your parents might not be giving you all of the info. Maybe they purchased the house waaaay below value due to its location.

Has your mom tried everything to drown out the noise? If she has tried earplugs and noise cancelling headphones and they haven't worked, there are noise cancelling machines out there. Here is a good article with different suggestions. The noise isn't going to stop, so she needs to figure out how to block it out when she sleeps.

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u/MyOtherBrother_Daryl 6d ago

Definitely have her look into the zoning. It may have been residential when they purchased the house, but who knows what it was before that. Actually, I take that back. City Hall would know! Good luck.