Clown House

I have a neighbor that has took one of the best looking houses on the street and made it a complete eye sore. He is an older guy in his 70's and he has painted his shutters on his house different bright flouresent colors. He has also done his foundation, porch rails and decorative ornaments in flouresent orange colors. On his porch hangs empty flower boxes that are blue, orange, purple, white and yellow. He has some kind of orange flouresent glow balls that hang from his porch ceiling along with other items of bright color. This past weekend he painted his sidewalk ( all the way across his house ), his walk up to his door, and his driveway from the street to his garage a light blue color. Myself and some other neighbors called the city to report this. They came out today and he only has to cover up the sidewalk and his driveway from the street to the sidewalk and has 5 days to do this. He also over the weekend has put up a cover tent in front of his garage and under the tent he has two painted patio chairs ( blue and purple ) along with a big plastic yellow duckie in the middle of these chairs. This guy has totally flipped out. I am very frustrated having to look out my window at this every day. I have been trying to sell my house for some time now and people wont even look at it because why would they want to live across from a clown house and have to look at that every day ? He is driving our property values down as well. There is no ordanence against his choice of colors in my city which is a complete joke. People ride down the street just to look at this place and often glance while driving and there are alot of kid's around here and I'm afraid that this house will one day cause an accident. Is there anything I can do ?

Your city or country almost surely has laws that say that no construction etc. can become an eyesore or be offensive to the community etc. -- Get the city council and zoning boards to act on this.

Thank's for your reply. Today 2 city cars pulled up and started taking pictures and talked to the guy. Maybe something will happen ? If not, a group of us neighbors will bring this to city counsel.

...or you could sell tickets and put it on tour??



Guest from Atlanta

Originally Posted by Unregistered Thank's for your reply. Today 2 city cars pulled up and started taking pictures and talked to the guy. Maybe something will happen ? If not, a group of us neighbors will bring this to city counsel.

That is exactly what we did in my local area--it does work!

I'm surprised that the news the city can do anything beyond their boundary lines.

The whole purpose of buying instead of renting is freedom of enjoyment. If the guy likes color, so what? He's not hurting anyone.

I can't imagine, unless the property has become a danger liability, how the city can get involved. As long as he's paying his taxes and keeps his home structurally sound, I can't imagine why they have any cause to do anything about it. Painting one's house bright colors is not considered a hazard.

Are you living in a subdivision that has a Home Owner's Association? If not, you're SOL

My house is red.

[CaboWabo]

Yeah, the city should be able to help.

Lets look at another angle though. In the mean time, while the city trys to help, maybe the olderly man just needs some attention. Go sit and talk to the man, be nice and see if the man has some mental disorder or is just lonely.

He may need a friend right now. Talk to him and find out why ? Tell him is creative, but is an eye sore aswell. Sometimes friendships cando alot.

Just my opinion though

gl.

If he is an artist he may be able to get by with the colorful house as long as he maintains the condition of the surfaces he painted and maintains the paint colors themselves. He may even already have a permit or variance (check with the city government to find out) to create this work of art.

Update on this house is that the owner has been fined for the last couple months and still refuses to do anything about it. The city is now suing him and he has a court date next month. After this date the city will come out and do the repairs to the sidewalk and approach and put a lein on his house. The city counsil also passed a new ordinance to keep the sidewalks safe so no painting them will be allowed in the future. They cant really do anything about the colors he painted but they own the sidewalk and approach.