Neighbor says they are going to sue if I buy the property

[Josh W.]

So I get out of the car to look at an investment property this morning and before I can make it into the house the neighbor says "Just so you know, I'm going to sue whoever buys this property. I just wanted to let you know in case you buy it."

I entertain her for a little while and ask why. She says one of the trees on the property has a root which is pushing up her driveway. The old owner was foreclosed on so she contacted the bank and the bank said it was a prior condition and they were not responsible. So she contacted a Lawyer and he said to sue the next owner.

The crack is on a small driveway addition, extra concrete that was added to the driveway to make it a little wider, on a slope about 1/2" thick. There is a root somewhere in the vicinity, but the drive was bound to crack anyways just from the way it was poured.

We are going to pass on the house, crazy cat lady lived there with 32 animals that left a smell so bad my eyes burned, but it got me thinking - if the tree root is the culprit of her driveway woes, does she have a case if the tree is on my yard? What would be my responsibility? In the area, it is doubtful the city would let you cut a tree down, how would this change things?

People amaze me. I want nothing more than foreclosures in disrepair in my neighborhood to be bought and cleaned up. She is content to have it vacant for some odd reason.

Additionally, what is the cost and procedure to clean up cat urine? Does the subfloor need to be removed? It was awful.

[Michael Heisterkamp]

From the sounds of what you described the driveway that was added doesn't even sound like it would be up to code. I am not an expert but anyone I have talked to would laugh at the idea of a half of an inch thick pad if it had to take the weight of a car. I think more likely her problem she is having with the sale is do to shoddy craftmanship on her property. If anyone wont buy a property because the driveway has a crack is not saying no because of how the crack looks but because of what the crack means.