Crowding House Needs to Move

Actual house, but not actual size

So what if you are living in Washington Township, which is up in the north end of Macomb County, and you notice that the house the neighbor is building is WAY too close to your shared property line.  You tell them, right?

Well, if you are the prospective homeowner, you ask the builder what the heck is going on and you have him move the foundation (presumably at his expense since he should know better) over in the lot before you put the house up.  Maybe you and the builder did not know that this particular neighborhood had restrictions on file that were different than the normal county or township requirements.  You should know that those restrictions are enforceable.  The sensible thing is to conform.  You've got space in your property to solve this; why provoke a fight?

Then again, if you are a sensible homeowner, maybe you don't build a house that is 9,000 square feet.  This is the house in the picture.  It looks big, but personally I think the design could have been a little bit more dramatic.  And what's with what looks like a two-car garage?

Well, in 2004, the neighbors and the homeowners association told Simon and Saca Palushaj that their house was too close, right when the foundation started going in.  They kept going with it anyway, with a court fight ever since.  After ten years, with two stops in the Michigan Court of Appeals and one in the Michigan Supreme Court, I can only surmise that they thought if they kept the lawyers going long enough, the neighbors and the homeowners association would give up.  They didn't, and the fight is still raging on.

In December the owners were ordered to move the house away from the property line by July 1.  That did not happen.  Now the Palushajs are back in court asking for a time extension.

Knocking the house down is probably too drastic, but the only other remedy I can see is either a fine for contempt of court or some type of punitive damages until the house is moved over.  Maybe some of my real estate lawyer readers can chime in here.  All I can tell you is interesting court cases like this are usually a result of too much emotion with too much money to waste fighting about it.

Here is a Detroit News article on the court fight.