House Left Messy With Writing on the Walls

[alenavesna]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: New Jersey.

I have just gone through a long and tough process of purchasing a new home. The owner (woman with kids) had to sell the house (due to divorce, etc).

With every day we are noticing bad things they did to the house: removed good faucets, took out shelf support pegs in every kitchen cabinet, took out cooking trays from stove, etc, etc. And we are talking about expensive million dollar house.

The worst that after we moved in and started doing remodeling immediately we have found some spooky things: garbage in every room (in one corner), voodoo doll and now we have discovered writing in few closets from inside. Basically harassing us (new owners) and saying who died in that house and that it's haunted and that we are "The house is haunted. The new owners are in for disturbing times. Good luck to them. However since they are assh***es, they deserve it!!!". That's partial writing word-to-word. There is more.

Do we have a base to file a police report and sue previous sellers? It's not that much about money to me. I feel it's disgusting to put those things in my house and I have a family and a kid!

Thanks!

[aardvarc]

Police report for what? Garbage isn't illegal. Voodoo dolls aren' illegal. Listing who died in the house isn't illegal, even if it's a total lie (and in fact, if a violent crime that resulted in death actually DID occur, in some states it MUST be disclosed).

You bought a home from someone who has a chip on their shoulder because they had to sell. This is their message that they hope the new owners won't enjoy happiness in their old home. Bitter. Dysfunctional. Nothing illegal, and nothing that is going to come close to a case for harassment.

If they caused damage to the home, AFTER you'd already done a final inspection (and you've got documentation of the home's condition and the date of that inspection), THEN you may have a case for a lawsuit - which will only benefit you if you have actual financial damages to report to the court. What reasonable DAMAGES, with a receipt to fix it, have you incurred? It may not be much about the money to you, but money is the only mechanism the court has to address such cases. If you're not out any money, you're not in a position to prevail in a case. Did you have to pay for garbage removal? Pay a priest to perform an exorcism? Get therapy because of the writing you found? Got receipts for those expenses?

Then, even if you WIN the suit, you'll have to go through the process to COLLECT any money awarded. That means tracking down the loser's assets, going back to court to get leins, and even THEN you may never see a dime.

Best advice? Shake your head that there are such miserable people in this world, and move on. It's about the best outcome you're going to get in the situation.