Help Me Howard: Tenting Troubles

WSVN -- Madeline is well read well traveled and her house is well decorated.

Madeline Aroesty: "Some of the needle points I've done, some of the paintings my mother did."

Madeline loves what hangs on her walls, but it's what's in her walls that's bugging her.

Madeline Aroesty: "All over here, they were up over there."

They are termites.

Madeline Aroesty: "At one point they flocked to the window, and the whole window sill was covered with bodies."

Madeline would love to get rid of the termites, but she lives in one of six townhouses, all connected, all sharing the same roof, and not all sharing the same concern over the termites.

Madeline Aroesty: "Been trying to get everybody to agree to tent, and everybody did at one point except for the people who live in the second house from the end, and they refused to."

Some of the neighbors have tried to get rid of the termites by just treating their townhouse every year, and every year it fails.

Madeline Aroesty: "I've had the house treated at least twice a year, sometimes three times, but they continually to come back."

But the neighbors like the termites wouldn't budge, leaving Madeline feeling helpless.

Madeline Aroesty: "I mean I'm not going to stand there with a gun, and I don't like fighting with neighbors, so what can you do?"

That is when we turned to the lawyer who some judges have called a pest. Do you know what they should do Howard?

Howard Finkelstein: "We have looked at the homeowner association documents, it says the six townhouse owners must abide by the covenants, which include a party wall agreement. In other words, if part of the building is infested with termites and one homeowner refuses to go along with the tenting then they have to go to court."

When we spoke to the homeowner, he told us 'my house is termite free' he said even if he had termites he would look for alternatives to tenting. He then told us 'unless they come to my house with a court order they can whistle dixie before i have my house tented.'

Howard says he may not want to wait that long.

Howard Finkelstein: "This could get very costly for the holdout homeowner. Odds are, a judge is going to rule the building needs to be tented. When that happens the hold-out will not only have to share in the cost of the tenting, he will have to pay court costs and attorneys fees for the other homeowners who had to take him to court."

That is the next step for Madeline and her neighbors to finally get rid of the termites, for at least awhile.

Madeline Aroesty: "There's no guarantee that once it's tented they won't come back, but they certainly won't come back every six months or every four months, like they are coming back now."

Patrick Fraser: "Well, we talked to the holdout one more time. He said he would watch the story and then decide if he would 'cave in' and if he doesn't allow the tenting, Madeline will have to hire an attorney. That wont be hard to do after all they are almost guaranteed to win and then get their fees paid by the holdout homeowner."

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