Homeowners can take steps to silence annoying car alarms

Property owners often can use local law-enforcement agencies to stop a siren that keeps blaring.

Q. I live in a community that is densely packed with homes. A few of my neighbors have alarms on their cars that are always going off, often for several minutes and many times in the middle of the night. It's so annoying! I have talked to these neighbors, but they won't do anything. What can I do? It's so bad that I have even thought about selling my home and moving.A. Moving away probably won't help, because unruly car alarms are seemingly causing problems in every community across the nation. Besides, you shouldn't be forced to sell your house simply because a few irresponsible neighbors can't get their alarms under control.If you live in a community that's governed by a homeowners association, you can file a complaint with the HOA's board of directors and ask the board to send a warning letter to the owners of the cars with the offending alarms. That's sometimes enough to make a condo or townhouse owner adjust the sensitivity of his or her siren so that it doesn't start screeching every time another car goes by or a dog starts barking - especially if the owner can be fined by the association if he or she ignores the board's warnings.It may take a little more work to squelch the hyperactive alarms if you live in an area that is not covered by a local HOA. You did the right thing by first informally talking to your neighbors about the problems, and shame on them for not taking action to solve them. Call your local law-enforcement agencies and elected representatives to see what can be done. Many cities and counties across the U.S. have recently enacted ordinances that require both car and home alarms to shut off automatically after a specified period of time, such as five or 10 minutes after they first begin sounding: If they don't, the owner can be cited or fined.Don't hesitate to call the cops if your neighborhood is covered by such an ordinance and your neighbors choose to ignore it.Also, start making a list of the dates and times when each offender's alarm sounded for no apparent reason. Include the person's name, address, the type of car, the license plate number and the names of any other neighbors who can attest to the disturbance. Laws in all 50 states entitle owners and renters alike to the "quiet enjoyment of their home," so the list could come in handy if you must eventually file a disturbing-the-peace or public-nuisance complaint against an irresponsible neighbor. Should worse come to worst, you could even file a lawsuit and ask a judge to issue a restraining order that requires an offending neighbor to either lower the alarm's sensitivity and sound level or disconnect it altogether.Q. We gave our son $9,000 last December for a down payment on his first home. Can we deduct this amount on the tax return that we are completing now, considering that it was a gift that does not have to be paid back?A. Sorry, but no. Your son is not a bona fide charity or other type of nonprofit group, so the money you gave him to buy the house is not tax-deductible.Your son, of course, is eligible for the tax credit that's worth up to $8,000 that the Internal Revenue Service now offers to most people who purchase a first home. He can claim this valuable tax break by including IRS Form No. 5405, "First-Time Homebuyer Credit," with his annual income-tax return.The form can be ordered by calling the agency toll-free, (800) 829-1040, or can be downloaded from the agency's Web site, irs.gov.Q. I agreed to purchase a condominium from a woman, made a good-faith deposit and paid for a home inspection. A few weeks before the transaction was scheduled to close, her ex-husband (whom neither I nor my agent knew about) stepped forward, produced documents that show he owns a half-interest in the property and canceled the sale because he never signed the listing agreement or purchase offer. Do I have any right to force the sale to go through, or at least have the right to sue the seller's agent because he did not disclose that the property was 50 percent owned by someone else?A. What a mess! The ex-husband never signed a listing or sales agreement, so a judge would never order the transaction be completed. But you certainly have the right to get your good-faith deposit returned and sue the woman for all expenses that you have incurred.You also have at least one good legal argument to sue the woman's sales agent. One of the first things that a competent agent who takes a listing does is to order a "property profile," which should identify anyone who has partial ownership in the home.The agent apparently failed to get such a report, or received it but somehow overlooked the fact that the prospective seller's ex-husband has a half-interest in the house. Contact a local real estate attorney for more information.bull; For the booklet "Straight Talk About Living Trusts," send $4 and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to David Myers/Trust, P.O. Box 2960, Culver City, CA 90231-2960.#169; 2010, Cowles Syndicate Inc.