Karen and Charles Neglia, who live in the house on the left, are suing their next door neighbors, Guido and Milagros Florentin, for allegedly saying negative comments about their home and swaying potential buyers to not purchase the house. Forum Newsgroup photo by Luis Gronda.
An Ozone Park couple has filed a lawsuit against their next-door neighbors because they say disparaging comments made against their home to potential buyers by the neighbors has forced them to drastically reduce the selling price of their home.
Karen and Charles Neglia are seeking $1 million in damages against their next door neighbors, Guido and Milagros Florentin. The Neglias are accusing the Florentins of purposely saying negative things about their house on Doxey Place, swaying potential buyers from purchasing the one-family home.
The trouble with the home and the neighbors started back in April of this year, when the Neglias put the house they have owned since 1985, up for sale.
According to the lawsuit filed at Queens Supreme Court, once they made the house available for sale, the Florentins asked about buying the place and made a low ball offer of less than half the price of what they were asking for. The Neglias quickly rejected their offer. They originally put a $317,000 price tag on the home, the suit says.
Soon after their offer was rejected, the Florentins allegedly approached real estate agents and possible buyers, describing the house and the two people that lived there.
According to the suit, describing the Neglias, they said that “the people who lived in the house were dirty” and that “the house needed major repairs” and it “had structural problems.”
The suit also states that about a month later in May, the Florentins allegedly damaged the side of the house with tar and blocked a walkway, which did not allow them to take out the garbage and construction debris.
Because of their actions, the suit states, the couple selling the house was forced to lower the price of their home.
According to Redfin, a real-estate tracking firm, the price of the home has steadily decreased in the three months since it went up for sale. On May 23, the listed price was $259,000 and, about a month later, on June 20, it dived down to $235,000, which is its current price.
When reached at home by The Forum, Milagros declined to comment on the case. The Florentin’s lawyer, Edward McNamara, would not discuss the specifics of the lawsuit, only to say that his clients deny all the accusations and they expect the lawsuit to be dropped.
No one answered the door at the Neglia home nor did their lawyer, Gerard White, return phone calls made by The Forum before press time.
By Luis Gronda
