Several homeowners in a Cumberland County community have had to seek legal action against their neighbor, Jim Lance, who is accused of using his home and yard for commercial usage and sale.

Lance has several items such as clothes, tires, wooden palettes, fuel tanks, broken glass, appliances, junk cars, batteries, a camper, and more in the yard. He was ordered in April to remove the items by Cumberland County Chancery Court as they believe he is operating a salvage business on his property, which violates restrictive covenants.

He also was ordered in May by Sessions Court to remove the items within 60 days as his property was deemed a safety hazard and fined $13,000 for health and safety violations. Money that Lance says he doesn’t have. Recently, he was called into court again for ignoring the judge’s order.

Lance is an Army Veteran who served in Iraq and has since become disabled. He said he once owned a storage business in Crossville. Now most of the items taking up space in his yard are items he says he got ‘from trade’ with the intention of selling.

His neighbor claims Lance’s home is ‘a junkyard’, and that the neighborhood has offered to help him remove the items and clean up the yard but has refused any and all offers.

Legal action was pursued as his neighbors claim they’ve been to court multiple times and dealt with multiple judges, but the rulings don’t seem to matter.

Lance said he is just trying to survive and isn’t hurting anyone.