'Unsightly and obnoxious': Florida man gives his $500k home a very noticeable paint job

A Florida man transformed a $500,000 home in Naples into a Pollockian nightmare when he splattered it with garish, colourful paint.

According to neighbours, Jeffrey Leibman, the home’s owner, spent a week transforming the house, the lawn, nearby trees and a van in his driveway into the multi-colour spectacle.

Red, yellow, orange and blue stripes layer the house and a nearby palm tree has vertical blue and pink stripes decorating its trunk. A van in the driveway, similarly splattered with bright colours, bears a cryptic, white spray-paint message: “Who is Omar?”

Neighbours in the community are complaining about the property and the Il Regalo Homeowners’ Association managing the area have filed charges. The neighbourhood management organisation said Mr Leibman – who no longer lives in the house – likely caused thousands of dollars worth of damage.

In their complaint, the homeowner’s association claims that Mr Liebman is in violation of a rule prohibiting homeowners’ from parking a commercial vehicle in their lot for more than 8 hours, barring some exceptions. The complaint goes on to discuss Mr Liebman “trashing” his property.

“The painting, trashing and commercial vehicle are unsightly and obnoxious,” the complaint reads. “There is blue streak and red blotches of paint and spray paint on the house and trashed yard which is unsightly, obnoxious and not in conformity with the neighbourhood scheme.”

Speaking to CNN, Alan Klawans, a neighbor, shared his shock at the house’s new look.

“I can’t believe it. I absolutely can’t believe someone would do something like this,” Mr Klawans said. “He obviously has something going on. I have just never seen anything like this in my life.”

Court documents reveal that in the months leading up to Liebman’s repainting of the property, he and his father, Dennis Liebman – who each own half of the property – were in a fight over control of the house.

In a complaint filed with the 20th Circuit Court in Collier County last July, Dennis Liebman sought to partition his half of the property from Jeffrey Liebman’s. The partition was granted and the court ordered the property sold and that Jeffrey Liebman provide reasonable access to the home for facilitating the sale.

In December, Dennis Liebman filed a motion to hold his son in contempt of court for not allowing realtors into the house and for damage he had allegedly already caused to the property.

Jeffrey Liebman claimed his father had lied and was trying to force him out.

In an email exchange between the two, Dennis Liebman demanded access codes to the house and told his son to check into a rehab.

In a response to his father and his lawyers, Jeffrey Liebman claimed his father was blocking his attempts to talk and that his father had forced him into a “situation where I would lose everything”.

“If you want me out of this house then they will remove me in a body bag because I’m not leaving. You can explain to the rest of the world why you’ve done this,” he wrote.

Mr Liebman was arrested last November on a number of charges, including possession of crystal meth, possession of drug paraphernalia and for smuggling contraband – meth – into a county detention facility.