Neighbor Nightmare--Need Advice (1 Viewer)

[TonyD]

quote:"go to the mattresses" My goodness, what kind of wrestling do you watch?

that i believe is a reference to THE GODFATHER. not wrestling.

 

[KyleS]

Yep havnt you ever seen You've got mail? They use it in that one as well. Of course in UGM they use it in reference to the GODFATHER too but hey its a great movie to reference.
KyleS

 

[Hugh Jackes]

If you have the $$ and you are committed to the tree, get a pro to move the tree so that all of its branches hang over your property.

You lose the sound/line-of-sight break, but, you keep the tree in all of its glory and the neighbor loses a source of complaint.

Put in a hedge or fence along the front of the property and around the corner that his kids cut.

Call the city's sanitation department about his trash heap.

Consign yourself to losing the battle of the crappy bands. If his kids are teens, you'll be shed of 'em in a couple of years.

 

[Mark Larson]

The cops won't do anything about it because a death threat is "just a threat" - she has to actually attempt to follow through before they take interest.

Wow, are you serious about this?? I hope this doesn't turn into a discussion of legal issues, but with the amount of legal crap floating around these days i would think this is legal grounds for harassment and whatnot! Can she bloody well park on his property? This is amazing. And the police won't do anything.
Sorry to say, but this is fucked up. It is no longer a clash of egos, this is something serious.

 

[Cam S]

Ya, I agree, that lady is PHYSCO and should be taken care of, in a LEGAL way of course

 

[SammyJankins]

Kill Them! Hide there bodies in your house. No J/K. Just call the cops next time the kids have a loud party. As for the tree thing, well I don't know.

 

[Ken Wagner]

Take one of the caps off their car tire. Find a small pebble and glue it up inside the cap. Put it back on,

Talk about insane. This is down right illegal to attempt to possibly inflict bodily harm. Some people can't handle a car with a low tire especially when cornering hard. Remember the Ford problem.
Anyway, some trees can't take pruning much. Some species branches die when they are cut which could make the tree look really bad. It may die in a few years from this. Some tree trimmers are so bad they trim back too much and it kills the tree or it takes a few years to come out of it. I trim my neighbors tree which hangs over my house but the damn thing hasn't died yet!!
I still think from the tone of the post that this guy doesn't want to get along and seems to be an absentee parent. Maybe the other neighbors can give you some tips on how they put up with him. If you have small kids think what will happen when the teens next door start driving. This is just a bad situation and all you can do is try to get along. If this doesn't work then you may have to put up a very tall fence so you don't have to see him. My hope is that you can work this out.

 

[Brad_V]

These threads sure make me glad I have good neighbours. I'm considering getting to know the new neighbours at any potential house when I move before I commit to a house.

This is why I like living in a country/rural area. I don't really have neighbors.

 

[Carl Miller]

Thanks guys. All the suggestions, evil and otherwise definitely cheered me up!

I've got a trimmer coming Friday to take care of the tree, he said it can be done safely with no harm to the tree and that I'd only have to trim it again once every two years.

My wife went on a research quest and contacted a friend of a friend who works for the county we live in. He came by last night for a peek at the neighbors property and found some interesting stuff.

The driveway the neighbor built required the permission of the previous owners of our home, and approval from the both the county and town to build. We'll go to public records the next day I have off from work and find out.

We also found out that there are a couple of violations next door. There's a big wooden shed (w/foundation) that is too close our property line in the back and a town violation. The guy from the county said one complaint from us to our town zoning board and it would have to go. We also found out that our neighbors deck and pool are too close together as the deck is open to the pool so they can walk off the deck and right into the pool. A major safety violation. Finally we also learned that the basketball hoop in this front driveway is also a violation as no basketball hoops, freestanding or permanent are permitted in front driveways on county roads. We didn't ask him to, but he'll be making sure a citation and order of removal are sent to this guy within the next week.

Although we don't know, the county guy said it was fairly safe to assume based on these violations that even our neighbors deck was probably built without the necessary paperwork and approval from the town. Interesting.

All in all, we now have some serious ammunition against our neighbor and I'm surely going to use it if need be. But I'm going to try and deal with this mess first in the most civil manner possible and try again to approach him about the music, garbage and bicycles once the tree is trimmed. If he doesn't see the tree trimming as an act of good faith, and continues to be a useless jerk about everything, I'm gonna slam him and make him wish the same thing I've been wishing the past month...that I never moved in next door.

 

[Patrick_S]

that i believe is a reference to THE GODFATHER. not wrestling.

Thank you Tony. I originally thought that such an obvious reference was safe in a forum that focuses on film but hay I was wrong again.

By the way, while it seems rather hard ass of me to suggest that Carl never offer to clean up I was putting it in the context of the situation already described. It appears that the neighbor is rather obstinate so why bother to help? He probably won’t appreciate it anyway.

 

[BrianW]

Yeah, sorry about missing the Godfather reference, Patrick. It's not your fault I've never seen it.

Carl, it sounds like you've got a good plan. I, for one, would be grateful if you'd keep us up to date as things progress.

 

[AllanN]

1. Trim the tree, this is your responsibility and it will make you more the good guy.

2. Report the trash to the city health board. Get some photos.

3. Call the cops about the noise, especially if you think they are drinking. Report that you think there is underage drinking going on. The kids will get in deep shit and the parents will be slapped with a huge fine.

4. Put up bushes. Something abrasive or that has thorns.

 

[JonZ]

I would:

-Tell your neighbor to do something about your complaints or you will.

-Call the Sanitation/Health Dept about he garbage. Seeing mice is a health issue. This should be your first step. With any luck theyll get a nice fine.

-Call the police about the underage drinking. Id also watch them and see how many of them are driving after drinking. This could REALLY get the parents in trouble.

-I know here in NY you can play music until 9PM, unless its ridiculously loud. Call the cops.
(If you really want to annoy them buy a Obituary or Death CD and blast it- theyll submit,Korn wont stand a chance)

-Ask the kids to stop driving across your lawn or tell them youll stop them from doing it. A fench should do it.(Personally I would have confiscated their bikes if I CAUGHT them going over my lawn-theyve destroyed your property, the fact that its a sprinkler isnt the point)

I liked th idea earlier about a video camera if you have one. Tape the garbage, the kids on your property the drinking and late night partying(and driving if they are doing that).

If your renting and not buying, you may wantto consider somewhere else where you have more privacy.Ive gone through a nightmare neighbor ordeal myslef and I have no tolerance for stupid people.(If you do move make sure you get revenge as you go)

 

[MickeS]

Please keep us updated on the progress of this. It's very interesting.

/Mie

 

[KyleS]

ll in all, we now have some serious ammunition against our neighbor and I'm surely going to use it if need be

Just be careful Carl that you dont have things that could be used against you. Nothing worse then when you sling mud and it comes right back at you. :frowning:
Best of luck and make sure to keep us up to date on what is going on... Its like a soap opera unfolding here.
KyleS

 

[Ryan Wright]

Talk about insane. This is down right illegal to attempt to possibly inflict bodily harm. Some people can't handle a car with a low tire especially when cornering hard. Remember the Ford problem.

Oh, come on. The goal is not to cause a wreck, it's to inconvenience them. The "pebble in the stem cap" idea will cause the tire to go completely flat within a few hours, or at most, a day. The victim of this would notice immediately upon getting in the car - unless they got in the car within a few minutes of your doing this. The idea is that you go over in the middle of the night and the next morning, their tire is flat. They air it up, drive to work, lunch time comes along and it's flat again. It's like slashing their tires, only humanely: You get your sweet revenge without actually damaging their property (save for a 10 cent stem cap). I would never slash someone's tires or otherwise damage their property. I would, however, consider something like this if I were in the business of getting revenge.

 

[Jeremy Illingworth]

We also found out that there are a couple of violations next door. There's a big wooden shed (w/foundation) that is too close our property line in the back and a town violation. We also found out that our neighbors deck and pool are too close together as the deck is open to the pool so they can walk off the deck and right into the pool. Finally we also learned that the basketball hoop in this front driveway is also a violation as no basketball hoops, freestanding or permanent are permitted in front driveways on county roads.

I'm very impressed with your ability to get dirt on people. Where does one get this sort of information?

On a semi related note, I remembered a couple of stories grandpa told me. Both take place prewar when he was young. Once they found a dead cat in their yard, so they threw it over the fence to get rid of it. The next day it was thrown back in their yard. Then they took a rope, tied it to the cat's tail and threw it over the peak of the roof where it stayed for a long time. I guess their neighbours didn't have a ladder. Also, one time their neighbours pissed them off so they grew their hedge on that side of the house so tall that the neighbour got no light on that side of his house. I'm guessing that hedge height wasn't regulated or enforced then.

jeremy

 

[AviTevet]

Don't complain about or get someone to enforce things like the deck and the basketball hoop that have no impact on you. Unlike the shed, which is an eyesore, and the garbage, which is unhealthy, and the biking, which is destruction of property, it's none of your business. If you really think that it is, you might mention it somewhat like "hey, don't you think having the deck so close to the pool/basketball hoop in your driveway is a little unsafe? It might even be illegal."

 

[Mark Tranchant]

Oh, come on. The goal is not to cause a wreck, it's to inconvenience them. The "pebble in the stem cap" idea will cause the tire to go completely flat within a few hours, or at most, a day.

Ryan - and what happens if they go on a long, all-day drive somewhere? Really, people, physical revenge is not good. Don't sink to it.

We have a berberis hedge around our lawn to prevent kids taking shortcuts across it. Fairly attractive but unobtrusive, tough, about 18" high, lethal spines, needs trimming roughly once every three weeks in summer.

 

[aldamon]

I say nail them for all of the violations. You are new to the neighborhood and this schmuck is testing you and trying to see what he can get away with. Hammer him. Hazing is illegal