From the article: Landscaping Considerations When Buying a House
The more time you spend in your yard, the more you expose your life to your neighbors. While many of us seek a backyard oasis from our landscaping, a haven where we can commune with nature and experience a feeling of serenity, the reality is that bad neighbors can send serenity packing in a hurry! We hate to admit it, but the people who live around us have veto power over our backyard fun.
Most all of us have a horror story to tell regarding bad neighbors. Maybe it's a mild annoyance you remember, such as a bad neighbor whose chronic complaining could make a sunny day seem gloomy. Or perhaps it's something worse you recall: e.g., has a bad neighbor ever threatened you with a frivolous law suit?
Share Your Stories
Burnin' Bob, Bad Neighbor
- In a neighborhood of homes on wooded lots, this guy vacuums the forest floor and then burns whatever he gleans from the bag. That means the neighbors [us] who live nearby are subjected to his toxic waste emissions. He has the heart of a true pyromaniac. To counter the emissions, we installed air conditioning for us and our pet birds who could die if they inhaled his burning fun. His yard resembles a moonscape, but he always finds something else to burn.....
- —Ronni92
Surrounded by Bad Neighbors
- I have bad neighbors all around me. One neighbor constantly is putting Roundup on his yard to the point that his yard is now a toxic waste dump. We have what we believe is a drug dealing punk in the same court, but it hasn't been proven yet (but when you see cars coming at all times of the day and night you begin to wonder). They also have yappy dogs that are known to run loose and leave deposits on neighboring lawns. I have a neighbor on one side that isn't quite so bad as the toxic dump neighbor but she did put weed killer on her lawn without giving thought to plants that were on my side, and she killed half my favorite lilac. I don't use chemicals on my yard because I like the wildlife that roams (squirrels, rabbits and lots of birds). We've even had deer come running through. I can tell you the buck didn't stop here long. One neighbor decided that she didn't like all the vegetation around her house and pulled it all out. Now the yard just sits there looking barren and plain.
- —Guest ellen
13 Years of Harassment From Bad Neighbor
- The day I met my new neighbor he was standing in his front yard. I went up to the fence that divides our property and introduced myself. He looked at me like I was a huge bug or something, backed away from me and never spoke to me again. He has a corner lot and I am his only neighbor. He has complained about me so often I have lost track. He lies. He complains that I NEVER cut the grass, that I have a car rusting in my backyard. First off, there is no way to get a car in my backyard, plus I don't drive and have never owned a car. Today, after working on my yard for the last two days, edging the lawn, planting and trimming the hedge, I get a visit from City Hall. He has complained once again, I have garbage on my driveway, a bed, etc. What I had on my driveway was bundles of twigs ready for garbage pick up on Friday morning and some wood for a fence I'm building this coming Sunday. This man looks at me the same way he did since day one and never stops watching every move I make.
- —Guest Annette
Stupid, Bad Neighbours in Australia
- I'm only 15 and live in Australia, but my neighbours have recently become a pain. They play constant loud music and have started to dump dead palm leaves into our back yard claiming that "it fell by nature." Obviously I was upset that my mum has to deal with this kinda stuff, and today she just had enough and stormed over there, and since she is Chinese and doesn't understand English very well, I had to speak to the neighbours' mother -- who is a nice person but seriously needs to control her immature children. So I was speaking to her about it, but then all of a sudden her daughters come out and start swearing at me using the "it fell by nature" excuse again, and the younger one started calling my mum names and saying she's gonna punch her (and stuff all this trash talk), and then the oldest one, who looked like she hasn't had a shower in 2 years, starts saying she's going to get her "cousin," Sonny (who happens to be one of my friends) to bash me. These people are unbelievable.
- —Guest Alan
Bad Neighbor Story: Hockey Horror
- I live in a neighborhood where a hockey clique rules. This past year has been an experience that we will never forget. The teenage boys who live across the street thought that our driveway and backyard was their personal playground. We asked them not to use our driveway, and that in turn got my newly planted plants in my vegetable beds rocked. This later led to me being assaulted with a garden hose, which split open my ear, and collapsed a vein in my eye. I also was egged, had water balloons thrown at my roof, and FU written on my driveway. The family next to us let their dogs use our yard as their bathroom, while their children used our yard as their playground. We fenced, and the 3-year old from next door said she ought to slit our throats. My vegetable garden was poisoned with a 4-chemical mixture, and my new cedar fence was spray painted "4-sale". I am amazed at the number of people in the neighborhood who have caught these people doing things, but refuse to call the police.
- —Guest Joliet
Bad Neighbors Have No Landscaping
- We have a neighbor that has a terrible yard -- they hardly mow their grass and there isn't any landscaping at all in there yard. All of their weeds are now coming into our yard. In addition, when my brothers and sisters came home from school, they were having a neighborhood party in our backyard for their 2 year old. They said that they do not have any room to host a party like that in their yard because they have too much stuff. My sister told them to leave and then they called the police. We now have a no trespassing sign in our back yard. After speaking to an attorney, we were told that no one should be in your back yard if you are not home. It is called trespassing and that, if it continues, we will have to file additional documentation for the destruction of our property.
- —justin32
Dog Feces in My Front Yard
- I had a neighbor 3 houses up the street who led his big mutt out every morning at 6 am. This dog defecated at least 4-5 times a week in our front yard, and it always was a big load. So, I started to fill a 5 gal. bucket with it and one night went up to his front door dumping it all over. A note on the door said: This is all your dog's feces left in our front yard. Next time all this s**t will be dumped on your car! I see this guy now walking his dog with a scooper.
- —Guest Helmut
Bad Neighbors, Dogs: Other Side of Fence
- I have lived in my home for about 15 yrs. I have dogs -- Pekingese and Carins. My one neighbor is targeted by my dogs because with any little barking, he yells and screams. He yells obscenities, etc. I have tried to have conversations with him, informing him that the more he yells, the more they will bark. They do not target the other side of the fence with barking and the other neighbors have activity in their yard, as they have a daycare. Our lot is large: at least one acre. His behavior is unpredictable and erratic, he threatens me and the dogs. I have called the police at least 5 times, consulted with animal control etc. I am always told there is nothing they can do. Most recently, he kicked in a portion of the fence. The police told me he had a right to do whatever to his fence. I cannot believe this. I would like to put up a cement fence; does anyone have any opinions about this? I know this will be costly, but I want and need the privacy. At least a cement fence cannot be kicked in.
- —Guest Pyyper
For a New Neighbor TV-Show
- I'm an LA-based casting director doing preliminary research for a new TV pilot that aims to solve neighborly conflicts in a neighborly way. I'm hoping you could help me get in touch with anyone interested in this topic, so they can reach me directly. You can check out our website www.metalflowersmedia.com to review our casting credits and e-mail at ivette@metalflowersmedia.com if interested. Many thanks, Ivette
- —Guest LOOKING FOR STORIES
Story From the Other Side of the Fence
- I think a lot of "bad neighbor" stories here are actually FROM the "bad neighbors." What are you doing looking into other people's properties and complaining they are "junk piles." Or, worse, complaining about their dogs barking? Dogs bark. Get used to it. And what in the HELL are you doing looking into your neighbor's yard to find something to complain about? I think it is YOU that are actually the BAD "neighbor," as you are NO "neighbor" at all. You're just a whiner who hates animals, and a peeping tom at that.
- —Guest sugar
Worst In the Bad Neighbor Landscape
- Ronald and Coleen are horrible people. They had her mother, who is in a wheel chair, live with them after the father died. Six months later they throw the old woman out! Who does this to family? What kind of people are they? This, to me, shows what type of people they are. The old woman is an invalid, her husband dies and they do this! They have this pretend life they live. They want people to think they are "good people". I hear them night after night. They are crazy and the wife, well I just cannot put into words what a horrible human being she is. I always say what goes around, comes around! Hope it is soon.
- —Guest carrie
Puppy Mill
- I have lived in my country home for 21 years and the last 8 years have been awful. Our neighbor sold a piece of his land to people who have put in a puppy mill (1/8th of mile from us). We have spent a lot of time and effort in trying to get these people to do something about the over 200 dogs barking. The response from these awful people is "we don't care". Is there some kind of barrier wall that we can put in our backyard so we can at least sit outside?
- —Guest Jay Lynn
Bad Neighbor Lets Dog Bark All Night
- I have a crazy old lady next door. She lets a Labrador retriever bark all night. She has had several neighbors ask her to bring the dog in at night. She won't do it, she claims he is a moose in the house. This is a lady who also prances around in a negligee, and does not wear any underwear. She is older, in her late 60s or 70s. She is outside in her negligee when the school bus pulls up in the morning. The school bus driver and I would have called the police, but there is another little old guy who walks his dog and pees in front of the school bus. The bus driver thought we should call the police on him instead. Anyway, if anyone ever tells you Henderson is paradise, just remember the story about the crazy old people flashing people and their barking dogs.
- —Guest MTbaby
Got You All Beat
- When it comes to stories about bad neighbors, I've got you all beat. My story is this: thirty feet off my property line my neighbor moved into an old, ratty trailer used for storage. There's no septic, well, electric. There's an outhouse. It's all legal in Fannin County, Georgia.
- —Guest KelleeKaye
Nextdoor Newbies With Attitude
- So the neighbors next door moved in after we were well established and their attitude was immediately apparent. We used the front of our house for our teens' cars but they parked there. And when asked to please move them to their empty driveway or empty space in front of their house, they got mad. It only escalated. They had frequent parties with loud music playing into the night, and we put up with it for a couple of years until his 30th birthday (well named a "white trash party") went late with loud music. So when asked to turn down the music, the drunk partiers said NO and someone tried to damage our car and their party came equipped with a visit from the police. Since then we have had vandalism in our side yard, rose bushes being cut down, others being sprayed with something, the edge of my yard being sprayed with something that killed the grass, lit cigarette butts thrown at my wooden arbor, beer cans tossed into my landscaping. We have security cam now and they fuss about that and do dances for us now and show everyone who comes over. Wish they'd move.
- —Deeju
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