It's no fun having a crummy neighbor.
My wife and I fell in love with a home in the Desert Southwest several years ago. It was everything we wanted but for one thing... our rotten neighbor.
His house was in such a state of disrepair I was reluctant to walk on the east side of my home. I feared the neighbor's rusty swamp cooler would fall off its second floor perch and kill me. Then there were the four foot weeds, the storm drain in front of his house that would clog and flood the neighborhood during monsoon season, the trash, the cats, the overgrown trees. You get the picture.
Anyone else have stories to share?
9 Comments
Jim said:
I know the frustrations of having a difficult neighbor, but there is something you can do about it now. In a recent seattletimes or pi article rottenneighbor.com was discussed. Interesting site and a decent, although not 100% acurate way to take a look at the neighborhood and neighbors in an area before you move there. Best of luck.
Dan Rush said:
We had rotten neighbors, illegal aliens from Guatamala. Can you say "Illegal aliens" King5? As of late you've been covering up for them by calling them "imigrants" "Migrants" and refusing to report them as "Illegals" when they commit crimes, like burning a baby to death in a fire pit.
Must be that liberal law breaking mentality again.
unknown said:
You can always check the your local ordinances. In many areas, landowners can be warned, then fined for unsightly property.
friend said:
I know of a neighboor hood that has a certain individual that has done so much devisation to their property the State and the County have put a stop work order in. It looks like a tornado went through it. The natural path of water has been deverted and now sits 7ft below where it is suposed to exit the propery and is now a mosquito breeding ground. The health dept is also due to get involve from the exposed drain field. He has continuously pulled the stop work order signs and will not respond. Now is he vacated the state due to some serious recent accusations and since no one can get a hold of him, the property just sits.
Arlington woman said:
I have a neighbor that thinks he is above the law in many ways. He resently brought in a logging company to log huge trees that happen to be on wetlands. When the county posted stop work signs he just removed them. Now the county & the Department of Ecology cannot contact him because he has left the state. We are left with the mosquito farm that looks as if a tornado ripped through it, not to mention I can't remember the last time the lawn was mowed. I also read that he claimed he was a landscape designer for 10 years (I'm guessing that is not true). Since this guy has much bigger fish to fry I'm guessing his landscape is the last thing on his to do list.
a rotten neighbor said:
I guess I'm a rotten neighbor. 3 years ago my husband was diagnosed with cancer,and its been an uphill battle all the way. With 2 small children and a very sick husband to care for yardwork has become my last priority and the cost of hiring someone to do it is beyond our budget. I know our overgrown yard irritates my neighbors, it irritates me too, but I have more important things that I need to do. My neighbor has never asked if I need help or offered to help, he just shakes his head and gives me dirty looks whenever he sees me. Before you judge your neighbor find out why things have fallen in disrepair, and if the look of your neighbors house is so important to you offer to help.
Kari said:
horrible neighbors huh? I had some tweakers move in behind me and they would toss their garbage over the fence into our yard...my dog stepped on the glass and was gushing blood. The vet visit was a couple hundred...lovely. Their psycho pitbull broke through the fence we had just put up...ate my two pet rabbits and tried to attack my smaller lab that had just recently fell victim to a huge shard of glass. Cops did not a thing. Humane soceity did nothing. Their yard was too small for all the insane dogs they had. Never fed their kids..always came over asking for food. Then when they moved out they had torn out all the fixtures...cabinets...lighting...carpet..destroyed ahardwood...fridge...washer/dryer...gutted the place...Top that?...By the way we owned the property and could not legally kick them out til they didn't pay rent for so long....Looked for every loophole
peggy weeks said:
I have a nightmare neighbor that moved in over a year ago, took the old roof off and still has not replaced it, now it's covered with tarps. He stays up all night, so if he does work on it, it's after 6pm. His place looks like Katrina hit. He has not put out a garbage can in the time he has lived there. He has had to be told several times that he cannot run a band saw at 4 in the morning. What is a person to do?
Shelley said:
I have lived next two nigtmare neighbors for 5 years. It all started back in 2003. We bought the house on Nov. 1, 2002. My husband became deployed to Irag in Jan. 2003. He was gone for 6 months. When he returned he was finally able to clean up our yard. We have a lot of trees and so does our next door neighbors. All the trees were over grown. The neighbors tree limbs were hanging 30 feet into my yard. They are white pine trees. My husband asked the man next door if he would mind if we trimmed the branches off our property. He said we could cut anything hanging on our side. They also have a stockade fence inside the trees. My husband trimmed and actually made the trees healthy again. The woman who lives there saw the cut tree limbs that were still on the ground and came over to my house livid. She accused my husband of butchering her trees and destroying her fence. He did a great job and cleaned up everything afterwards. She went as far as to press charges against my husband for malicious damage to her fence and trees. The fence or trees were never damaged. We had to hire a lawyer and the case was dismissed. But ever since then these two "people" and I use the term "people" figurtively because they don't behave like decent human beings. They start bullying my children who are in my yard playing. I have 3 children, two girls, one boy. They especially targeted my son who was 11 at the time. The man would threaten to beat his ass. They would call him names. They tried to run him off the road when he was on his bike. I've called the police so many times but they never catch them in the act so they do nothing. They would harass me when I'm outside. I was called every filthy dirty name in the book. They bad mouth us to the other neighbors. I wanted to move but then my husband got redeployed for a second time. This time he was gone for a year. They stepped up their harassment and threats to me and my son. They told my son I hope your father gets shot in Iraq. My son's buddies were harassed too when they visited. Then their mothers wouldn't let their boys come over for fear of these pyschos. I ended up pressing charges for criminal harassment and threatening to commit a crime but they got off for lack of proof. My kids are teenagers now and they would move but the market is so bad. They don't want to leave their friends or school. So I would have to find somewhere to live in the same town. I just want to get out of this town and move as far away as possible from these rotten people. My family has been so emotionally damaged by these people. It has taken such a toll on my family. Your home is suppose to be the one place in this world where you can find peace and tranquility but I have never known this living in mine.
I know the frustrations of having a difficult neighbor, but there is something you can do about it now. In a recent seattletimes or pi article rottenneighbor.com was discussed. Interesting site and a decent, although not 100% acurate way to take a look at the neighborhood and neighbors in an area before you move there. Best of luck.
We had rotten neighbors, illegal aliens from Guatamala. Can you say "Illegal aliens" King5? As of late you've been covering up for them by calling them "imigrants" "Migrants" and refusing to report them as "Illegals" when they commit crimes, like burning a baby to death in a fire pit.
Must be that liberal law breaking mentality again.
You can always check the your local ordinances. In many areas, landowners can be warned, then fined for unsightly property.
I know of a neighboor hood that has a certain individual that has done so much devisation to their property the State and the County have put a stop work order in. It looks like a tornado went through it. The natural path of water has been deverted and now sits 7ft below where it is suposed to exit the propery and is now a mosquito breeding ground. The health dept is also due to get involve from the exposed drain field. He has continuously pulled the stop work order signs and will not respond. Now is he vacated the state due to some serious recent accusations and since no one can get a hold of him, the property just sits.
I have a neighbor that thinks he is above the law in many ways. He resently brought in a logging company to log huge trees that happen to be on wetlands. When the county posted stop work signs he just removed them. Now the county & the Department of Ecology cannot contact him because he has left the state. We are left with the mosquito farm that looks as if a tornado ripped through it, not to mention I can't remember the last time the lawn was mowed. I also read that he claimed he was a landscape designer for 10 years (I'm guessing that is not true). Since this guy has much bigger fish to fry I'm guessing his landscape is the last thing on his to do list.
I guess I'm a rotten neighbor. 3 years ago my husband was diagnosed with cancer,and its been an uphill battle all the way. With 2 small children and a very sick husband to care for yardwork has become my last priority and the cost of hiring someone to do it is beyond our budget. I know our overgrown yard irritates my neighbors, it irritates me too, but I have more important things that I need to do. My neighbor has never asked if I need help or offered to help, he just shakes his head and gives me dirty looks whenever he sees me. Before you judge your neighbor find out why things have fallen in disrepair, and if the look of your neighbors house is so important to you offer to help.
horrible neighbors huh? I had some tweakers move in behind me and they would toss their garbage over the fence into our yard...my dog stepped on the glass and was gushing blood. The vet visit was a couple hundred...lovely. Their psycho pitbull broke through the fence we had just put up...ate my two pet rabbits and tried to attack my smaller lab that had just recently fell victim to a huge shard of glass. Cops did not a thing. Humane soceity did nothing. Their yard was too small for all the insane dogs they had. Never fed their kids..always came over asking for food. Then when they moved out they had torn out all the fixtures...cabinets...lighting...carpet..destroyed ahardwood...fridge...washer/dryer...gutted the place...Top that?...By the way we owned the property and could not legally kick them out til they didn't pay rent for so long....Looked for every loophole
I have a nightmare neighbor that moved in over a year ago, took the old roof off and still has not replaced it, now it's covered with tarps. He stays up all night, so if he does work on it, it's after 6pm. His place looks like Katrina hit. He has not put out a garbage can in the time he has lived there. He has had to be told several times that he cannot run a band saw at 4 in the morning. What is a person to do?
I have lived next two nigtmare neighbors for 5 years. It all started back in 2003. We bought the house on Nov. 1, 2002. My husband became deployed to Irag in Jan. 2003. He was gone for 6 months. When he returned he was finally able to clean up our yard. We have a lot of trees and so does our next door neighbors. All the trees were over grown. The neighbors tree limbs were hanging 30 feet into my yard. They are white pine trees. My husband asked the man next door if he would mind if we trimmed the branches off our property. He said we could cut anything hanging on our side. They also have a stockade fence inside the trees. My husband trimmed and actually made the trees healthy again. The woman who lives there saw the cut tree limbs that were still on the ground and came over to my house livid. She accused my husband of butchering her trees and destroying her fence. He did a great job and cleaned up everything afterwards. She went as far as to press charges against my husband for malicious damage to her fence and trees. The fence or trees were never damaged. We had to hire a lawyer and the case was dismissed. But ever since then these two "people" and I use the term "people" figurtively because they don't behave like decent human beings. They start bullying my children who are in my yard playing. I have 3 children, two girls, one boy. They especially targeted my son who was 11 at the time. The man would threaten to beat his ass. They would call him names. They tried to run him off the road when he was on his bike. I've called the police so many times but they never catch them in the act so they do nothing. They would harass me when I'm outside. I was called every filthy dirty name in the book. They bad mouth us to the other neighbors. I wanted to move but then my husband got redeployed for a second time. This time he was gone for a year. They stepped up their harassment and threats to me and my son. They told my son I hope your father gets shot in Iraq. My son's buddies were harassed too when they visited. Then their mothers wouldn't let their boys come over for fear of these pyschos. I ended up pressing charges for criminal harassment and threatening to commit a crime but they got off for lack of proof. My kids are teenagers now and they would move but the market is so bad. They don't want to leave their friends or school. So I would have to find somewhere to live in the same town. I just want to get out of this town and move as far away as possible from these rotten people. My family has been so emotionally damaged by these people. It has taken such a toll on my family. Your home is suppose to be the one place in this world where you can find peace and tranquility but I have never known this living in mine.