Jaak writes:

Our neighbor has problems. In his head.

He's had issues to the point where other neighbours have moved out of their houses. We decided to stand our ground. My father was a concentration campsurvivor, so pfft to my neighbor.

In 2005 he punctured our central air conditioning unit. Our househeated up to 40 C. The windows aren't built for a window airconditioning unit. We hired a contractor. The hose for the freon ran along the property line. Our neighbor chased him off.

Now we also have a son, who was 6 months old at the time. The police get involved, as the necessities of life are within their jurisdiction (remember that kid who died of heatstroke when it was 40 C? If not, rest assured the police do). The repair was finally taken care of while the police restrained him.

Now my neighbor stalks me while I drop off my son to daycare. He and his wife have done this 6 times in the past year. The police say they need more than this. In the meantime, he's paved over 1/4 of our front lawn for his car. The police say that is a civil matter. I hired a surveyor to make sure of our property and the related rights. When they attempted to take the measurements he physically threatened one of them. The police were called but they didn't fine or charge him for interfering. Some people thinks it is because he's a retired cop.

Now he likes to point his finger like it's a gun and then say "pow". I hate this. I can't get a fence until I get a survey, and I can't get a survey because he threatens physical interference and no one will doanything. Advice is appreciated.

Ca1v1n Replies:

First sorry it took me a month to get this posted, I was attempted to organize my inbox and well nevermind... got lost in the shuffle. Your best bet for getting a survey in my opinion would be to have it done while he is on vacation or out of the house. Now, this may be difficult to arrange, however if you have read the Harry Potter series of books you may be familiar with a particular trick. Harry's uncle and aunt were sent a letter saying they had won the "Best Lawn" competition and to come to a certain place at a certain time to pick up their prize. This of course was a trick, but it allowed Harry to get snuck out of the house by his friends from Hogwarts. Something as simple as this may work. Perhaps two phony tickets to a "Fraternal Order of Policemans Dinner" at City Hall or something of that nature. Get the survey done and the fence built ASAP after that (same day if possible). I also recommend you get some video footage of the violent hand gestures.

This reminds me of something that happened to my father-in-law. He had a 10 year battle with his neighbour over a property line. Every year the survey was done and the property line marked. Every year the survey confirmed what my father-in-law believed to be the accurate properly line (which the neighbour contested). Once the markers were put in the ground the neighbour promptly moved them 2 feet to the right... every year for 10 years.

Finally two years ago (by some strange coincidence) the person doing the survey turned out to be a "golf-buddy" of the neighbour. Suddenly after 10 years the survey indicated the property line was 2 feet to the right of where it had been. THE SAME DAY the survey was done my father-in-law arrived home to find a fence had been built. They had literally put it up in a matter of a couple hours.

Turns out the neighbour had everything planned. Had all the materials sitting in his garage ready to go. Now the lawyer said my father-in-law would probably win if it went to court, but all things considered, why not just forget about the whole thing. This isn't a city lot, but a large rural lot (we are talking 200' in size) so 2 feet one way or another does not really matter. He got a free (and very nice) fence out of the deal and would have many thousands of $ in legal fees even if he did win. So he washed his hands of the whole thing.

This would never work in a urban area, where lot sizes are small and 2 feet can make a huge difference.

Jazzman writes:

A year ago my new neighbors bought the house right next door. They have a mixed bag of people in their marriage and their house. The mother is a quiet, keep to herself, "I don't hear anything or see anything" kind of parent. In other words the teenage kids can do whatever they want to whoever they want and its OK. She works nights and so does her husband.

Since they have moved in we have had "accidental" paintballs hit our car. Our house was also egged. Now as of this morning...

It was about 10 AM. I went out to my car to go take my daughter to go shopping. When I get to my car I find toothepaste on and under my door handles. Instantly pissed I went looking for the teenage kids. Well the 2 girls were in their front yard talking. I asked the one girl if I could talk to her. She instantly said "Why?" in a really snotty tone. I said I need to ask her a question. I told her about the toothepaste (because thats all I had noticed so far). She claimed innocence, "We didn't do anything..leave us alone! Quit talking to me, etc." I went in the house and got my husband.

He came out and said a few things to them while I took pictures of my car. Then I noticed some other things. Like toothepaste on my lawn chairs, my mailbox had dog poop on it and a waterpump I have for decoration on front was wearing a Depends diaper. (That actually sounds pretty funny, wish I could see a picture - Ca1v1n)

My daughter left her boom box outside and someone had poured soda in it. We also found empty soda cans and cigarettes all over my front yard. Then I noticed they had egged my husbands car. I was ready to choke them.

I cleaned my car off and went to the police station and reported it. By the time I got home the parents were home and talking to my husband. They all believed it was the 2 or possibly 3 of the teenage girls visiting there last night. We also found a notebook my daughters had left outside and these girls wrote all sorts of disgusting and nasty things in it. When the police arrived I showed him my pictures and the notebook so it would all be on record.

I just wish they would move and leave us the hell alone!

Jesse writes:

Well I live in a decent enough apartment, good location. I moved in around 4 months ago on a Friday. That night the lady next to me blasted the music all night. It sounded like her speakers where right next to my head, well no big deal it was a Friday but it has been an everyday and every night thing since. People (men) always coming and going all hours of the night with a fight at least once a week, its like a bunch of dogs fighting over a piece of meat!

When she decides to leave the house and people come knocking and she don’t answer they end up knocking on my door and I don’t even know these losers. I answer the door to some dead head wondering if I know where she is, give me a freaking break! I even had one guy come looking for her and then he ask me if he could move in my place and pay half the rent! WTF! That set me off and he hasn’t been back since. I

I cant even walk out of this place without someone asking if I want to buy some pills or walk out into some kind of drama. I have lived in this town for 20 some years and have never seen anything like this. The sad part of it all is she has 2 kids which I feel sorry for which brings me to my next rant. She seems to lose her kids often and stands outside screaming her kids name when she could just get off her butt and go look or tell them not to leave the yard.

I noticed on your site a lot of people have problems like this what the hell is wrong with people there is just no respect for others anymore. For anyone out there that plays music like that, may you all go deaf! Before I do anyway.

Neighbours 911 Casting Call

New reality show for Court TV is looking for stories and drama between you & your neighbors. The camera crew would come to YOU but you have to be living within 1 hour of NYC.

If selected you (and your neighbor) would be compensated $1500 for sharing your story on the show and the host would make some sort of ruling as to who's in the right. The 'winner' is compensated with some additional money up to $3000 depending on the issue at hand.

Let the shows mediator listen to both sides and offer up a solution. If you've been dealing with some pretty ridiculous folks next door you DESERVE that money.

I would LOVE to hear the stories of anyone interested in participating in the show. It's been difficult finding people who have neighbors from hell so I'm hoping that some of you might want to share your madness with us. You can certainly post here or email me your contact info & story to Lizlewiscasting@gmail.com. Thanks for listening. I hope to hear from some of you soon!

Nikki Vitale
Casting Associate
Liz Lewis Casting Partners
129 W 20th NY, NY
10010
212-645-1500 x117

Name Withheld By Request writes:

I happened upon your blog as I was searching the internet, attempting to try to comfort myself with the thought that there must be people suffering with worse neighbours than I am....

Ca1v1n Replies...

I've removed the rest of the post at the request of the sender who got cold feet and is paranoid her neighbours are going to axe murder her or something. I have mixed feelings about this. For one, once you send me something I'm of the opinion you have given up any right to decide how I use it. Regardless, the person asked nicely so I have removed the post. On top of that, once something is on the Internet it is there forever thanks to things like Google cache or other services. Once something is tossed into the electronic sea there is always a way to find it again. I know this first hand because there are a few newsgroup postings from 1996 that I regret something horrible.

Name Withheld by Request writes:

I have lived in my very nice house in CENSORED with my husband for 5 years and the "neighbours" moved in two years ago after my very cool first nieghbour moved away. They understood that there was a hole in my fence so the stray cats I look after could crawl through it. I inherited this issue from my last nieghbour who was very kind and a friend to these animals. There are only 2 anyway and sleep in my shed spending most of their time on my property and have no way damaged anything next door. So after two years of peaceful existence the "old man" nailed a bunch of chicken wire to my wooden fence and to my hundred year old Elm tree. When we asked him to move it he was very rude and said no one was going to tell him what to do on his "f-ing" property. Problem is our fence is not on the exact property line and we own a few feet beyond it. Something he overlooked because as his wife pointed out to me "they paid cash for their house and didn't need a survey".

These aren't stupid people on paper but their naivete is amazing. We had a survey done to show them their error and delivered a lawyers letter which we hoped would prompt a compromise (since we were told not to trespass). My husband got a call from Mr. Crazy threatening to cut down most of my Elm tree which hangs on his side of the fence and call the Humane Society to trap and kill the strays I look after. His idea of compromise is threats which he has done before for little things he overreacted about. We've been keeping track of all his nonsense and determined he was a loose cannon long ago. Obviously he and his Uber Frau whom I thought was my friend know how to hurt me to get what they want. Nice people. They got their compromise with a another legal letter. We figure this nutcase was so angry we called a lawyer because apparently he thinks that because he is a doctor he is above the rest of humanity. We intend on replacing the fence and taking the full property line in the next year or two.

This week Mr. Crazy decided to spray paint his deck in the wind and the overspray was drifting toward my very expensive house. When I very politely pointed this out he said he was finished anyway and turned around to spray his last couple of feet. He basically ignored me because I am a woman so I will have my husband call him and let him know there was no damage this time but could he consider not spraying on a windy day next time? He is just ignorant. He is not considerate of other peoples property and cares only for himself. No one else on the street even knows their names they are so self absorbed and selfish. I am hoping to never speak to them again and live my quiet life. They are not noisy which seems to be a major complaint for other peoples problems but someone who disrespects you and your property is a lousy neighbour.