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Out of control neighbor problem
Is there anything a person can do when their next-door neighbor is out-of-control and not quite in touch with reality? Is my only choice to give up my home, take a financial loss, and go elsewhere?
I finally had it when I had to “celebrate” 4th of July weekend watching him shoot large, airborne (illegal) fireworks over my horses' paddock for amusement. Horses are prey animals and loud noises will cause them to bolt. The horses would just settle down again and another explosion would go off right over their head, BOOM! They'd run in a blind panic again. They ended up sweaty, stressed, and unable to eat for hours.
I went over to talk, one mature adult to another, since he didn’t seem to understand what he was doing. A 1100 and 1700 lb pound animal can get into a lot of trouble if forced to stampede repeatedly, and it was only a matter of time before one got impaled on something, busted through a fence, or somehow hurt themselves or caused damage. He seemed to understand. I walked back and got as far as my front door before the next explosion went off. Now the fireworks were being aimed right over my home’s roof! I went back over to plead with him to stop. His just-as-nasty wife interrupts me to tell me to go the hell home.
I finally called the police… twice. They never showed up.
I’d complain to the HOA in the context this is a Deed Restriction violation, but he is president of the HOA. And even know I am VP, we’d never get a fair hearing in a neighborhood with only 6 lots. (I will NEVER buy a house with Deed Restrictions again! They simply don't work)
This is just one act of aggression of many. The guy bought the first lot when the subdivision was created and he enjoying doing what he pleased for a year or two. I think he resented losing “his” open land where he used to ride his horses, target practice, hunt, whatever.
He’s gone to far as to call the authorities with any lies and stories just to get them to act. For example I had an investigator from the Motor Vehicles out here on a complaint that I had illegally affixed someone else’s dealer tags on my cars?! I did no such thing and have never had a dealer plate on any of my vehicles. It was just embarrassing to have a guy from the State come by and question me and inspect all my cars.
He’s gone to the neighbors with a letter outlining outlandish claims of Deed Restrictions he says I violate. He uses the old-standby argument of “decreasing everyone’s property values” to argue his point. I don't think I am doing anything awful. None of the other neighbors have ever said anything to me about anything I’ve ever done wrong. He’s just rationalizing his anger.
The funny thing is that right now he’s breaking at least 6 Deed Restrictions and a few more if you count the not-so-clearly defined ones. He runs a horse boarding business from his little 2 acre pasture. He has too many horses/acre boarded there anyway. He doesn’t mow his own backyard or horse areas. He leaves their manure out. He brings tractor trailer cabs home. He throws wild, noisy parties sometimes. He plants hedges that exceed Deed Restriction height but still complains at me about my choice of shrubbery. He built a barn that doesn't follow Deed Restriction guidelines. His dogs run at large and are known to bark outside late at night. His “barn cats” run at large and have actually taken a dump in my cars if the windows are left open!
I can ignore the annoying things he does. I believe in "live and let live". I know I may not always love the things a next-door neighbor does. But I draw the line when he *intentionally* terrorizes my horses & dog, shoots explosive devices at my home, lies to anyone he can to get me in trouble, and then refuses to speak to me.
What would you do? Would you move? Ignoring him isn't working by itself.
I hate to say it but I’ve been thinking of amusing pranks to play on him (harmless ones, ones he couldn’t prove I did)… I need to vent my frustration and to stop being so angry. Any ideas ?
I did put in a plant barrier between me and him since privacy fences aren’t allowed. It helped for awhile and helped buffer his noise & view. But 2 weeks ago they came over complaining about that, too! It was growing too well. They didn’t like the plants leaning, growing into, or being so close to "their" property line.
A friend told me to start acting really insane when I am in view of him & his wife. Act normal around the rest of the neighbors. He’ll start to worry I really am irrational and maybe he’d leave me alone.
Help!
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Out of control neighbor problem
Thanks for replies & tips!
I should've videotaped the fireworks- good idea. Sometimes you get so mad you can't think straight. I'm going to keep camcorder handy from now on.
I think I'll take a few photos of the back of his home so if he drags me in front of the HOA or lawyers, I can show them his standards. He's the type to keep his front yard immaculate and have dogcrap and weeds for a backyard which only I get to see.
I can't afford a $1500 for a special video camera, and even if I wanted it I'd need several cause the property line on his side is really 450'. Honestly the problem with him isn't so much him tresspassing but rather the trouble he causes from his own front porch or telephone.
I was just outside measuring for a fence.
I'm also looking at real estate ads just to see what's out there.Land in Cecil Co is overvalued and a 10-20 acre parcel w/house may cost $500-$900k+. I REALLY wish I could relocate to somewhere rural like Kentucky or Carolinas. I've seen 150 acre farms there w/barns, pond, and everything for $150-200k.
You all who live in rural areas are so fortunate. What I wouldn't give for a 30 acre farm in a peaceful county town!
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Out of control neighbor problem
"Looks to me like the two of you have called the cops / authorities so many times that they are experiencing feuding neigbour fatigue"
Nah this is actually the first time I called anyone about him. Despite my complaining to you all, I don't like to cause trouble for others.
If he called the cops on me before I wasn't aware of it. He likes to be sneakier calling Motor Vehicles, the HOA, and probably other little government agencies... it's the best he can do since I never break any laws.
"Sorry to hear about the horse experience on independence day next time you may want to drug them up a bit so that it is less stressfull on them, also put the dogs inside"
Dog WAS inside, still terrifed & barking. I couldn't get to sleep for work because of the barking and the noise.
You can't imagine how loud these fireworks were, even inside the house. They must've been overstock from the dynamite factory they were THAT loud. I've been to community fireworks displays before and never heard such noise. I think the nummy was using the largest size he could get and detonating them too low.
Horses are a tough problem to solve. Decent tranqilizers require a vet, especially cause one of them is an older draft. Not easy to get a vet out on a holiday Sunday night. Somehow I don't see him offering to pay the $150 vet visit for this either. And either way he never gives notice when he's going to be a butthead, so I can't plan ahead.
2ndHandLion -- where is this property? just curious
"On top of this I am paying $9K in real estate taxes "
I fainted when I saw this. How do they expect anyone to be able to make ends meet with such a huge tax burden?!
One of my fears of staying here is that when the house is paid off, by then the property taxes will be so high I'll need a 2nd job just to keep my own home. The government is out of control!
My last house, a historic house in a small town in Delaware, had a tax bill of about $500 a year including Town taxes... but that was 8-9 years ago.
Would anyone object if I caught his cats, dyed them purple, and let them loose to go back home?
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