That is awful! And disgusting!
It is a great shame that our world is so full of people who just have to make trouble. It is always a wonder to me how people can get so angry for no real reason; your neighbors got upset because they were in the wrong and they got cought doing something they shouldn't.
There is a nice lady on the Cottage Garden forum who has a bad neighbor situation like you. Every time she goes out to garden the people go out and yell at her, or send thier kids or dogs out to harass her. And they keep piles of garbage in their back yard that attracts bears. She even thinks that these people sprayed poison on part of her garden.

You are my kind of person Terry. I always try to be as level-headed and diplomatic as possible. It drives me batty when others can't at least keep a cool head.
Lol! Yes you could sell them on Ebay....but you would have to mention that they were only partially house-broken!
CMK

I have neighbor is horrible as well. He's called the town on us for everything - primarily because I have a garden! We've been praying every Sunday that they move to a condo in FL. So we feel your pain. Thank goodness the inspector was able to come through for you guys and at least take care of that issue.

As for the gal in Canada, I had read her thread as well - the horrible neighbors were deliberately spraying her beautiful garden with roundup, I believe, and the police apparently can't do anything to stop them.

Sorry to hear about your problems. I ignore all the neighbors we have had for the most part and they return the favor.

But years ago (Sometime back when I was in highschool, I believe) my family had neighbor problems. They had 3 young children and had recently moved in, and the children delighted at throwing rocks at our dogs. We had medium sized terriers that never bothered anyone and rarely barked. At one point we could not even let them out into the backyard. The father of the family was a policeman, but he did not seem to care. Our family confronted theirs about it and they got defensive. Of course their children could do no wrong! But their children did not bother the dogs much after that so I think they listened even if they did not acknowledge it.

They may have beat there own dogs (something I strongly disapprove of in and of itself), but it is never alright to let your children terrorize other people's pets. One of the dogs who was a puppy at the time never got over it and to this day has a distinct fear of any strangers.

I can so relate to the barking dogs. I created a beautiful retreat in my yard but never can enjoy because the neighborhood is filled with barking dogs. They think you are crazy when you complain. Can't hear the birds, can't enjoy the pond...

Twroz, it sounds like you have handled the conflict with your neighbors with patience and diplomacy (if not having to get your nose brown a little!). They sound like obstinant whackjobs who want to live the way THEY want to live. They don't want to follow the "rules" but guess who's the first one to go running and crying to government when a problem happens to THEM? And with their hands out.

You did the right thing, it was critical that the lack of septic system be addressed. The sanitation inspectors around here in metro-west Boston do not fool around, that sort of thing would receive a prompt response. There is a guy who works in the town where I own a rental property, who responds to a homeowner's cordial greeting by standing there with his clipboard and an imposing stare, then says "I'm not here to be your friend." (He could work on his demeanor a bit.)

My neighbors are mostly reasonable, and although I can't stand their constant noisy mowers, blowers, clippings, whackers, etc. every weekend, that is just the normal stuff you have to tolerate. (Want at least 5 acres at my next place.) But last year, my next-door neighbor went over the top when he called the police on the day I was hosting a PLANT SWAP, no less, because of the parking cluster. Ugh.

We all seem to have had some ungood neighbor experiences. I think I would have snapped if someone threw rocks at my pets. I have trouble controlling my protective nature when it comes to my cats.

Our biggest neighbor issue at the moment is the woman who owns the rental next door to us. She rents out the house on the property and used the remaining half acre as her personal junkyard. It has become so overgrown I live in fear someone will discard a cigarette butt over there. I learned this summer that she stopped making payments and the place is now in foreclosure. I never thought I would be grateful for anyone's misfortune but this could be a good thing for everyone. The house will be sold in a Trustee's sale in January and I pray daily that someone normal and conscientious will move in next door. That's not too much to ask for is it:)?

Kate

I live in a very nice neighborhood, but I have the distinct misfortune of having the ONLY neighbor in the entire subdivision who has never installed a yard in the eight years the house has existed. The home has been through four different families, I think, and none have done it. I have this wonderful landscape I'm developing over the years, but seeing the weeds, rocks, dirt, sand piles, etc. right next to it ruins the experience.

I've offered to help them with the yard, but it seems to slightly offend them. They're nice enough and keep to themselves, but I sure wish I could see some green next door after all these years! Any suggestions?

I suppose everyone is bound to have at least one annoying neighbor in thier lifetime.

-hi stevation! I know what you mean. The person next to me keeps his back grass beautifully green, but lets the front dry up! He doesn't care what other people think of the front. I am not quite sure I understand that. But it happens. It may be annoying to you to look at, but just think of what a stranger sees. Your place will look like a little oasis in comparison.

I am not sure there is anything you could do, since they are not interested in fixing anything. You could always 'accidentally' spill some flower seed over there, or 'accidentally' have some nice groundcover from you yard creep into thiers.
But I think your best bet would be to plant some shrubs or tall plants in your yard to block the view. You could also put up a trellis or something of the sort.
CMK

We moved because of a neighbour two doors down who's main goal in life was to terrorize the neighbour next to him and us. He did all kinds of aweful things to his immediate neighbour - once pouring engine oil on a new deck - but since it couldn't be proved, nothing could be done. In our case we would find him staring at our house with his binoculars from his deck in the evenings and sometimes find him on our property when we would return home. Creepy. He would throw his leaves in our backyard with his garbage, tantalize our dogs, threaten to kill our indoor cats if they ever got on his property, etc.

My neighbour and I sold at the same time and a police officer bought my neighbour's house. Since then, Dave, the bad guy, was arrested and charged. He didn't know the guy who bought the place was an officer...

Moved to a rural area with 2/3 acre surrounded by old growth forest and neighbours that all would dearly love to have. One neighbour plows our driveway when the snow is thick, another brings wood for our woodstove when he clears old trees, another brings in her dogs if they've been barking too much, etc. It's called kindness and respect and I don't take it for granted - ever. I often thank the powers that be that it exists in my corner of the world.

Tiffy:

You know I'm glad you spoke up. About your good neighbors as well as bad. Although the bad sounds horrid. What in the name of god is wrong with people anyway?

Despite my above description of the bad neighbor we do have several that are great. People who have offered to help us put a new roof on our house, helped us move furniture, look after our house while we are gone, made us homemade Christmas presents, invited us to their homes for parties and gatherings. It is easy to note the bad because it affects us so but we do also have some very nice neighbors.

Appreciate the reminder.

Kate

Stevation, it doesn't sound like there is much that you can do with the neighboring property, unless you can sweet-talk your neighbors into letting you help them landscape part of it. I can't believe that 4 sets of neighbors have done nothing with it - maybe they just don't have the money to afford such a major landscaping project.

In the meantime it seems that your only option is to screen the view. You could put up some kind of fence or plant a mixed shrub/tree border. If you have good sun, a relatively quick, easy and inexpensive way of blocking the view is to put up a long, tall trellis system and/or perhaps an arbor, and grow vines on them. This can even be built with natural wood, and cost no $$. I am experimenting with growing several vines, and started 4 perennial vines and 3 annual vines from seed this year. The perennial vines are slow growing, but annuals vines can grow fast and will provide a nice screen in late summer/fall, and into the winter if you leave the foliage. The Cardinal climber grew very vigorously to at least 15 feet, and a bonus was that the Hummers loved it!

Stevation, if itÂs a subdivision, not a rural property, is there a municipality in charge? There may be a zoning that covers a lack of landscaping. I know in ours there is. It does not tell people what kind of landscaping they have to have, but that they must have something, at minimum maintained grass or groundcover. If they didnÂt legislate something, developers might walk away as soon as the house was built. ThatÂs why it was enacted, but residents have since used it against people with yards full of weeds or bare dirt.

Thanks for the advice folks. Sure, it's nothing like the original poster's sewer nightmare! But it is a problem.

Yeah, I already have a visual screen with a row of sand cherry shrubs along the property line, and medium-sized trees on either end of the row. And in the backyard, we have a six-foot fence that blocks the view from the ground level (not from inside the house, though).

It's not too bad from our front yard, because of the shrub border, but it does bother me as I drive up to the house and have to look at it all the time.

Our city does have a landscaping ordinance, and I actually helped to write it (I was on a city commission for a number of years). I think the neighbor has paid some fines and will continue to get fined but perhaps the cost of landscaping is still too high to make it worth doing to avoid the fine. I don't want to be harsh about it, because a lot of people are suffering in this economy, and his business is probably not doing well. But I really do expect and hope that landscaping will be done sometime in the coming year, since the monthly fines are bound to be at least a constant reminder.

If the guy would just let neighbors help, we could get that yard whipped into shape quickly. When I was new in the neighborhood, all the houses were new, and we had a great tradition of doing "sod parties" -- 20 neighbors would show up and install sod whenever you had the ground prepped and the sprinklers in. My own yard had 5,000 sq. ft. of sod and it was all installed in about 90 minutes. Men, women, and kids all came to help. It was a lot of fun! I know this guy may not be able to buy sod, but we could still get a great work party together to help install sprinklers, rake rocks, spread topsoil and plant seeds. People would love to help, if he'd just be a little more open to the help.

Sometimes I think you're better off involving a third party, even though you'd like to deal directly with them. My neighbors have a detached 6 car garage which is old and was built years ago, so it's about 10' from my house! So, when they plow snow, of course the whole thing (plus one space for the plow) has to be clear, even though they only put two vehicles in it. So, the snow ends up close to my house. I have a basement that tends to flood, so I asked him last year to not plow the snow so close. Well, he didnt remember this year, so I sent him an e-mail reminder after I realized the 4' bank was very close, that it would be great if he could keep it 10' from my house. I received an f-bomb laced reply, basically calling me a batch. So, I guess I don't need to talk to him first next time. I don't think keeping snowbanks 10' from a person's house is a lot to ask.

I have neighbors on both sides who can't take care of anything. I am a senior citizen and work my buns off to beautify my home with flower beds everywhere that are well tended. On one side I have the "start lots of projects and finish none" neighbors. After a pile of rock and broken bricks were in their driveway for two solid years I called code enforcement and they got a letter from the city that caused them to move it to the back yard. In the summer they let the grass/weeds/dandelions get so high they get warned by the city to "cut it or else". They also recently bought two huge German Shepard police dogs who make my life miserable with their loud and constant barking. My other neighbors cut down every Clematis, ornamental tree, etc. the previous owners had planted. They cut their grass so short that it burns up and is brown for the rest of the summer. My home is paid for and I have hundreds of beautiful plants, have paid for new sidewalks, new paint, new roof, new deck, new patio, etc. so moving is not an option. So, this is to say many of us are in the same boat and I feel your pain and disgust over crappy neighbors.
trowelgal/Tina

Trowelgal, I truly feel for you! Â darn, why could I not have a good neighbour such as yourself? I canÂt imagine how frustrating your situation is and what others have stated they also must endure. Here at least thereÂs some space between the neighbours and myself, though still too close for comfort.

ItÂs sad when working so very hard to carve out oneÂs own little beautiful and peaceful piece of paradise, only to be faced with neighbours who donÂt show due respect OR worse  they, just might be the type that seeks to make your life a living hell  at least mine are not quite that bad  though, these people are loud, aggressive and sneaky. IÂm a diplomatic caring sorta guy and often way too patient for my own good, though will tactfully approach others to resolve problems  but, just donÂt cut me off in traffic, cause then I canÂt be held responsible for the insufficient time to censor my actions, lol

NOW GET THIS  when we had first moved here, our dog had remained out during the nights  and yes, sheÂd wake us up from time to time with her loud sharp barking. Then one night the neighbours had called at 1:30 am to let us know  of course, I had felt really bad and so each and every night afterwards the dog was taken into the garage  except yes, one time I had forgotten and again had received a call, though this time an ungodly 4:30 am  thus, waking the entire household here including a small baby. I called back in the morning and again had apologized and said how I had been distracted and forgot to bring the pooch in. Though, I really should have told her, that with our homes being over 200 feet apart and separated by a swath of forest, why didnÂt she just close the window and maybe turn on a fan to drown out the noise???  she could of then called me in the morning  I would NEVER phone anyoneÂs household at such an hour, other than in an emergency! Later, when she had launched that verbal attack on me, I had asked WHY was it okay for them to allow their dogs to bark relentlessly at me, while I was doing my best to keep things peaceful on my side?  not surprisingly, she had not replied.

IÂd really like to put up a tall fence, heck IÂd even cover the entire cost  though, with so many dead and dying trees, weÂd forever be repairing it  though, at least IÂd then feel free to venture out upon the large portion of my property between my lovely neighbours and myself.

Terry

If anyone is spraying anything like RoundUp or other toxic materials into your yard (or sewage), contact your county's Health Department.

Some people think that if they don't say or do anything about neighbors like that, they will improve. They won't -- it's their ugly nature, and they won't stop until they're forced. It's a much of a powerplay as it is just being obnoxious, which many people take pride in.

Sue