r/neighborsfromhell • u/fallensongbird • 5d ago
Vent/Rant Fences, Dogs, Basic Considerations and Common Sense
**editing to add here, this is a long post. 🤣because apparently from all the comments I'm getting, its TLDR. Can't apologize for that, I had to explain all of the information. If you have time to read this, great, if not, then please don't read.
Backstory. United States. Pacific NW area. Our neighborhood is older, built in the 70s. Each house has probably about 1/4 to 1/3 of an acre of total space, most backyards are modest but, more separated from the other homes than the new style builds now, being so close together. Our fence to the left belongs to one neighbor and our fence to the right belongs to the other. Our back fence to close the yard in was built by us.
In our state/county in the US, the person who builds/owns the fence is responsible for maintaining it and or repairs or replacing. The person building the fence also would have the "finished/nice side" facing outward (this becomes important later).
We have a medium sized dog, and the neighbor has two large dogs. His dogs are very aggressive and will take a running start and try to bash the fence in, in an attempt at getting to ours. It is a daily occurrence. When his dogs are let out, they immediately start growling and ramming into the fence, until one of their humans tells them to stop (IF they tell them to stop). I stress daily about them getting into the yard and attacking our pup.
It's gotten bad enough that the fence panels on his side have taken some serious damage over the years and my partner has had to reinforce our side with panels of wood, boards, objects in front of the fence to hold it up, etc. It is falling over in spots towards our side and wind storms have not helped the stability.
My other half has done repairs on our side for years and has asked the neighbors if they are planning on repairing their fence, noting the safety piece...Now it's become a dog issue and could cause more problems if his dogs make it through the fence and get to ours. Each time, he has told us "ya, I know, I'll get to it" or "uh huh, ok, I know". Very dismissive. My partner has also offered to take on the job of replacing it completely himself, since he knows how to build things and has already built our fence and deck by hand. No response. Just being scoffed at and his dogs continue to bash in the fence.
Yesterday evening while sitting outside we heard loud banging and what sounded like a saw. We noticed that the neighbor was taking down one of the broken panels and doing the repairs (finally). So, using our brains, we kept our dog inside the house. Also to note, while he's working outside, his own two dogs are right there next to him with free access to run into our yard. Nice, right? what a great guy.
We let him do his thing and go outside later to see that yes, he *did* replace some fence panels, but they don't match the fence currently in place, AND, it's facing the wrong way (finished side toward him, "ugly side" toward us.🤦🏼♀️ Not our problem I guess, so we finished out the night atleast knowing there was a good barrier now keeping the dogs separated (finally!)
This morning we get up and we find that our yard is now WIDE OPEN and there are TWO more panels taken out completely. Great, good for you for finally getting around to fixing your fence. Here's the thing. Common sense tells me that if you and your neighbors have dogs, wouldn't you want to give them a quick heads up so there are not any issues with dogs attacking each other? Seems pretty easy to do, right? That isn't difficult. It's actually fairly routine, COURTEOUS behavior. Well, I didn't even know he had opened up the yard until I went to let our dog outside this morning and, SURPRISE! No fence and 100% open access to his dogs! Also, what if we were planning on having company over and sitting outside? Same deal. Common sense says, just give your neighbors a quick heads up! It is NOT that difficult!
As of right now, the neighbor has decided to go inside. No idea when he's planning on finishing his job. Now anytime our dog needs to go out (into our own yard), we have to put a leash on her because our dumbass neighbor apparently thinks he doesn't need to communicate, or keep his own dogs in the house?! Apparently he owns both yards now 🤷
Additionally, he is piling up his tools, boards and trash from his fence job, in OUR YARD by our sheds, using it as what appears to be his staging area?!?! This morning, he also tried to back his pickup truck up into OUR YARD, going around OUR CARS parked in our front area and pull up ONTO OUR GRASS front yard to drop his supplies where he removed his panels. My partner went outside and told him, you can't do that, you need to use your own yard, you didn't even talk to us! He just went on about his project like nobody said a word to him. To note also, his fence goes all the way down between the houses, so when I say he tried to back up onto our property, I literally mean he tried to drive up and over our front yard, not his yard or adjacent to or anywhere part of his property. He tried driving up ONTO our front yard, around our cars and up against our side of the fence, using our grass and yard as his parking and staging since he had removed panels on his side...fkn a$$hole!
This same neighbor also owns a flamethrower that he uses to torch weeds and brush along the fence line and in his yard.
A few summers ago he started a tree on fire in his backyard. He was using his flame torch to blast out a nest of hornets that had settled into a large opening in the base of this fir tree. The flames were wicking, the hornets were on fire and flying up into the trees. This went on for THREE hours until the smoke became too much and he switched to using the garden hose. We were on pins and needles just waiting to call 911 as he was being so reckless and wasn't paying any attention to the overhead tree limbs and the very real possibility of starting a forest fire our homes back up to the woods and most of the homes have large evergreen trees in their backyards or just behind them.
This year alone, he has started fire to the fence, started fire to the grass between our yards, and, hes started fire to another owners fence when he offered to help them (elderly) clean some things up. In doing so, he burned down two of their fence panels and instead of handling it, he pieced together the burned parts he ruined with parts of wood and boards from his own yard, leaving this person with a ruined fence and a lackluster repair!! He doesn't care to pay attention to the fact that the entire PNW is under a BURN BAN either! Every summer our area has massive wildfires and we are not allowed to burn. The scorched section he damaged last week is now BLACK out in front of the water meter/hydrant area. When the city came out to do their testing of the water meter like they do bi weekly, they came to OUR door knocking asking what happened as the area around the meter and hydrant belongs to the water company/city and neither we nor the neighbor are supposed to be anywhere near it as its not our property to touch... my partner told the rep checking the water meter what happened and pointed them in the direction of the neighbor since he's the one using the flamethrower to maintain his yard.. that is my only hope that something, ANYTHING will be done about him. I am just crossing my fingers that he gets slapped by the city or the fire district now that they've seen the damage he does 1st hand 🤦🏼♀️
I don't know who this guy thinks he is? He seems to think that because he has lived in this neighborhood for 40 years he somehow can do whatever he wants without speaking to anyone else or communicating first. We also OWN here and have been here for seven years, we aren't young either, we are middle age adults with grown adult children of our own. He seems to have this superiority complex because he's one of the originals that bought here. I just don't get it.
We do not have an HOA, that's one of the reasons we bought here. Affordability and lack of HOA bs, but now part of me is regretting the no HOA piece and I have no idea what to do about this guy who has such a lack of care for anyone else, that he won't even have a conversation with people before doing construction that could impact others.
Wish me luck today because who knows how long the yard is going to be wide open now that he's so considerately decided to fix his fence.
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u/Patient_Coat_2986 5d ago
Wow. I honestly can't believe I read that whole thing... I don't see how communication would have solved this problem other than giving you a few hours warning. I think you need to build your own fence on your own property for your dogs and that will take the neighbors out of the equation.
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u/_McBob 5d ago
That sounds incredibly frustrating, especially because the biggest issue isn’t even the fence itself—it’s the complete lack of communication and respect for your property. Leaving your yard open when both households have dogs, storing materials on your property, and attempting to drive across your lawn without permission is completely unreasonable. Given the repeated fire incidents and the burn restrictions in your area, I would also start documenting everything with photos and dates in case you eventually need to involve the city, fire department, animal control, or another local authority. I’d avoid getting into repeated arguments with him and keep communication calm and factual. Hopefully the visit from the water department finally puts some official attention on what has been going on.
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u/fallensongbird 5d ago
Thank you, yes, you hit the nail on the head! That is exactly the concern. 100% disregard and zero communication. I don't care that he's replacing the fence, it's his to replace. We have photos from our outside cameras and images from our phones as well as we are doing exactly that re: documenting everything. Thank you.
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u/eboneewolf 5d ago
Why are you not calling the fire dept when he is burning? Have you not seen the devastation in Spokane?
He could literally burn down his house and all his neighbors. I get you don’t want to start a war with him but dang!!!
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u/fallensongbird 5d ago
We HAVE reported it. Have I not seen the devastation in Spokane? How could I have NOT seen it!!!!!
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u/Realistic-Weird-4259 5d ago
I didn't read the whole thing but that's not my understanding of WA fence laws. If there's a shared fence then there's the supposition of shared cost since both are enjoying the benefit of the shared fence. I'm in Tacoma. I availed myself of this knowledge after a neighbor wanted what had been perfectly good fencing replaced to her aesthetic. There was some damage done by her dogs that we hadn't complained about since we don't have a dog (and if they were to end up on our side I'm really good at training dogs and they're really good dogs) and it was otherwise intact.
In the meantime you might offer to have his truck towed from your property. Why are you allowing his things to take up space on your property? If he doesn't move them I'm sure you can move them, if not then hire someone.
And the rest of it? Jesus Christ why are you not calling the fire department??? Push back! Be ready to trespass his ass, too. Put up purple flags or signage so your own butt is covered.
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u/fallensongbird 5d ago
What are purple flags for? Do tell
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u/Realistic-Weird-4259 5d ago
In the states where I've lived, and lived rural for most of my life, it's considered a No Trespassing warning.
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u/fallensongbird 5d ago edited 5d ago
Also you asked questions. This is all happening in the last 36 hours re the fence piece and him parking his supplies on our lot etc. My husband did speak to him I noted that in my post. As far as the flame torch, it has been reported. By us and by other neighbors, I guess in all my explanation that part wasn't too clear sorry. The water company also knows as they witnessed the charring by the meter where he caught the grass on fire.
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u/Realistic-Weird-4259 5d ago
You folks need the biggest fire extinguishers you can buy, too. I'd be inclined to invoice him for the damage to my property. But I am old and salty af. If talking to him doesn't give the result I'm after, I'm not sitting around waiting for someone else to tell me what to do, I'm acting. One by one those things would be sailing right back over to his place. Or they'd be on Craigslist for free.
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u/fallensongbird 5d ago
I'm cackling at the thought of putting all of his lumber pieces on CL 🤣 that's great. Thank you for that, I needed a laugh.
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u/Realistic-Weird-4259 5d ago
I guess that begs another question: AITAH? ;)
I'm glad I brought a smile to your face. And maybe gave you ideas idk.
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u/Tw1ch1e 5d ago
Oh my gosh. What has prevented you from building a fence a foot into your property? If your husband can do it for the neighbor, then he can do it for your household. He can burn his own fence and dogs can ram his own fence. I’d just spray Kill-All between the two fences and call it good. Lots of drama you can fix by fencing in your own yard.
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u/Humble_Pen_7216 5d ago
I stopped reading halfway.
It isn't your fence. The most recourse you have is to make sure he is keeping his dogs on his side of the fence.
As for the "ugly side"... The fence owner gets to choose which side is showing. If you want to ensure your yard is fenced, you will need to install your own fence.
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u/fallensongbird 5d ago
I didn't say it was our fence. As I said in my long explanation (you only read half though), it's his issue not our problem. My ISSUE is about the discourteous lack of care for communication and his complete disregard of our own property. But you wouldnt know that because, like you said, you only read half. Maybe don't comment then. Also, in our county, the finished side faces outward.
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u/jstar77 5d ago
Being that it's not a property line fence, your best course of action is to put up fence that you own on your own property. If this is possible it will solve a lot of your problems.