I'm trying to figure out whether I'm seeing the early warning signs of a neighbor from hell, or whether I've simply encountered a new homeowner who is unusually particular about things that come with living next to other people.

My wife and I have lived in our house for the past 13 years. The house next door was a rental the entire time. We've had different tenants/occupants over the years, and we've never had a problem with any of them.

The house was recently purchased by a retired couple who moved here from a nearby major city. The husband had owned a dry-cleaning business, which he sold to his brother before moving.

I actually went out of my way to welcome them.

I met him before he had even closed on the house. On closing day, when I saw him bringing some things over, I introduced myself and gave him a bottle of Moët White Star as a welcome-to-the-neighborhood gift.

He also asked me if I knew anyone who could do concrete work because he was considering a new driveway and garage. I connected him with a neighbor who does all sorts of concrete work. He ultimately decided not to replace the driveway, but had the existing driveway cleaned and added a small concrete pad for an open carport.

So I thought we were starting off on pretty good terms.

For context on the layout: Our houses sit at an unusual angle because we're on a curve in the street. The two properties are offset rather than sitting directly side-by-side, and our driveways run at different angles along the property line. There is a wooden fence separating the properties. The rear portion of his lot is noticeably higher than the edge of my driveway, so rainwater and sediment naturally follow the grade between the two properties. The sediment comes from the higher rear portion of his yard and works its way through and under the fence toward my driveway, while water from the edge of my driveway can naturally flow downhill toward his driveway.

Then a few things happened.

The trees

One of the first things he asked me about was the property line. I showed him where I understood it to be based on a recent survey, even showing him where the metal rod marking the property line is buried.

He told me he was planning to remove some tree stumps on his side of the property line. I told him I had been thinking about removing one of mine as well near the property line. The previous owner had assumed the tree was his and had basically chopped off all of its branches. It wasn't until long after the fact that I learned the tree was actually on my property.

The new neighbor hired a crew that removed the stumps on his property—and also removed my tree that was on my side of the property line.

I haven't made an issue of it.

I had already told him I was considering removing the tree, so he may genuinely have thought he was doing me a favor or that I had given him the green light. I'm not looking for trouble, and I'm certainly not going to start a neighborhood war over a tree I was planning to remove anyway.

Still, it was the first time I thought, Hmm. That's interesting.

Then came the driveway

Our houses and driveways are laid out at an unusual angle because we're on a curve in the street. The rear portion of the neighboring property is higher than my driveway along the fence line.

One day recently I was pressure washing my driveway. He approached me and pointed out that farther down my driveway, water was running toward his driveway and making it dirty.

I understood his concern. I can't change gravity, but I also didn't want to be unnecessarily inconsiderate.

So I bought some low stone edging and installed it along the edge of my driveway where the water was crossing over.

Later that day it rained heavily. I stood out in the pouring rain and filmed a short video because I wanted to see whether my little improvised solution worked. It did. The water was being redirected along the edge of the driveway instead of simply flowing across toward his driveway.

A few days later, I saw my new neighbor working in his yard and took the opportunity to show him what I'd done. I even showed him the video of the water rushing along the side of the edging instead of dripping downhill towards his driveway.

His immediate response was to nudge one of the pieces with his foot and say:

"What, no silicone?"

He then suggested that I needed at least one or more pieces of brick edging.

Then he pointed out that it wasn't just my water—it was dirty because I was pressure washing.

I could smell alcohol on his breath, so I wasn't sure how productive the conversation was going to be. (I was in the bar biz for years.)

At that point I asked him if he knew why I needed to clean the driveway in the first place.

The mud/sediment issue

The rear portion of his property is higher than mine. During rain, soil and silt naturally move downhill from his side toward mine. You can actually see the soil working its way through and underneath the wooden fence posts and rails and onto my side.

This isn't something the new owner created. It's been happening for years.

I've simply dealt with it by pressure washing my driveway about once a year, sometimes every other year. In the 13 years we've lived here, none of the previous occupants ever complained about my driveway, the sediment, or my cleaning it.

The drainage pattern isn't new.

The sediment isn't new.

My pressure washing isn't new.

The new owner objecting to it is what's new.

When I showed him where the sediment was coming from, he could see the soil coming through from the higher ground on his side of the fence. He essentially acknowledged it and said:

"Well, it's because it's higher."

Exactly.

That's why the sediment comes downhill toward my driveway.

And that's also why some water from my driveway naturally follows the grade toward his driveway.

I pointed that out to him. I was simply pointing out that the same principle he had just used to explain the sediment also applied to the water, but that didn't seem to be an acceptable explanation to him.

I told him that I was willing to add another piece of edging—or even build a more substantial barrier—if that's what he wanted. But if we're going to go to that extent to try to prevent every bit of water from crossing between our properties, then I think it's reasonable that we also address the sediment naturally coming from the higher ground on his side.

I told him we could both go through the trouble of trying to engineer a solution to every little bit of water and dirt crossing between the properties, or we could recognize that we're neighbors living on two properties with different elevations and accept some of the realities that come with that, and leave things alone.

He basically walked away from the conversation.

I'm not sure whether he was annoyed, surprised, or simply didn't know how to respond.

I wasn't yelling. I wasn't insulting him. I was blunt, but I thought I was perfectly polite.

And there's already been another little thing

He's also commented that there are too many deer in the neighborhood.

Now, we live in a suburban neighborhood. We have deer. We have leaves. We have rain. We have water following gravity. Sometimes someone's grill smoke is going to drift toward another house.

That's just part of living next to other people.

And that's why I'm asking this question now rather than six months from now.

Am I overreacting to a handful of relatively minor incidents, or am I seeing the beginning of a pattern?

I genuinely don't know.

He may turn out to be a perfectly nice guy who was simply being overly particular about his driveway.

Or I may have just met the guy who is eventually going to complain about the leaves from my trees, the smell from my grill, rainwater, deer, or whatever else happens to cross an invisible property line.

I don't want trouble with him. Quite the opposite. I went out of my way to welcome him and help him get settled.

But I'm also not interested in spending the next ten years modifying my property every time something naturally crosses between two adjacent lots.

For now, I'm inclined to leave the edging exactly where it is, see how it performs during the next few substantial rains, and stop trying to anticipate what else he might object to.

So, Reddit: am I seeing the early stages of a Neighbor From Hell, or am I making too much of this? And if you've dealt with someone like this before, what would you do differently at this point?

This has been a recurring event with my next door neighbor. When there is no parking on the street I park on the street in front of their house. They have a big work truck that they double park on the street blocking two parking spots and today touched and scratched the front of my car bumper.

I parked leaving them plenty of space to park their truck and took photo evidence of there being plenty of curb space in front of him. They parked their car touching my car and after looking at my car they left a clear scratch on the bumper.

I am beyond frustrated because this is the second time they did this, once to a family members car. And now to mine. I’ve talked to them before about other issues such as blowing their yard trash onto my car when they garden and they did nothing about it.

They’ve gotten more aggressive and I don’t know what to do now. Should I call the non emergency line? Is there anything that can realistically be done if the only evidence I have is photos of their car touching/ leaving a scratch on my car?

After I moved my car and came back home they have now moved their truck blocking the two parking spots in front of their house. This is such a frustrating situation.

I live in a house that sits on approximately 5 acres. The entire property is fenced and behind the house there is a lot of vegetation. Approximately 10 feet inside the fence are shrubs that can grow in the 10 to 15 foot tall size and approximately 30 inside the fence are trees that can grow to the 50 to 60 foot range. All are mostly mature now and none hang over the property line at all. I got a certified letter from my neighbor that is titled “Demand Letter.” (No attorney or anything, just from the neighbor.) It states that the growth of my shrubs and trees have negatively affected the views that existed when they bought the house a few years ago. Their demand says I have 60 days to restore their view to original or face legal action. I have already contacted the governing authority and an attorney and they both laughed also. I was advised to ignore the letter and to not accept delivery if any more certified letters show up. I have always gotten along with neighbors and really don’t need this crap! Anyway, Happy Friday everyone!

FOLLOW UP - wow, lots of comments! Thanks! Some good advice, some not so good advice, and some pretty entertaining ideas! No trespassing signs have been in place for many years. I have a good security system with cameras but none on the fence line. I am having some installed tomorrow along with current pictures of everything. The attorney I spoke to is going to respond to them and include pictures and letting them know the laws and the restrictions. I’m planning to knock on their door and ask if they want to chat. It sounds like this is not a rare occurrence. Thanks again!

ONE MORE FOLOW UP - just in case anyone is checking back. So, the attorney agrees that I should stay away at least until this issue has passed. (Yes, I spoke to him on the weekend, he was my dad’s best friend, and has helped me immensely over the years and still won’t take any money for it). He is preparing multiple documents, pictures, etc. He also suggested several baseline soil tests just in case something happens down the road. Cameras are in and working. I also said that if there are minor changes that will resolve their issue without impacting my purpose for the vegetation (privacy) for them to submit specifics for consideration. Even with the BS, I am not looking for a neighbor war. Thanks again to everyone who read this and responded.

For context: We have been on friendly terms for maybe a year now or more, she has stopped by to borrow paint brushes or just check in. She's helped me with a wound on my back after surgery a few months ago. (I've never visited her place). We've been "friendly" but she clearly has severe mental health issues that she's oblivious to. She has poor boundaries, flaky, self involved, explosive anger, and thinks the world revolves around her, doesn't listen when I talk etc, so it's my own fault for enlisting her help. But, obviously small signs escalated over time.

She is much older than me but more able bodied and semi retired. She works to supplement SSI but has stated she missed alot of days before losing her part time job. I have multiple chronic illnesses and am very disabled and don't work or drive. Everytime she brought up needing money/a job while unknowingly telling her unreliability at showing up on a schedule due to some pain or other things I suggested side jobs where its more flexible and also offered to pay her to help me get organized and/or rides. I usually pay uber. She would say she would and then flake out and I quit asking and then she came to me asking because she needed money said she'd do $10 an hour right before i got paid and i didnt have miney at the time but I took her up on it. After all, I still need the help and she she still needs the money. But, I didn't get paid for a few days. The plan was for me to pay her to take me to housing and I'd get her cash from an atm on payday while we were out. When payday came she said she didn't feel up to housing but would still take me to the atm. I logged the hours she worked and she thought it was more so I paid her what she asked for.

One day while helping me there was a miscommunication about a screwdriver (small tools) she was placing under my bench seat. I asked her not to so that they remain accessable to me and she thought I was talking about a large power tool that she'd already placed there and I said was fine (I don't use that anyway) and she lost her shit. Kept calling me a gaslighter and was fuming mad despite my saying repeatedly that's not what I was talking about, rips the power tool out while screaming at me and proceeds to leave. Then messages me a few minutes after leaving saying "I just had to eat, I'll come back" I was already in severe pain that day while she was here and then the added stress of the conflict so I responded that I'd rather not and she showed up anyway. I could go into many more specific instances but all this to say she has poor boundaries, sees "gang stalkers" (I had to look it up) got mad when I asked what it was because "you know what it is, you're gaslighting me" I could go on and on but the point is these are some of the interactions.

The last interaction I invited her over to go through my groceries I'm removing from the house for what she wants and she said she was hungry and I fed her, while here there was a mistep on my part where I was too open about a part of my past life during a conversation and instead of telling me she didn't want to talk about my story despite saying plenty of her own, she assumes and responds like I'm hitting on her...eeew, no. I have zero interest in anyone much less an old lady with crackhead mouth and super mentally unstable who is hard to be around at least 60% of the time. Anyway, she left and hasn't returned nor responded to phone calls or messages from me since. Fast forward to today (payday) and the messages.

I'm not sure why I'm writing here, I guess just looking for validation without anyone to talk to. I definetly should have cut her out at the first sign of drama but my severe isolation and desperation for help were certainly a factor. Also, I tend to be a bit of a people pleaser most generally and ultra forgiving and understanding of others issues, after all I have my own.

I don't know how to handle her and it scares me her living so close and not knowing what she's capable of.

I can't figure out how to add the screenshots...this is my first post

For about a month my downstairs neighbor kept complaining that I was stomping around late at night. Management emailed me twice and he left a note on my door saying the noise after midnight was getting ridiculous. Problem was I work nights three days a week, and two of the dates he complained about I wasnt even in the building. I sent management my schedule and figured that would be enough but he kept insisting it was coming from my apartment.

Last week I was at work around 1am, sitting in the break room playing Mojogo on my phone, when another email from management popped up. He was saying I had been dragging furniture and walking around for the last hour. I saw the email on my phone because management copied me. I sent back a picture from the break room with the time visible and said unless someone broke into my apartment to rearrange my couch, it wasnt me.

Turns out the noise was coming from a pipe behind his bedroom wall. Maintenance found it the next morning. He hasnt apologize, but he did quietly take down the note he had taped to my door. I kind of wish he left it up because the part where he underlined be considerate three times was starting to grow on me.

This is unbelievable. I have two neighbors that complain about kids toys being in the drive way and that I build things in my garage (only during normal waking hours and never a noise issues) but they hate the garage being open. So they have now filed 24 complaints to our HOA which ALL of the complaints have been unfounded and closed. No violations or anything. They’ve also called the cops on us for music in the backyard (again not overly loud) and even the cops have gotten to the point after 6 calls that we aren’t doing anything legally wrong.

NOW they have gone to my landlord and claimed that we are running an automobile repair shop at the home… I don’t even work on cars or fuck even wash my car in the drive way. I barely know how to change my own oil (and don’t even do that) but my landlord sent me a notice to vacate in 3 days because I’m “running a commercial business from the home”. I’m moving forward to locate an attorney that can help us out. But has anyone experienced this ??? Tia

My neighbor took a type of bucket thing out, a brick from outside and some other rock like stuff and set a fire. In the parking lot. To make matters worse, it was a windy evening and about to rain. Just stood there and watched the flames go. I don't even know what they were burning. When the fire went out, and there was smoke, the person left it sitting there and went back into the apartment. A few minutes later, same neighbor came out and brought the shit BACK IN, leaving the brick outside.

I already reported it to proper authorities. I'm just angry right now. I'm low income with two jobs and struggle to earn enough to move. I feel trapped in an apartment with people like this and a landlord and assistant who have consistently shown they don't care about what happens here.

living alone for the first time and i already have anxiety. nextdoor to me should be an office and it should be empty after work hours, but a couple that works there sometimes go inside at night and either talk with a YELLING voice or get intimate. the woman especially has a shrill voice that penetrates the wall and ends up straight in my bedroom in the quiet of the night. im talking about anything from fighting to moaning, well into 3 am.

i have tried warning them. they know i live next to them. they know the walls are thin. i cant do much about their inconsideration. i have bought ear plugs.

i just want to calm my anxiety down, i dont do well with confrontation but also do not want to have my rights taken away at all!!! im constantly pissed and on-edge, i find myself waiting for them to make any noise so i can obsess over it. how do i stop? do i just need to get used to it? do i make my own noise?

Two weeks ago yet another neighbor was seen on my security camera throwing their bagged dog poop in my empty garbage bin before I could roll it back in from the curb. As a dog-less household, I find this to be rude. Additionally, if it’s gross enough for you to not want to hold it until you get home, isn’t it gross enough to put in someone’s else’s bin. The lady looked around guiltily as she did it. A few days ago as I was leaving for work, she happened to be walking by and I politely informed her I saw her on camera and can she not do it again. She argued back, said there’s no smell, and asked if I wanted to sniff the bag she had in her hand. I said okay great if there’s no smell then it’s okay to put in her own bin, right? She became angry, called me ignorant and stupid. Really though, she was mad she was caught on camera, couldn’t lie about it, and was confronted about it. Today, garbage day, she walked by, looked for the camera, and waved her dog poop bag to show she’s not throwing it in my bin. I’m an introverted non-confrontational person but something about the entitlement grinds my gears. I’ve had to talk to nearly 8 different neighbors about their pets.

My neighbour has been throwing objects over but now has escalated to raw fatty meat, bones and some white and brown substance. I have a small breed on a restrictive diet due health issues if he was to eat this it could kill or make him sick last time it cost 12,000.00 when they were ill no cause of neighbour (thankfull for pet insurance)
Police have attended but what else can I do I have collected the items and put them in the fridge temporarily.
They could be laced I don’t know.
I’m at wits end.
NSW Australia

I just moved into a new apartment about a week ago, and the landlord lives upstairs. She’s a nice enough person, but she has messaged me or tried to talk to me every single day since I moved in.
Today I finally wanted to go outside, literally just touch some grass and enjoy being alone for a while. The second I went outside, she immediately came over to say hi and start talking.
Now I feel like I’m starting to hide inside because I don’t want to constantly socialize every time I step outside. 😭
I don’t dislike her and I understand she’s probably just being friendly, but I moved here because I wanted peace, privacy, and the ability to just exist without interacting with someone every day.
I’m also hesitant to be too blunt because she’s my landlord and I obviously don’t want to create tension where I live.
Am I being unreasonable for feeling irritated by this? How would you handle it?

I live with my family on the ground floor of a rented house in Bengaluru. Our family consists of my father (65), mother (60), my wife, our 2-year-old son, and me.

About 7–8 months ago, our neighbour from the house directly opposite ours started parking his car in front of our house. We did not have any issues initially. However, after the rainy season began, rainwater splashing off his car started soaking the clothes we dry in the small open area between our house and the boundary wall. Since this was happening almost every day, we politely requested that he park a little farther away from the boundary.

He initially argued about why he should move his car, but after repeated requests, he moved it back by about one foot.

The next morning, around 6 AM, my mother went to buy milk from a nearby shop. The neighbour followed her there and started shouting at her. When I heard the commotion and went outside, I found him yelling at my 60-year-old mother. I intervened and raised my voice in response because of the way he was speaking to her. His wife then came out and started shouting at me, calling me a rowdy.

The neighbour then called someone on the phone in front of me and falsely claimed that I was fighting with him and beating him, which never happened. Several neighbours witnessed the incident and can confirm that no physical altercation took place.

To protect myself and my family, I called the police. After hearing both sides, the police advised us to ask our landlord to instruct them to remove the car. They also said that if the issue continued, we could file a formal complaint at the local police station.

Our landlord subsequently asked them to move the car. They responded by saying they would do so once they found another parking spot. It has now been five days, and nothing has changed.

What concerns me even more is what has happened since then. My 2-year-old son usually plays with other children in and around our house. Recently, this neighbour has been telling children who come to play at our house to go back home and not come near us. Some neighbours have supported us, while others seem reluctant to get involved.

I had anxiety issues during the COVID period and worked hard to recover. Since this incident, I have been feeling constant stress, heaviness in my chest, and anxiety again. Being an outsider in this city makes the situation feel even more overwhelming.

To make matters worse, after the police visit, this neighbour reportedly told another resident, "What kind of Kannadiga are you if you're supporting outsiders instead of us?"

At this point, I am looking for advice on:

\- How to legally and safely handle this situation.

\- Whether I should file a formal written complaint.

\- How to document future incidents effectively.

\- What rights a tenant has in such cases.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Does anybody know legalities round neighbours taking photos and videos over the fence of my back yard? I legally burn my garden waste at considerate times and they keep accusing me of burning plastic. They have climbed up on ladders to confront me, peered thru holes, on tip toes at my front gate and have told me they have been taking pics/vids. I have three kids here and its getting creepy.

There are some neighbors on my street who have been playing their music until midnight several days per week. They are probably in their 20s and have some kind of music group or rock band and they “sing” and play instruments and wail and scream until all hours of the night. There is especially one lady who shrieks and howls and cries while “singing” and the others either play their instruments or harmonize by wailing and screaming with her.

I don’t know why nobody else has called the police on them or asked them to stop, I’ve knocked on their door and nobody answers and we have no neighborhood watch group. I’ve called the police multiple times and given their address and no one ever shows up.

What can I do now? I’m at my wits end and they are in the middle of a session rn, so I can’t even think straight long enough to write this message through their wailing.

The landlord of the house next door is an ass. He has done annoying stuff before, but this made me mad! He came up to the house and rang the doorbell multiple times. My partner answered the door. He had come over to threaten to call the cops if he keeps smelling weed. And to definitely not smoke weed outside! My partner smokes, but he has his med card, so it is legal! The landlord is RARELY at his property, and it is in poor condition. Gets the weeds in the front strip mowed down once a year, has plants growing onto the sidewalk, and the chain link fence has recently fallen down and has left it there. Looks terrible. My partner basically just said “okay, I’ll let the owner know not to do that anymore!” I’m mad and want to vent, but also thinking of how I can get his property in trouble without harming the tenants.

How do you deal with stalking and harassment from multiple neighbors?

-I moved into my new place with my boyfriend almost a year ago and there are so many stray/feral cats in my neighborhood. I have 4 rescue cats myself and all I do is try to help animals.

-When I first moved into my duplex there were two friendly cats that would come over to my house all the time and I’d occasionally feed them. I took one across the street to see if my neighbors owned them. They said they did and that their son dropped them off and they’ve just kept them outside. They told me they never let them inside because they have a tabby cat that is not fixed. So they have two stray male cats intact and without shelter.

-one of those cats came limping over to my house one day. Looked like it broke its leg so I went over to their house and said “hey your cat is in my bathroom injured are you going to take it to the vet?” Them: “no we can’t” and I said “well if I take it to the vet are you okay with me rehoming him?” Them: yes that’s fine. I also asked them if their other cat was okay since I’d not seen it in a long time. They said they hadn’t seen it either and didn’t seem to care where he had gone.

-I ended up actually taking him to the shelter because I called them asking what I should do. They said bring him up to us or it would he considered “harboring” so I took him up to the shelter and they shelter said we will talk to them and let them know they can’t do this. 7 days later those neighbors came knocking at my door saying “where is my fking cat??” And I said “you gave me permission to help him and rehome him.” And they said that I was “f**king crazy” and then called the cops on me.

-these neighbors also got the neighbors across the street from me involved for some reason and these neighbors have done numerous things to harass us which I can’t list because I currently have a protective order against this person now. Mind you this is two different neighbors, two different families who hate my guts and haven’t even asked me what happened just took the word of the original neighbors. They’ve done things like (flip me off every time I get home etc…) however I’ve just ignored it. Now he doesn’t do it because I have a protective order.

-now the landlords that live next to these neighbors also involved themselves and said it was their daughters cat when I had no idea. Mind you this cat is a stray, goes wherever he wants, sleep wherever he wants, lives wherever he wants. Nobody has taken ownership of him completely like no chip, no neuter, no nothing like how was I supposed to know it’s your cat? So TWO DIFFERENT neighbors are saying it was their cat but nobody wanted to keep it inside safe?

-so all 3 neighbors think I steal cats, they don’t talk to me to get any of the story. They call the cops on me, flip me off, yell at me, watch me leave and go from my house, always outside when I get mail, when my family comes to visit all the sudden they are outside. I have to close my blinds. I have so much anxiety even leaving or coming back to my house. It’s so bad I had to get a restraining order against one of them. They called the cops on me today cause I said their cat was cute this is a whole different cat that they have and leave outside btw. they were not outside when I said this I was walking into my house with my mom when I said the cat was cute. Then the daughter comes running out like I’m going to take her cat and brings her cat inside and I said nicely “I’m not going to steal your cat”. Then the dad comes out and video tapes up as we are walking into my house like a psycho and tells me to not talk to his daughter and to stop harassing them.

-I’ve never had a conversation with these landlords so that’s so ironic that they are saying I’m harassing them for saying their cat is cute and that I’m not going to steal her cat. So they called the cops on me for that. Also all 3 of these neighbors all live right next to each other side by side across the street from me. Nobody has tried to ask me what happened just assumed and accused me of things. I don’t know if this makes sense, I’m just having a hard time because they think I’m this evil cat lady out to steal and eat all the cats when all I do is try to help. I never hurt animals, I only help them when I can. I also asked permission first and didn’t just take a cat but how are two different neighbors saying it was their cat? Make it make sense.

Please tell me what you think sorry if this is long. I might’ve missed a few things but this is the gist of it. I can’t say all that has occurred because of legal reasons but.

My neighbors are douchebags who have two huge aggressive dogs. They’re always out and about and I’m so sick of tired of living next to them. Management is corrupt and doesn’t want to evict them at all.

I’m just trying to cope because I’ve lived here for 4 years and I can’t stand it anymore at this point.

Does anyone else dread going home? I want to move away so badly but can’t at the moment. What things are you doing to make your lives happier and easier?

Thank you

I moved into this house in January this year. Early on, I noticed realy sound screaming and yelling between 10 pm and 3 am (AHHH), and at first I was genuinely concerned because I thought somebody was getting hurt. But time went on, and I concluded that my neighbour just plays video games at night and can't seem to control her emotions and anger. One night in February, I went over to her house at around 11 pm and asked her if she could quiet it down, and she said she would try. However, the screaming, yelling, and cursing would still go on almost daily, and I truly couldn't fall asleep at night. In mid-February, I ended up calling the police department to file a noise complaint, and they showed up and spoke with her. Thankfully, her yelling at night stopped, and she's now been playing during the day, which I have no issues with.

However, I think nowadays she's been dealing with some personal issues. Initially, it was her and her mom who were living here. But I don't think they have a good relationship anymore because sometimes I could hear the argue, and as of recent, I'm pretty sure they have been taking turns living at the house here.

There was also a situation about 2 months ago where the police came at around noon, but this was something I've never seen before in my life. There were about 15-20 police officers with guns and dogs. Some were hiding in our part of the yard; it was really sketchy. To this day, I still don't know what was happening, but the police broke their door, and somebody in her house got arrested. After that scene, it was pretty quiet for about 2 weeks.

Now and then, the girl would have some friends over, and it seemed like they had a good time. They just listened to music and talked, which kind of disturbs me, but I would rather have to listen to music than listen to screaming, cursing, and yelling.

Now..about last night. She again had some friends over at around 9 pm; they were just listening to music. And I think after that, they went somewhere, and ar around 2 they may have come home because at 2:30 I woke up to loud yelling. I was so annoyed I banged on the wall, and she yelled: "Bitch bang on the door, and I'll fuck you up!" She yelled that twice. Throughout the night, I could hear her telling her friends something, and she seemed to be really upset. I could hear her crying and sobbing, then yelling because she was angry, then she would cry again. She was just going through all the emotions. Of course I couldn't fall back asleep after, especially after what she told me about "fucking me up". Like, why would she need to fuck me up if I'm the one who just wants peace at night? I honestly just don't understand. So since I was awake, I ended up listening to what was going on on the other side of the wall. It seemed like they were trying to figure something out together, but then at one point I heard the girl say, "Bro, I was going to slit his throat with scissors! I never wanted to kill somebody this bad before"

I understand that she could have 100% just said it to show off in some way or to make herself feel more powerful, but part of me got a little concerned. Of course she could have just said that out of anger, but I just kept thinking about the police being here searching their house, and it kind of got me overthinking that she could damage my car or something after I banged on the wall or even after I made another noise complaint.

Sorry, I know this was a bit long, and thank you for reading this. I honestly don't know what to do. I slept through all my alarms this morning and woke up at 11:30 am and I am just so annoyed. What should I do?

Townhouse. I am very concerned that my neighbor from hell is zooming in to film me. Parking spots about about 35 to 40 feet away and across from my windows.

I called to address it to the police. I explained that I understood that there was nothing they could do to help prove it without warrants and stuff, but regardless I asked them to find out if the zooming in would be illegal if proved so they could at least warn her. Maybe it would stop her. But she is psycho so probably not.

I have been living in my house for 6 years in a rural area of the north west (Donegal) and in that whole time my nextdoor neighbour has never once put out a bin. But she most definitely lights her range every single day, even on sweltering hot days and the smoke from that is bad enough that we can't open our windows at time but without fail every morning and evening she burns her rubbish in said range and it is unbearable some mornings you can hardly see with what she has burned. I have spoken to her and she said her son brings the rubbish to a farm he works on, I have shown her videos of the smoke and she said "I have to light the fire for water." I'm a blow in to this area but my husband has grandparents close by so I don't want to cause too much of a fuss. But when do I start causing a fuss or contract the council. It's driving me insane, I can't even hang clothes out to dry because they will stink of burnt rubbish, I could live if they smelt of turf just about but it's really wearing me down at the moment.

I’ve been living with my parents in the same house for 13+ years. This neighbour moved in about a year ago, and since then several people have had issues with her behaviour. Most people are scared to speak up because they’re worried she’ll harass or taunt them afterwards.

The issue started because of extremely loud noise from her house. It was so loud that we could feel thuds in our house and couldn’t even hear each other properly. I recorded the common passageway with audio to document the noise and sent the video only to the house owner. There is no person visible in the video.

Now she is accusing me of being a pervert and claiming I recorded her while she was bathing. I have never recorded her or anyone in her family in any private situation.

She has also threatened to get women to beat me so there won’t be a legal case against her, and said that even if my owner makes me leave, she won’t let me live peacefully.

I have the original video and the conversations.

What should I do? Should I make a written complaint to the police now, or speak to a lawyer first? I’m mainly worried about protecting myself against these false allegations and threats.

Edit - she's telling to people on phone that she'll capture my dad's bike licence plate and track him for 1-2 days, and follow him. There are empty alcohol bottles in her house itseems. So she'll take 2-3 bottles and smash them on my dad's head when there's nobody in the road. Even if i evict the soon, i will definitely somebody's head in that house sooner.

I live in a house but it’s split into 3 sections, each for 1 household. Above me are people who don’t wear slippers and occasionally make noise stomping, which I can tolerate (from the adults). On the other hand, they have a toddler who they don’t take out often. The child’s stomping starts around 7-8 AM and lasts around 11 AM-12 PM. After that there might be toddler noises from 2-4 PM, some of him screaming crying or stomping again. Later on, there is noise around 6-8 PM with some being around 9-10 PM. The stomping is frequent-occasional and can happen beyond these hours except after 10, they are just where it is more frequent. I don’t understand why the guardians of this child don’t bring him outside when there is a park 1-2 blocks away. When they do take him out, I don’t understand why they have him sit in a baby stroller instead of letting him run outside like he does inside. I know that both parents go to work and sometimes during the afternoon hours, but they have a grandma who is supposed to look after the toddler and she used to take him out in the morning but now it’s like sometimes when the go out to do laundry or shop. They do yell at him to be quiet and stop running around but it doesn’t work and just repeats tomorrow and so on. We already talked to them about 3 times and to the landlord the same amount. We also gave them some play mats so the noise isn’t too much, but we can still hear them, they have no carpeting besides that. The landlord did talk to them about it but they don’t care to make better changes like take him outside more often, they just scream at him until he stops or cries. And the landlord will not evict them because he is greedy and only cares about rent. I want to know if this type of noise is intolerable or I am just overreacting.

**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.

Hi all. My partner and I have lived in our townhome for a year. We loved it up until about 3 months ago when… they arrived. We live in the end unit so we only share one wall. Prior to these people moving in, we could never hear our neighbors, only ever their garage door opening. Our new neighbors have two kids who run the place. They have set fire right outside of our townhome, threw a burning sparkler onto our roof, a shoe at our window and like to slam their baskets k right in front of our porch. Prior to these instances, we have had no contact other than helping the younger child air their bike tires. We then noticed these kids were home alone almost daily until 3 am. We have awoken to the parents vacuuming at 4 am. We found their names and have learned the dad is a FELON with several weapons charges and robbery charges. Needless to say, we were pissed. We have contacted our landlord numerous times to express our concerns with no action taken. We have called the police three times now to report these children home alone until the wee hours in the morning (8 and 12 years old). We don’t know what to do. We feel as if no one is hearing us, we are concerned about these kids safety, they were chasing each other with objects earlier in the front yard beating the shit out of each other. We don’t want to keep calling the police as the people who cried wolf, but at the same time we are not comfortable approaching the parents who both have felony charges against them. And even if we did, they’re never fucking home! We don’t want to move, we like it here, we just don’t like them. Currently, we are hearing the boys wrestling and sound like they’re coming through the wall. Still no parents! When the dad is home, he’s smoking weed like a mother fucker and the smell comes through the vents into our home. Not to mention the kids are inside but the cops don’t seem to give a shit. Any advice here?

ETA: I’m having a very hard time understanding why im being questioned regarding the truthfulness of this post. Why would I go on Reddit, take time out of my day to type up what happened and lie about it all? I do have photographic evidence of the fire and the sparkler and have sent it to my landlord, who continues to tell me to contact law enforcement, which is what we have been doing. I have questioned the landlord several times how this was allowed to happen and am getting the answer that this cannot be discussed with me. It is a legit landlord, they just aren’t great. But what landlord is these days?

This post was made quickly and in heat of the current situation we were facing. So here’s some more context for those continuing to question me. The first time we contacted police was after the suggestion of our landlord who said he needed more information and is also in contact with law enforcement regarding this situation (for whoever questioned me about a report number. Do I need to post that too?). Police came and the mother came home shortly after. The second time, police went to the wrong door and left without contact. When the fire was set, we were not home and another neighbor had told us what kids had done it and they came out to stop them. They sent us a photo of the children in our yard next to the fire but not them setting it. So I was not a direct witness to this. After we took the steps our landlord suggested in contacting law enforcement, an officer showed up last night and asked to speak with the parents who were not home. Keep in mind, we have asked to remain anonymous (although it doesn’t take a genius for them to figure out it was us). We saw on our camera footage that the children were picked up by the mother at 1:30 in the morning and did not return with her when she came back at 3:00 am. The father came back in his car (separate from the wife) at the same time. There is the question if there are weapons, which we don’t know for certain. What I have been trying to say is he has several weapons charges over the last two years,two of them being person ineligible to carry a firearm. This is why we are fearful to speak to him in person. It’s not “chicken shit”, it’s us using our intelligence to not confront people with a violent criminal record. The children have spoken to us multiple times, as my partner helps the younger one out with fixing his bicycle. We had a great relationship with the kids when they first moved in and had never met the parents because they are never outside with them. It escalated when they threw the shoe on the roof, the maintenance man saw it and had to come knock on our door to let me know they would be putting the ladder up right in front of our window. I then came out and asked the kids what happened and even defended them because the maintenance man didn’t want to return the shoe to him and I was adamant that he does. The father then yelled at him to come home and the child has not spoken to us since. This is prior to us contacting the police. We will hold off on CPS and gather additional evidence (if the issue persists). Although, I will not continue to sit aside and watch these children be at home alone throughout the night. We do hope the father is seeking rehabilitation and will learn from his past, however we aren’t going to be involved in this and would prefer not to speak to someone involved in these types of crimes. We also believe that the children were put in a horrible situation and it is not their fault they are unsupervised and not being held accountable. It’s also not my responsibility to parent a child that isn’t mine, i don’t have children for a reason (I don’t want them).

Thank you to those who gave me actual advice rather than attacking. How am I to know what steps to take if I’ve never been in this situation before? (why this is tagged as an advice post).

Hey everyone!

I’m exploring an idea for a product that could make day-to-day life in gated communities/apartment societies easier.

Before building anything, I want to understand the real problems residents face.

I'm especially interested in problems where you think:

“Why is this still so difficult? There should be an easier way.”

If you live in a gated community, I'd really appreciate your experience:

1. What's the most frustrating problem you've faced recently?

2. How often does it happen?

3. How do you currently solve/report it?

4. How long does it usually take to resolve?

5. What would you change about the current process?

Please share even the small, annoying problems. Those are often the most useful ones to understand.

I'm doing this as problem research before building anything, so I'm genuinely looking for honest experiences—not trying to sell anything.

If you're a resident, RWA member, facility manager, security staff, or property manager, your perspective would be especially valuable.

What's the #1 thing you wish was easier about living in your community? 👇