I'm REALLY mad at my neighbor

[southernbelle]

I'll start off by saying that I've lived in this house for 11 years and my neighbor moved here about 8 years ago. She's from a small rural town and is a royal PIA!!!! For example, there was one time she decided to burn leaves directly under a group of trees in her backyard to keep from bagging them. I could have sent a signal to France with the amount of smoke she generated. It took the fire department to tell her that we can't burn leaves within city limits. DUH!! She and her boyfriend decided to breed dogs about 5 years ago and most of the puppies barked and cried most of the night (need I mention that the area they were housed was directly adjacent to my bedroom). Thank God that's over.

The sole reason for remaining in this house is because my rent is cheaper than I can rent a decent apartment and this is the only neighbor that decides to do something that makes life miserable for me at least once or twice a year. Well.....here's the newest PIA thing my neighbor has decided to do. She owns a Suburban, broken down car and just recently bought another smaller vehicle. Her driveway is ample enough to comfortably park at least 4 vehicles and presently she has the broken down car permanently occupying one space. The new car is usually parked next to the broken down car and guess where the Suburban is right now??????? I'll give you one guess....<give up> the space between our two houses. When I look out of my kitchen window, I have a wonderful view of her stupid truck.

She's been parking this 2 ton monstrosity there for the past month and I thought she was trying to hide it to keep it from being repossessed or something. With the current recession and money problems everyone is having, I gave her the benefit of the doubt. Nope. I finally caught her at home this evening and she seems to think that it's a great place to park her junky truck.....PERMANENTLY!!!! The part about this entire situation that makes matters worse is the fact that she is parked across my properly line. That's right!!!! At least 1/3 of her stupid truck is on my property and since it recently rained, I can see rutting across the property line and deep tire tracks in the grass. What the hell?

When I talked to her I was very calm and approached her by saying that she could possibly damage the 4" drainage line I installed about 6 years ago to reduce the amount of ponding water in my back yard and also pointed out that her truck is damaging my grass. I also told her she has a perfectly good parking space in her driveway or in the front of her own house.

She had the balls to ask me if the drainage line was installed on her property and that she intended to pave her side of the property to permanently park that stupid truck. I almost had a heart attack and a stroke!!!!! I'm looking at it right now and even if she moved her truck over towards her own house (but still between the two houses), there's still not enough space to park her big truck without it being on my property. The space between our houses is about 65% mine, but I don't think she understands that. I tried to be civilized about it, but I'm burning mad now. I'm also sitting here thinking about how to solve this without having her truck towed.

I am seriously thinking about either planting some trees along the property line or having Lowe's or Home Depot install a couple of wood privacy panels along the line. If I do that, there is no way in hell she'll be able to fit her truck there. Common sense would tell anyone that that stupid truck is too big and cumbersome for that space. What ever happened to neighborly love??? I'm thinking that if I do something to better define that line, it'd better be soon because I'm afraid she will hire someone that has no clue what they're doing to pour a slab on what she "thinks" is her property and they will probably encroach on my property line more and force me to take her to court to rip it up.

I'm on-line and in the yellow pages right now looking for a solution. She would probably "accidently" run over any trees I plant so I'm thinking about wood privacy fence panels to extend the line. There is already a partial fence along the property line and I don't really have money to hire someone, but I also don't want to spend another night dealing with my moronic neighbor either. I guess I'll have to figure out how to install privacy fence now. Privacy fence will look like crap, but it would be better than dealing with this insanity and it will limit my contact with her.

Why is life so complicated???? I can't afford to move and would be extremely happy if my neighbor just went away FOREVER. I hate my neighbor.

[justbroke]

While I hate how my HOA is always on my back for a single weed in the flower beds... something can be said for Homeowner Associations and Covenants.

I hear you though. I would have called animal control and zoning on the dogs, day 1.

Do you live in an area zoned mixed-use or something?

[fltoo]

I hear ya JB. My HOA sent me a letter saying that the outside of my mailbox was dirty!

Anyway, Belle, call the city and see if there is any ordinance about not parking on the grass. Being on your property is the easy part. She cannot invade your property. Call the city and explain everything and see what they have in place to help property owners.

[Over our heads]

Call the city and ask if there is an ordinance (sp) about parking vehicles in the grass. If there is, complain. And while you are at it, fnd out if she has any more violations going on. Two can play the PIA game.

I kid you not, it is not allowed where my mom lives, and if they even put the car in the grass to wash it, they will have a violation letter the next day.

[StartingOver08]

Yes. The department that typically handles these type of things is the Code Enforcement dept. In many cities the dept is even on line so you can look up typical violations.

Of course, if you make a complaint and code enforcement goes to the house, they may find other issues as well!

[southernbelle]

Thank you guys. I'll call the City to see what can be done because she's under the impression that she's not doing anything wrong and plans to pave the grass soon. In fact she told me yesterday that she's already had someone look at it to give her an estimate.

The problem in my neighborhood is the lack of a HOA. We had one a long time ago (before I moved in) but many of the original homeowners either moved away or let it dissolve because there was a large turnover and not enough interest. My coworker told me to try to start up a HOA myself, but I don't have the time to do it.

I'm currently looking to define the property line by installing at least 2 or 3 wood privacy panels. At least then I won't have to deal with her and we can finally have a clear property division.

[southernbelle]

While I hate how my HOA is always on my back for a single weed in the flower beds... something can be said for Homeowner Associations and Covenants.

I hear you though. I would have called animal control and zoning on the dogs, day 1.

Do you live in an area zoned mixed-use or something?

I wish I had your HOA. I'd rather it be too strict than to relaxed. My subdivision is zoned residential (not mixed-use) but catching someone violating the zoning laws, reporting it and getting the City to do something about it is another story. I don't know how motivated our City is, but things move slow aroung here. It's almost a license to do whatever you want without repercussions, so we rely heavily on common sense and common courtesy -- 2 things this neighbor does not have.

[fltoo]

There has to be city set back laws where you cannot just put a permanent structure, like a paved driveway, too close to the property lines. She will also need a permit to do so. If you see work started, call the city and see if she took out a permit immediately.

[Over our heads]

There has to be city set back laws where you cannot just put a permanent structure, like a paved driveway, too close to the property lines. She will also need a permit to do so. If you see work started, call the city and see if she took out a permit immediately.

That is correct. She will have to have her lot plat pulled and her property lines staked. While fences can be right on the property line, driveways are subject to set-backs and the easements.

And to be on the safe side, if you want to install fencing on your side yard, I would get a professional survey and staking done. Then install your posts just inside of the property stakes.

[JollyGG]

Our city has rules against parking on the grass, what % of the yard has to be vegetation (in other words how much you can pave) and even how close to the lot line you can park.

Our city stupidly actively patrols for violations. Most cities have similar laws and just waits for complaints. So I would recommend calling the city code enforcement office.

[justbroke]

Our city stupidly actively patrols for violations. Most cities have similar laws and just waits for complaints. So I would recommend calling the city code enforcement office.

My rental unit is in an area where code enforcement patrols. They dinged me for my perfectly brand new city issued garbage container, still sitting on the curb after dusk.

I politely told him that the home was surrendered in Bankruptcy and that they can take their (city issued) container whenever they wanted to. End of conversation.

(It was comical as I basically told them to fine themselves, as it was their container, and not my home. )

[JollyGG]

My rental unit is in an area where code enforcement patrols. They dinged me for my perfectly brand new city issued garbage container, still sitting on the curb after dusk.

I politely told him that the home was surrendered in Bankruptcy and that they can take their (city issued) container whenever they wanted to. End of conversation.

(It was comical as I basically told them to fine themselves, as it was their container, and not my home. )

Oh I've gotten warnings because two tires of my camper were off of our driveway, another time because I hadn't updated the tags on above mentioned camper (junk in driveway), another time because I had a bag of yard waste sitting in front of my fence going into the back yard (a fence that goes from my lot line to the back corner of my house making it necessary to go looking for anything back that far), another time for weeds to high on the other side of the house (planted wildflowers), another time because I didn't get my snow cleared within 24 hours (8 months pregnant and husband out of town for the weekend).

Believe it or not I do keep a nice house and a nice lawn. But our city goes looking. My boss got a warning because he parked to far back in his own driveway and obstructed part of the sidewalk.

Trust me their is no way I would be able to get away with parking a large suburban beside my house and 1/2 on the neighbors lot.

[StartingOver08]

Our city has rules against parking on the grass, what % of the yard has to be vegetation (in other words how much you can pave) and even how close to the lot line you can park.

Our city stupidly actively patrols for violations. Most cities have similar laws and just waits for complaints. So I would recommend calling the city code enforcement office.

Yes our city too. I have to laugh a little - I was moving from one house to another in our lovely city. The moving truck was in my driveway taking up all the room, so I parked on the grass of my lot near the easement for about 15 minutes while I was getting the movers wrapped up - in that 15 minutes was a code enforcement ticket on my windshield! LOL Some cities are tougher than others!

[willowhare]

Definitely call your city code enforcement office. Hopefully, it will either send a cop out to assess the situation or a letter of warning to your neighbor.

Since she has said that she is getting estimates and the warm weather is coming, you should develop a strategy now. The fencing at the property line is a good idea. You should also look up your town's rules on easements. Then, you may want to write a polite (yet firm) letter informing your neighbor of the rules concerning easements, and offer to help her find where the easement line is. Inform her that while you understand that her property is hers to do with as she wishes, you will not tolerate any concrete on your side of the line. Keep a copy of the letter for yourself.

It would be nicer if you could plant bushes, trees or roses over there, but a fence may have to do for now. And if the neighbor gets really *****y, well, that truck is on your property, where it shouldn't be. And what can homeowners do with cars that are on their property without permission? Tow them.

[southernbelle]

I just finished talking to some of my coworkers and they suggested the same thing Willowhare. They told me to keep from affecting my property value too much to consider planting trees. I'm looking at something very scratchy so that if she parks too close, her paint will suffer the consequences. I'd like to buy something that I can plant in the ground at about 3-4 ft in height for instant gratification. I'm also trying to research something hearty that will grow very shrub-like so that I don't have to look at her stupid truck through my window. The fencing contractors I contacted so far are all nuts because they want an arm and 2 legs to install about 15-20 ft of fence. I just can't afford it and I'll take my chances with my stupid neighbor complaining about my trees on her property in a year or 2 if they get too big.

I'm putting in a call to the City today to find out what can be done. I know I'm being too kind, but I'm sending her one last letter giving her a couple of days to move that stupid truck, but after that I'm having it towed.

I'd hate to do it, but she's such a rude person and assumes she can do whatever she wants. I don't think so.