Nutty Neighbors

[Martinis at 8]

Well, I'm living in this corporate owned home here in California for a while. One neighbor is a real jerk. A couple branches from a tree grew over the fence and was 10 feet above the ground. So he cut it back to the fence, fine with me, but instead of disposing of the branches himself the moron threw them over into my yard. I came home from work, saw what he did and threw them right back over the fence. "Al" comes out in his too small sweats and tells me that he didn't want it growing into his yard and since it was my tree I should get rid of it. So I told him that "you cut it, you dispose of it. If you do that again it will be you who will be thrown over the fence". Was I being too diplomatic?

So at what point do the Uzis come out?

 

[Dr Doran]

So at what point do the Uzis come out?

While I understand the notion that a gentleman does not want to get his hands dirty by punching someone but would rather use a gun, I nevertheless would not shoot a neighbor personally and do not own a gun ... I'd just have a conversation.
That usually suffices and if things get unpleasant I express grave disappointment in the noncooperativeness of the neighbor, and I act polite but not someone to mess with, without making any actual threats.
That works for me. Having a few very big and slightly dangerous friends visit and hang out on my front yard talking about their years "inside" and the people they had to "shank" just to "keep them in line" is the next step. It's all about convincing the neighbor to be reasonable without doing anything actionable yourself.

 

[Dan G]

I had a crazy neighbor that kept building these shin high fences around his driveway. The trouble was the fences were on our property. This guy was a persistant problem with everything.
So I started parking my truck on the front yard, running the fences over on a daily basis on my way to work, and dragging them half way down the driveway.[huh] The fences are now on his property.

 

[HadleyH]

No problems with neighbors here.
A lovely family on the right and an eccentric but OK lady on the left!

 

[panamag8or]

I live in the house I grew up in, and the neighborhood has definitely changed. We are getting lots of students moving in, but the ones near me are law students, and are basically quiet. I don't really have any really nutty neighbors. I guess I'm lucky for that.

 

[Roger]

How stinking hard is it, if someone wants to build a fence, to go over to the adjacent property owner and together they survey the land to get the correct property line?????

 

[carebear]

How stinking hard is it, if someone wants to build a fence, to go over to the adjacent property owner and together they survey the land to get the correct property line?????

It isn't hard, but you have to have the concept in your head that there are such things AS property lines, and that they aren't automatically where the grass changes color.

More and more people think less and less about the general subjects that life requires.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

ARGH!! I'm so incredibly frustrated with my new neighbors.
My roof deck is semi private. I share it with 4 other condos. One guy is never home, so he never uses it. The second guy just moved in. He is very nice and seems like he will be very respectful of his neighbors. The third is a couple of young doctors with a 6 month old baby. They have an occasional BBQ but never are out there late at night, and never make any noise. Then there are the 2 fresh out of college 22 year old single guys. One of the kids dad bought this half a million dollar condo for his son for a graduation present.

They have parties every weekend. My poor neighbors with the baby call the cops on them on a regular basis. Quiet hours are from 11pm to 8 am. We all have a mutual respect. Luckily I don't share any walls with any other units, some I've never been bothered. But these kids share a wall with the family with the baby. They blast their music at all hours of the night, the open all of their windows they scream and yell with their front door open. They have never lived in an apartment building before, for four years of college they lived in the dorms. They apparently don't realize that this is not a dorm.

The other day I was informed that they are planning a "Rager". I asked what this was. They looked at me like I had 2 heads, how could I not know what a "rager" is??? Well this is a very big party, with kegs and a DJ, on my roof deck!!! Yes, I understand that the roof deck is theirs too. However, up until now any of our parties have been relatively low key. I mean the majority of us have been out of college for at least 10 years if not more. Our days of keg parties are long over.

This is so stressful for me. I asked them if this was a daytime thing, they again looked at me as if I had 2 heads. This is gonna be an all day and all night thing. I'm more than welcome to join them. Well there's also an understanding that anybody who has a party of any sort out there invites the other owners of the deck out of common courtesy. Up until now we have all been friends, so we all enjoy hanging out.
I reminded the guys of the quiet hour rules. They said that only applied to public areas like the public deck on the third floor. I explained that quiet hours meant that you didn't disturb your neighbors whether you're in your apartment or in the hall. Then they said if that was true then our neighbors with the baby are breaking the rules because the baby cries loudly late at night and early in the morning and wakes them up!!!! I couldn't believe it. I had to tell them that the rule didn't apply to a baby. I then reminded them that my bedroom and the baby's room are right on the deck and we can hear everything that goes on out there. They said that wasn't there problem and I knew that when I moved in that my room bordered the deck!!! Then they said that the family with the baby should know better than to have a baby in an apartment complex and if outside noises woke "it" up it wasn't their problem!!! They then complained about how the neighbors had a BBQ at 12 on Sunday afternoon, and they were hung over and it wasn't fair that someone could wake them up but they get in trouble for waking others up when they make noise. I explained that the majority of people are awake in the day and sleep at night, people don't have to stop their daily activities because their neighbor was out drinking all night.
I said "This is not the dorms" they replied "By the end of the summer it will be just like one"!!:rage: [huh]

I'm so mad about this. Up until now this has been a great place to live. The reason why I liked this building is that it is 80% owner occupied which is great for a city condo building, and just about all of the people who live in this 70 unit building are working families, adults, no college kids. A couple of 20 somethings who like to party but never anything out of control. I AM NOT having a DJ on my deck. If they want to play music out there during the day into the evening that's fine with me. But, I will not have a late night "Rager" going on right outside of my bedroom. They are such selfish jerks. They have absolutely no respect for anybody. They are spoiled brats. Even funnier, one of the kids just applied to be on the board of trustees of the condo!! If he wins, I might just sell my place!!
They don't care either. They have late night loud parties, the neighbors complain to the management company, they get fined, they pay the fines then the next week they do it all over again. I will not hesitate to call the police on them. I'm pretty sure that some of their friends aren't of legal drinking age. Even though it wouldn't be my party, if one of these underage drinkers got hurt while up there, I would be partially responsible since it is my property too. But, I won't hesitate to break up any party that is noisy at night or too rowdy. Let the police come and find them hosting their "Rager" with underage drinkers. I doubt even getting arrested for feeding alcohol to an underage drinker would stop them from throwing another one.
Golly, I hope this isn't as bad as it sounds like it's gonna be. The funny thing is, these two guys look like complete losers. I know they have loud parties at night, but I think these people just use them for the free alcohol and the nice place. You know kids, they're always on the lookout for a cool place to hang out. This kid is using his apartment in the hopes that he might make some friends. I can tell you this much, he's gonna make some serious enemies if he does have this huge bash. I'm sure the girl who lives under the roof deck is gonna love a DJ up there til' the wee hours of the morning, booming his bass on her ceiling all night. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who will be calling the cops on them.
Oh, did I mention that they wanted to put work out equipment up there?? UGh!! I've already told them that that's not gonna happen. Besides it will rust from the weather and ruin the tile floor....

 

[Dr Doran]

Daisy, this is the worst situation I've heard of in a long time. I am sure you have enough to deal with as it is. Call the cops each time and then start to get your bigger meaner friends to loiter around and ask them for a light. Maybe some big ugly rockabilly boys. Some bad boys. You know how to make an impression. Make a negative one.

Honestly, in my experience the only thing some people understand is a (vague, very understated) threatening/ominous/slightly insane behavior.

 

[Diamondback]

Or, Mr. Doran, Miss Daisy, perhaps a subtle campaign of untraceable annoyances...
But would anyone here really do something like that? What, us paragons of class and style? Of course not...

 

[Dr Doran]

Even a vegetarian turns cannibal when pushed hard enough.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Daisy, this is the worst situation I've heard of in a long time. I am sure you have enough to deal with as it is. Call the cops each time and then start to get your bigger meaner friends to loiter around and ask them for a light. Maybe some big ugly rockabilly boys. Some bad boys. You know how to make an impression. Make a negative one.

Honestly, in my experience the only thing some people understand is a (vague, very understated) threatening/ominous/slightly insane behavior.

Thanks Doran
I will definitely not be putting up with any of their shenanigans. I never have, I'm not about to start now! I think between me and the other neighbors, their parties will be ending very early. It's just so annoying to have to deal with this at all. If I wanted to live in this kind of environment I would be living in a frat house.
The funny thing is, I was talking with them about getting all the neighbors together and chipping in to buy some more furniture for out there. They were fine with that, but you should see what their idea of patio furniture is. The most important thing to them at the moment is the ability to hook up their mini fridge!!!
I see the deck as another room in my home. I really would like it to be nice. I want to buy nice furniture and plants and make it look like an outdoor living room. But I'm not gonna do that now, for these dumb selfish jerks will just end up ruining it.
I have a grill out there now. I told them it was OK to use it. It's pointless for them to get their own and have 2 grills out there. The only thing I ask is that they don't leave the gas tank empty and that they clean it each time they use it. They do clean it occasionally, but at the end of last summer after I spent a good amount of time cleaning it because I was gonna use it, I went to turn it on and it was out of gas:rage: They were out there cooking on it every day, which didn't bother me. I was glad it was getting used. But I reminded them quite a few times about the gas. With the amount of times they were using it I was sure it would be running out. I didn't see them for a week after this happened, and by then I had forgotten to say something to them about it. But this past weekend they were using it and I said "Oh, was there enough gas for you to cook all of that?" They said they had bought a new tank since it was the start of the BBQ season. I brought up what happened last summer and told them if it happened again they would have to get their own grill. I also told them that they would have to put their own grill on their own balcony on the first floor of their condo, since we weren't allowed to have 2 grills on the deck because of the fire hazard, and my grill was there first (I made this last part up)
It does stink because I'm stuck with them. If they were just renters I could have their landlord fined for their behavior, which in turn would probably lead to him attempting to evict them, or at least not renewing their lease. But they are owners. Although technically his Dad bought the place and I do have his phone number. I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate his son turning his expensive penthouse apartment into a dorm room or frat house. I'm pretty sure his Dad is a strict man, given his background and where he is from, I do know that respect is a big part of their lifestyle. I guess when some kids leave the nest they do everything opposite of what their parents expect of them.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Or, Mr. Doran, Miss Daisy, perhaps a subtle campaign of untraceable annoyances...
But would anyone here really do something like that? What, us paragons of class and style? Of course not...

Ooh, that's a great idea!! One of the bedrooms of one of the guys is also right on the deck. I could sit next to it early one Sunday morning. Exactly at 8am so quiet hours wouldn't be in effect, and play some annoying or really boring Sunday morning talk radio really loudly while talking on my cell phone.

I'm open to any other hints for subtle yet incredibly annoying untraceable disturbances. I thought about putting a small hole in their ceiling so they get an annoying leak in their bedrooms. We have a few problems with the roof at the moment, so this wouldn't be an uncommon occurrence.

 

[Dan G]

Can I come shoot trap off your roof Miss Daisy? Maybe that'd scare them... Then again, do you have a fire escape? I might have to run from the fuzz after that...lol

 

[CanadaDoll]

Or get your neighbours with the baby to record the crying Daisy, and you can play that at all hours of the day, right by their windows.lol

Either way, I'm sorry you're having such a rough time with your neighbours, they really do make living in a certain place more or less pleasant depending on their disposition.

 

[jamespowers]

I have an old problem solved on one side of my property---Thank God. The spinster who used to live there was gone most of the time and the place was overgrown and prone to vagrancy---yes, the old butler's quarters had squatters one time when she came back from a month long vacation. Long story short, the house had been in the family for three generations. The grandchildren, of which this woman was one, didn't want to spend a dime on the place. :rage: Well, there are several local laws pertaining to community standards that they didn't comply with (such as fire hazzards and such) so I could keep them minimally at bay with that and Round Up.
Finally they sold the place and the new people have been going great guns at getting the place back in order. They keep the weeds down, trim the hedges and are putting up a new fence between us at their expense---on their property. Fences make good neighbors but they are also pretty good with telling me when the Voodoo Gorillas or some such group were filming a music video in their hot houses as well.
The other side is one I figured would be a problem. As long as my grandmother lived here, I told her that those neighbors were in for a rude awakening if I lived here. Well, that came to pass a few years ago now. They have trees and bushes planted right next to MY fence so their crap keeps growing over all the time. Well, me and the friendly chainsaw took care of that---much to their protestation but too bad. I mean I might have accidentally sprayed some weed killer on some of their plants when spraying my yard but....
To make a long story short, they don't protest anymore when their plants get shaved. I just whacked down a huge chunk of a tree that was hanging on my side so I could replace a few sections of fencing between us. No arguments but they watched every branch I cut fall. There had been too lax attention paid to the property line and the new fence will make sure it doesn't happen again there. That and it is just a replacement of a fence that deteriorated long after my grandfather installed it over a half century ago. The Iron supports are still in the ground. Finding the exact lumber sizes and shapes should be interesting though.
People are nuts nowadays. There one was a time when neighbors actually tried to make their yards and accoutrements blend with each other. Those times are long gone and it causes problems. It doesn't hurt to try to fit in a bit when you move into a new neighborhood but these people come in, disrupt the whole coherence of an area and place something that doesn't fit in right next to what took decades to develop. :rage:
I can see that is something that is happening to you there Daisy. I feel for you. Just do as you are intending to do. They have to be made aware that to live within a network of reasonable people, they have to be reasonable as well. I hope they get the idea fast----for your sake.

Regards to all,


J

 

[Dr Doran]

Powers, in which city do you live?
daisy -- how about getting everyone in the building to learn the tango? Except the college kids, that is? RIGHT ON TOP OF THEIR $%*&ING HEADS!
[And if your neighbors are too scared to record their baby crying, I can record Dominika (see picture to left) either crying or doing the Pterodactyl call -- that'll sober 'em up quicklike]

 

[Helen Troy]

I have a problem with one of the tenants int our building. We call him the Laundry Troll, because he seems to have made the laundry room his own, personal habitat which he guards fiercely. He has hes own ideas about who can use which laundry room and how, and I have never seen this ideas in any of the tenants rules so they are only in his head.

The Laundry Troll has the nasty habit of lurking around, checking mailboxes to see who lives where, and then call at our door to complain about us breaking his imaginary laundry rules. Another strategy is to lurk outside the laundry room an catch us when we are doing the laundry.

Right now the Laundry Troll blames the manager of the building most, because he has obviously not given us a correct copy of the laundry room regulations, (he has, off course,) so the Troll writes countless letters to the manager complaining about this. But in the meanwhile, he always has the time to harass us when he sees an opportunity.

I am going down to the laundry room this afternoon to do laundry, hope I won't have to deal with him again...

 

[jamespowers]

Powers, in which city do you live?
daisy -- how about getting everyone in the building to learn the tango? Except the college kids, that is? RIGHT ON TOP OF THEIR $%*&ING HEADS!
[And if your neighbors are too scared to record their baby crying, I can record Dominika (see picture to left) either crying or doing the Pterodactyl call -- that'll sober 'em up quicklike]

I live just south of you in San Leandro.
I could also record Daniel doing his super crying and screaming. That would wake the dead or at least a hung over nutcase or two.

Regards,

J

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

The crying baby recording is a great idea. I think I could manage to sneak into their apartment and leave recordings in their bedrooms behind the TV in the bathroom, just all overy the place. Set them up so they go off at the most inopportune time. I'd love to be able to annoy them so much, make life here for them so miserable that they just have to move..
Thanks for your ideas