-
Step 1
Start with the neighbor's dog. Perhaps their dog is barking late at night right outside your bedroom window or leaving poop piles in your yard on a regular basis. A little neighborly talk may be in order. It is possible that they don't realize what their dog is doing. Pick a good time to talk. Don't wake them up, don't rant and rave, just simply make it more of a casual kind of talk. If they are decent neighbors, they will take the hint. If that doesn't work, try another talk, a bit more serious this time. Watch for the dog to get ready to do his business in your yard and have the water sprinkler ready to turn on.
-
Step 2
Use patience when you are tempted to complain about the neighbors' children. It can be upsetting when you have the perfect lawn and the neighbors' children are riding their bikes right through the middle of your petunias and playing football all over your grass. Try to get on a first name basis with the children and just talk to them. Maybe they'll get the idea of where the boundaries are. If not, talk with the parents. Just use some patience and speak respectfully as you have to live next door to these people and you were a kid once, too.
-
Step 3
Make it a point to be calm when your neighbors do not mow their lawn or deal with their trash. It is very upsetting to take the time to keep your lawn properly mowed and edged while the neighbors' lawn is overgrown and unkempt. Likewise, it is irritating having their trash and junk piled up in visible sight when it is a week away from trash pick-up day. Try to find out what the situation at the neighbors' home is. Maybe there is a family illness or they had to leave town for an emergency. If so, be a good neighbor and try to help them. Move their trash cans up to their garage and mow their yard right after you do yours. You shouldn't have to do this, but it might be the best way to let them know that "you've noticed their yard." If this is a constant situation, have the "neighborly talk" and hope the situation will correct itself. If that doesn't help, contact the city in which you live to see if they are in violation of any city ordinances or ask for assistance from your homeowner's association.
-
Step 4
Try to keep your cool when there is a full-blown party going on next door. If this is a once a year situation, try to just deal with it and not say anything as long as your property was not damaged in some way. However, if this is an every night or four times a week situation and you have to get up and go to work tired and irritable, you need to talk with the neighbors. Then, if need be, start documenting the times of the parties or loud music, so you will have a record of the disturbance times. If you have a homeowner's association, call or write them for assistance in enforcement of the guidelines. You may have to call the police if the problem persists. This should be a last resort as you will probably not be on good terms with your neighbors after that.
-
Step 5
Talk with your neighbor before you cut down the tree that you feel is on your property, but they feel is on theirs. The same goes for fence boundaries and repairs. Someone or everyone may have to dig out a copy of the survey of their property to determine whose tree it really is or who is responsible for repairing the fence that blew down. A good neighborly talk with everyone keeping their cool is better any day that ending up in a legal battle over something like a tree or a fence.
Comments
letsdoitbaby said
on 7/13/2009 If you have a neighbor's dog that is annoying you,
I have a simple and effective solution. I had dogs bothering me for over 6 months. I thought about everything, killing them, poisoning, etc...
You don't need to do any of that.
What is the neighbor going to do, sue you for watering their grass?
Just get a water hose and spray them when they start barking. It shuts them up 100% and they are afraid.
All dogs hate water! Its the most effective and non-threatening way. My neighbors dog crawled under a bench. LOL and would not come out.
It makes them think next time, don't bark or face
the WATER! haha.
I actually had fun doing it. It was payback for 6 months of torture.
marmax81 said
on 5/31/2009 Our neighbors have nothing better to do than to sit on their front porch watching our every move. It is sooo annoying!! My husband cannot go out the front door w/out this clod coming over..
roxy74 said
on 3/23/2009 My neighbor has some serious issues, she is always yelling nasty words and comments to my husband and I. It started over our dogs, she has seven dogs that bark at our fence in a frenzy, and when our dog barks back she thretened to shoot our dog. We discussed this with her husband and we thought that things were worked out. But her mind it fuelled the fire. Now she acts like she is insane. She always screams things at us calling me a B*itch, my dog a menace, and my husband an ****. We refuse to engage in a war with her and choose to ignore her and her comments. So now she has decided to start yelling at our children. Anytime they go outside to play ( and they know to stay away from her property) she screams at them that they cannot play anywhere but on their own property. They are upset by this and so are we. She even yelled at them while my husband was outside watching them but he was un
Alethia said
on 12/5/2007 Very true! Our neighbors didn't mow their grass for a long while and another neighbor actually started doing it for them, they still didn't mow their grass! I just kept my lawn looking great and in the end we got yard of the month! I guess having such a horrible yard next door made ours look even better! As far as kids go definitely set boundaries. Either that or if they don't listen set up spikes that will poke holes in their tires LOL