Buying a house gets you a yard and the right to complain about it. What it doesn’t get you is a say in who lives next door. Most neighbors wave and mind their own business, but a few treat a property line like a border dispute between two nations.
People shared the HOA and next-door feuds that went far beyond a strongly worded note. Fences were built out of spite, and complaints were filed over the shade of a front door. Somewhere out there, a man with a clipboard is measuring a hedge, so while he is busy, pour a drink and be grateful you only have to read about it and not deal with it.
#1 Neighbor Turning Our Power Off
So my girlfriend and I live in a duplex. New construction. New electrical code requires an outside disconnect at the meter box.
So to paint the picture on the neighbors side of the house there’s a dual meter panel and a disconnect (a 100 amp breaker) for each apartment.
Well Friday my girlfriend gets home she calls me at work and says the power is off. I say okay I’ll be home in a few to come check it out. In the meantime one of our other neighbors goes over and sees our breaker is off and flips it back on. Okay no big deal. I ask this neighbor if it was tripped or if it was off. He says ehh well I’m not really sure I think it was off but he doesn’t really know much.
Next day we’re headed home and I get a notification that my dogs smart collar base is offline. Okay sounds like the power is off again. So we get home it’s late at night at this point I walk over to the breaker and find it is off. Not tripped. Off. Only way that is going to happen is if someone physically turned it off. So I turn it back on and put a padlock on the door.
Now this isn’t a high traffic area where the meter panel is located. The only people that are ever in that area is this exact neighbor and his family.
5 minutes later neighbor comes knocking on our door.
“Hey ugh what’re you doing over on my property?!” (For one it’s not his property obviously…)
“Oh yeah our power was turned off I turned it back on”
“Ohh yeah there’s been some power issues here recently that must have caused it”
“Uhh no it was off. Not tripped. It was physically turned off by a person no other possibility”
At this point the guy flips his lid (mind you I didn’t explicitly say I think it was him who tampered with it) starts screaming so I just shut the door. Cops show up about 10 minutes later turned out this same neighbor called the cops. He starts screaming at the cops (the ones he called???) and demands I get arrested for trespassing. Cops come and talk to me basically say yeah this guy is a jerk we deal with him a lot you should try to get a restraining order.
While all this is happening an ambulance shows up. Turned out the guys wife is having a panic attack and they take her to the hospital.
Cops end up leaving nothing happens and we can hear him arguing with his family for the next couple hours.
Just another insane event with this particular neighbor. There are plenty more.
Image source: Adeptfox, Wavebreak Media
#2 Son’s Birdhouse Got Me A Fine
My son had turned 4 and wanted to build a birdhouse. I am thrilled any time he wants to make something and not sit glued to the TV or ipad, so we went out to get one of those birdhouse kits with the pre-cut pieces.
He loves being independent so aside from starting the nails and helping him figure out which piece goes where, I let him do his thing. He even painted it after, calling it the rainbow house (so you can guess what it looked like). This thing was barely staying together, but it was his and he was so proud of it.
We put it on our table on the back deck and when I got home from work the next day I had a letter from the HOA shoved in my door. It was a $50 fine for having an animal sanctuary on our property. I went down to the property management office to argue the fine and was told they would take me to court if I didnt pay.
Since technically it fell under the definition of an “animal sanctuary”, even though I doubt any birds would ever use it, I decided to save some money and just pay the fine instead of fighting it in court.
The worst part of this whole ordeal was explaining to my son why he couldn’t show off his birdhouse. I told him what the HOA said and he told me when we move next time, that we should make sure there aren’t any HOAs around.
Image source: Spirited-Usual-1557, pressfoto
#3 I Got My Justice Today
To set the stage: I just turned 30. I have a good job, spend my money wisely, save and invest. I grew up dirt poor and had nothing handed to me in life.
Late 20’s the software company I had been at went public and I cashed out and moved back home to FL.
With nothing to do I started investing in rental properties with a good friend of mine.
This started about a year ago with the president of an HOA where I purchased 2 condos. This is a man in his late 60’s, thinks he is the second coming of Jesus.
From the get go he made comments about being young and buying houses, why my parents weren’t co-signing. Or must be nice to have a trust fund.
Both properties had existing tenants. One still there one left. My business model has been to completely remodel every property between tenants to get the maximum rental income.
Construction was hell, literally everything was a problem. Dumpster smelled, contractors leaving at 5:05pm. Being accused of not pulling permits. You name it the HOA President tried to medal his way in.
I submitted 6 rental applications all got denied. I was never given a reason but the board was happy to cash my application fees.
I got my companies attorney involved. It took 6 months and many wasted days in a court room but we finally got the books. I had a family friend go through them and found some inconsistencies.
I’ll save the long story, but many thousands of dollars and hundreds of wasted hours this idiot and his 2 crony board members were stealing from the bank account. He was writing fake invoices to his own company. My magician attorney was able to get text logs of them discussing blocking my apps; mainly they wanted me to dump the property so they could buy it.
Now to the justice boner; we won a sizable judgement against him personally. The HOA’s E&O insurance subrogated him. And and, today he put his house up for sale. The house he had been living in for 30 years.
To throw sat on the wound I did put in an offer for 65% of what is asking though I doubt I’ll get a response.
The best part? We offered to settle for a fraction months ago, we even were willing to include a non-disclosure. The idiot told us to pound sand at every turn. So mr HOA president, I won. The “stupid trust fund baby” won and you lost!
Sorry for the rant, none of my friends or family cares about it and all told me to just walk away. I figured you all may enjoy it.
Image source: jmoney6, armmypicca
Robert Frost gave us the line “Good fences make good neighbors” in his 1914 poem “Mending Wall,” and people have been quoting it liberally, but they are misinterpreting it big time. Most of them miss that the speaker disagrees.
He and his neighbor spend an afternoon rebuilding the stone wall between their properties, and he can’t see the point of it, since there are no cows to keep in. The neighbor just repeats what his father told him. Over a century later, the argument over where the wall goes is still going strong.
#4 New Neighbor Thinks I’m Having An Affair When She Doesn’t Know I Have A Twin Brother
My wife and i have been living in our current neighborhood for about 2 yrs now. Next door neighbor moved in last April, married with no kids and works from home. I had my identical twin brother and his wife visit us last week of June and they decided to stay over for a few days. Unfortunately, they arrived middle of the week and after lunch so my wife and I were both at work. But we do use a smartlock so I gave them remote access. They also came in by uber from the airport, left their luggage at our house, and met my wife and I for dinner downtown.
Next day, this neighbor approaches my wife as she was about to leave for work in the morning (I leave later than her and my brother and sister in law were still asleep). She asks her if she knew anything or had noticed anything different about me. My wife was a bit taken aback by her question and asks why. She goes on saying she saw “me” bringing another woman home the day before in a different car. My wife realizes this neighbor’s mistake and explains my twin brother arrived in town. Our new neighbors gasps and is obviously embarrassed but my wife handled it pretty calmly. She even showed our new neighbor our dinner picture with my twin brother and his wife. New neighbor didn’t see our group arriving back at home so made that assumption. My wife and I laughed about it when she shared it with me.
All is well until I got a text from a neighbor close to me asking me what I’ve been up to. Apparently, new neighbor quickly gossiped about “me” to others. It’s annoying because, well, not everyone in the neighborhood saw my twin brother arriving (because it was in the middle of the day). Second, we realized new neighbor talked to three other neighbors. Like what the hell. My wife and I were unsure whether or not to explain to the rest what’s really the deal, but at the same time, it’s quite the effort. We thought of walking around the neighborhood with my brother and sister in law, and we did, but it’s not like everyone is peaking through their windows or waiting at their porches. I get the whole women have women behind their back, just annoying how quick it spread to others without any attempt to confirm first.
Sharing this after the whole coldplay concert issue lol (i’m sure that ceo dude has no twin)
Image source: Hernandrez-Muhamed, bokodi
#5 Hoa Karen Tries To Ban Halloween
I live in an HOA community. For 25 years our HOA President was a retired shoe cobbler and Korean War veteran.
Everything was chill. no one ever got a notice or warning. The HOA meeting consisted of him stating “Anyone have any questions? no? ok lets eat” and we all had Cracker Barrel that he paid for.
Halloween everyone went all out. Skeletons and vampires and all sorts of lawn decors. It was a huge event and even the local Special Needs school would bring the kids to go trick or treating.
Well he passed away and his replacement was a 35 year old woman from out of state. We all thought she was cool but it turns out it was an act.
She was an ultra Christian nut job (I am Christian but this woman was totally a cultist). She decreed the Halloween event was Satanic and was banned.
That did not go over well so at the next HOA meeting a vote took place to remove her. She threatened to have everyone arrested and actually called the cops. Needless to say they laughed and she was removed. She sold her house for a loss and moved.
The new HOA President, an elderly black man, issued a decree that from now on the HOA President did not have the power to cancel events and it must be voted on by the community. He also shortened the term to 2 years and outlawed the HOA from imposing monetary fines for minor infractions.
Image source: Temporary-Witness735, Charles Parker
#6 HOA Lost Access To Forest And Home Prices Plummeted
I’m living most of your dreams. My property was built in the mid 90s on a smaller development (30 homes) which has never had an HOA. I bought my house in 2019. We have larger gardens that back on to a state forest and a separate road with no public access. The people from the HOA use a small path that runs across our older silent generations neighbors garden to access the forest and the trails.
In the early 2000’s they build a new neighborhood of around 105 homes with an HOA and a management company. Last year we got a welcome to the HOA packet in our mailbox. We called to explain that we aren’t in the HOA and the lady who answered said yes we are. Apparently new boomers have taken over their HOA and think we are in. I spoke to my neighbors who all told them to pound sand. They started sending threatening letter to all of us. Unlucky for them my nextdoor neighbor is one of the largest real estate attorneys in the state and got that stuff shut down.
Our silent generations neighbors son had a company come build a giant fence across the path and blocked the HOA access. They tried to unsuccessfully fight it. They never filed a lawsuit and backed down. Now to access the forest they have to drive 3 miles and use a public area. The word in town is that they are all really mad and property prices have plummeted. I asked the silent generations son about the fence and he said ” children need to learn life lessons”.
Image source: Weak-Preparation4588, Kris Møklebust
You can’t choose your neighbors, and psychology says that’s where the trouble begins. In 1950, the psychologists Leon Festinger, Stanley Schachter, and Kurt Back studied friendships among residents of an MIT housing complex.
About 41% of people named the person next door as a close friend, compared with 22% for two doors down and 10% for the far end of the hall. Proximity makes friends, and the same math applies to enemies. The person you’re most likely to love is also the person whose music, hedge, and recycling bins you have to put up with.
#7 HOA Pulled An UNO Reverse
Not the typical story you find on here, but I think you guys will find it humerous.
For context I work in the Customer Service Department of a company that still does door to door sales.
Today I got a call from a gentleman stating that he was the President of his HOA and needed to add the entire HOA to our Do Not Visit list. I kindly explained that I would be happy to add his address but I couldn’t not add any other addresses without the permission of the individual residents.
He proceeds to tell me that he is the President and I am going to do it because they voted for this. No sir I will not! He hangs up on me.
Calls back 10 minutes later assuming he will get a different person, but we are a small company and I am the only one on the phone. I patiently explain to him that our system does not allow us to enter an address without a unique call identifier and even if I try to enter more than one address, I will get an error message that the address has already been added even if it hasn’t. He begrudgingly admits defeat…Or so I thought.
I received no less than 120 calls today from this HOA all asking to have their address added. I got nothing else done and am emotionally exhausted. I had to shut down the chat feature on our website and when I left today I still had about 50 unanswered voicemails.
If I wasn’t on the receiving end of this I might actually respect the HOA for this move.
Image source: Twinmom823, Getty Images
#8 Lawyer Destroys HOA!
One of my friends is a land use attorney who told me this story about a case of his.
Originally, there existed a small HOA with about a dozen houses in a coastal region. About half of these houses (individually, not as part of the HOA) had easement rights through a neighbor’s property, to use a private road to access a nearby beach.
The problems started with a new development adjacent to the existing HOA, with over one hundred new houses. The president of this new development’s HOA somehow got the idea that the smaller HOA had easement rights to access the beach (it didn’t) and proposed merging the two into a new, larger HOA that he thought would inherit these easement rights for everyone.
Well the neighboring property owner got sick of hundreds of cars, which had no right to be there, tearing up his private road. So, he dumped some giant logs across the road and blocked off access for everyone.
The president of this new HOA then sued the property owner on behalf of the entire HOA, forcing all homeowners to pay an assessment to cover the legal costs.
Enter my lawyer friend who was hired by one of the original homeowners with legitimate easement access.
He wrote up a letter to the HOA president. This thing was about 50 pages long. It included maps, diagrams, county filings, easements, along with pointing out all the relevant laws and case laws. Any possible arguments against his points were also brought up, along with the reasons why those arguments would fail. In short, this was a completely ironclad explanation that what the HOA president was doing was incorrect. The main points were:
It was a handful of the original houses that had individual easement access
The original HOA itself did not have any easement access rights
Merging the new larger HOA with the original HOA does not mean the new houses inherited any rights
Spending the HOA’s money on this lawsuit is illegal, because it doesn’t benefit all of the homeowners equally (some of the original houses had actual easement rights and therefore should not have to pay for any lawsuit)
The manner in which the new HOA was formed was never done properly in the first place, and could be dissolved by the courts
What did the HOA president do? Ignored all of this and continued with the lawsuit.
This ended up with another lawsuit against the HOA president personally by the original homeowners, who also filed to dissolve the HOA completely. This meant none of the houses could be assessed for legal bills, making the HOA president personally liable for all the legal bills for both lawsuits, which he lost.
As a result, the (former) HOA president went bankrupt and was forced to sell his house and move out of the neighborhood.
Image source: Smooth_Security4607, Hunters Race
#9 Try Malicious Compliance
When my HOA said that I needed a “water catch basin” under all of my potted plants in front of my townhouse, I noticed that the official rules did not say plant saucer. Technically a water catch basin is an industrial water conduit. So I went out and bought a big ugly water conduit and a big PVC pipe to be attached to it. I then sat my plants on top of that (It is still there. It takes a majority of members to change the rules so they have to live with their demand).
They then said that the flowers in front of my townhouse needed to be dug up because only the landscaper could plant things there. The previous owner had planted them and I hadn’t any idea where they all were. So I bought a shovel and dug up every single plant and expensive bush in front of my place. It cost them much more than the $50 fine that they were charging me to fix my compliance.
In the past year they have stopped trying to fine me. Probably because I am too expensive to go after for their little things anymore.
There are lots of malicious compliance solutions you can pick. If an HOA requires a grass front lawn, see if you can get written permission to spray it regularly with color so that it won’t turn brown. You then go and get fluorescent pink. You simply make it so obnoxious and expensive that they stop trying to impose silly little things. There are lot of fun things you can do with following rules exactly or getting permission to do things that have unexpected results.
Brainstorm with friends. Have fun. But make sure it stays exactly within the rules. You can “train them” to look only at meaningful things instead. Especially with you. HOAs can actually be a good thing if they are reminded to stick to what is really important. More like a utility service than an enforcement authority.
Image source: anon, Sara Kozak
The research on territory explains why a bush can feel like an act of war. The psychologist Irwin Altman, who studied how people use space, described the home as a primary territory, a place we feel we own and control. Strangers can walk across a public one, like a sidewalk, but a primary territory is supposed to be ours alone. A neighbor’s fence, tree, or floodlight reaches into that space. It’s why a dispute over six inches of lawn can feel like a dispute over something much bigger.
#10 Another Easy Win
I own property next to an HOA. Over a year ago we were doing work on part of the property, clearing brush and replacing the fence in a field that is adjacent to the HOA. For the brush removal we had a dumpster 100% on my property for a few weeks and then then the new fence went up almost exactly like the old one in the same location.
The HOA knows my property is not part of the HOA, this was litigated over 25 years ago when they formed and we’ve since had run ins but it seems it was that time again. It seems every 7-10 years there’s a new board that refuses to acknowledge historical facts.
We received notices about the dumpster which were promptly replied to stating the property in question was not part of an HOA. This of course did not work and they attempted to assess fines which received a cease and desist which they didn’t reply to. Instead they continued to assess more fines daily for the dumpster without further notice. They sent another letter and fine for the unapproved fence which received another cease and desist which was ignored.
They of course filed a judgement and requested a lien which we counter claimed for harassment and disruption of ongoing business activities. The hearing was today, and of course we won another chunk of change from them but I still have to pay my lawyers. Even with legal fees and court costs, I’m coming out ahead.
Image source: LuckyTheLurker, New Africa
#11 Neighbor Called Cops Because I Was… Walking?
My neighbors are generally bad, they’re all loud, they have no regard for neighbors.
But this one… I just… what?
I’ve been trying to lose weight so I don’t have any junk food in the house, if I want a junk food I have to walk to go get it. It’s been working. But around 9pm last night I had a craving for nachos, so I started walking.
On the walk back, warm nachos in hand, I had a police officer pull up next to me. One of my neighbors had called in a suspicious person, they’d called in a few other times with the same description of the person- including security video of me that shows my tattoos. I was deemed suspicious by the neighbor because I wasn’t looking at my phone, walking a dog, or walking with other people.
I‘ve lived in the neighborhood for 6 years. I stick to the sidewalk, I’m literally just walking off my outer fat person to feed my inner fat person 🤦🏻♀️ but apparently I can’t do that without being suspicious?
Am I supposed to stare at my phone, bring my reactive dog, and sing show tunes while I walk? Do I need my address printed on a shirt saying “I actually live here”?!
Image source: anon, Ahmet Kurt
#12 Was Told To Move Because I Didn’t Introduce Myself
I bought a house and never went around to officially introduce myself. I eventually started meeting some neighbors from being outside while doing yard work. I consider myself polite, quiet, I don’t have crazy parties (or parties at all), people aren’t coming and going all hours of the night, and I mind my own business.
About a year living in my home, a neighbor from across the street (I’d met her husband but never her), marches over and knocks on my door. At first, I didn’t know who she was so decided not to answer. She eventually yells through the door and asks why I won’t come to talk to her. I turn my doorbell camera on and say hello, I’m not able to come to the door, but asked what I could do for her. She goes into a tirade of how she’s never met me, she never sees lights on in my house, and she’s concerned that it sits empty most days.
I’m fairly shocked by this given I’ve NEVER met her nor seen her before and I do, in fact, live in the house I purchased. And I actually live in it every day. I ask which house she is from and that sets her over the edge. She yells about being my neighbor and how rude it is that I never introduced myself to her. I am confused because I still don’t know which house she’s from and again politely asked for clarification. This caused her to yell, “if you don’t know who I am, that’s your fault and you shouldn’t be here, you need to move”. And with that she walked away.
I was so shaken up that I didn’t go out for the rest of the day. Her husband knows me and we’ve talked a few times while I’ve been outside. He gave me the ‘lay of the land’ about the people on our street. So when I figured out which house she was from, I was pretty shocked and upset.
The next day I decided to try and smooth things over. She was passive aggressive but thanked me for coming over and stated that’s all she really wanted. And I’ve never seen her in-person again. But I have experienced her calls to the police claiming things like I egged her house (when no eggs were found on the house), I stole some kind of light fixture from their front yard, and a personal favorite, I threw a party so loud it woke her up in the middle of the night. All things I absolutely did not do. Eventually the police told her she will get fined if she keeps wasting their time.
Not too long ago I noticed their dog was running up and down the street with no collar on. I was able to collect him and walked him over to their house. The husband answered, quickly took the dog, didn’t even say thank you, and shut the door. A different neighbor saw the whole thing and came over to tell me how horrible these people have been to me and that they’ve been spreading rumors about me.
I don’t plan on moving any time soon, but NFH are truly the worst and I don’t enjoy my yard nor my deck anymore. Hopefully when I find the motivation to sell, I’ll be able to find neighbors who aren’t completely insane.
Image source: Norlahna, benzoix
The most famous neighbor feud in American history started over a pig. In 1878, Randolph McCoy accused his Kentucky neighbor Floyd Hatfield of stealing a hog, and the families on either side of the Tug Fork River spent the next decade settling the score. More than a dozen people perished, and the Hatfields and McCoys became shorthand for a grudge that won’t end. The two families finally signed a formal truce in 2003, which is over 120 years of staying mad about a hog.
#13 Neighbor Pouring Water On Driveway In Freezing Weather
I’m at a loss of what to do about this crazy woman. We are next door neighbors with side by side driveways. We got along fine until my boyfriend, now husband, moved in. Then for whatever reason, she began finding any reason to start some drama. First it was our dogs. She began calling animal control because our dogs walked from our door to our backyard without a leash (on our own property.) She put ring camera on her side door to watch us, so we put a fence along the concrete driveway to keep her from spying on us. She complained to the city about the fence, then began arguing about property lines. She calls the police about anything. Somebody stepped on her side of the driveway, somebody walked on her sidewalk, somebody parked in front of her house. I run a business from home and she began harassing customers about where they parked. She reported my business to the city and tried hard to get it shut down. She would take a picture of a car that stopped briefly in front of MY part of the driveway to let a passenger out, and make them think the car parked and would not move. After somebody finally looked into it, they saw she was lying and I was told the police and the city would no longer respond to her complaints, and after four dog-at-large cases (at large in my own yard)were dismissed, I think animal control is done with her as well.
So now I see her early one morning in 20 degree weather pouring 2 buckets of water over the shared part of the driveway. If a car parked in my driveway and someone got out on the passenger side, they would slip and fall. I have cameras. Is there action I can take, or do I have to wait for someone to hurt themselves?
UPDATE: Made a police report, thanks for all your input and advice! To answer some questions that keep coming up *She is not old, senile, or suffering from dementia. She is conniving and knows how to work the system. For years, she knew exactly how to legally harass me with constant calls and complaints, and knew how to make her lies and exaggerations sound legit. When one way stopped working, she was clever enough to figure out another way. That’s not someone whose mind is not clear. Maybe she has some mental illness, but she’s sane. And whatever her problem is should not be mine to deal with. *My business is not the problem, it is what she decided to target after animal control and the police didn’t work. There’s no traffic flow, no more than if I had a few friends stop by during the day. Everything about it is legit, and I have neighbors on the other side of me, across the street, and behind me, and not one other person has complained. *She is black and so are we, so it’s not that, BUT my husband’s ex is white and his kids are mixed. When we got into it she threw out the comment about “that’s why your husband likes white women, that’s why he got white kids” which I thought was weird and creepy for her to comment on. Why would she know or care who my husband’s ex is? His mixed children are the same complexion or darker than my Black child so she wouldn’t know that just from seeing them. I’ve always felt, and that comment confirmed it for me, that she’s lonely, bitter, jealous, and taking it out on me.
Image source: anon, Stockbusters
#14 Got Pulled Over For Open Container…..Of Cat Food!
I’ve got this sixtyish year-old single neighbor lady across the street from me that wants to insert herself into everyone’s business 24 seven. You know they type.
A friend of mine was on vacation for a month and I volunteer to stop by his house once a day to feed his outside stray cat. You can’t actually pet the cat, but it does sleep on his porch and expects food and water. His place is right on my way to work.
After a couple days of getting his keys out, going in his house, getting a scoop of food out of the bag and then locking up again, I decide I can streamline this process.
I take the bag of cat food back to my place. In the morning I scoop a red solo plastic cup full of food on my way out the door and put it in my cup holder. Now I can drive up, jump out, reach up onto the porch and dump the cat food cup, check the water and I’m gone in 60 seconds. Perfect!
This works fine…for about two weeks. One morning as I’m stepping out of my place I notice a sheriff’s car parked up the block. I’ve got nothing to hide or worry about so I didn’t really think too much of it.
I drove past him and turned the corner. Next thing I know he’s behind me lighting me up and pulling me. The very first thing out of his mouth is “Hi there. Have you had anything to drink this morning?”
I’m already gathering up my license, registration, and opening the app to show my proof of insurance because I know the routine. Looking a little surprised, I say “no”.
He motions towards the center console and says what do you have in the red solo cup? For a second there, I’m thinking, what red solo cup? Oh the cat food cup! I pick it up and shake it “cat food” he looks completely confused by this. I tell him I have to feed my friends cat on the way to work and this is the easiest way to do it. Just dump it in a bowl.
He kind of chuckles a little bit takes my license and registration information back to his car and says “I’ll be back in a second.” After presumably running all my stuff, he comes back and laughs and says “Ha ha,yeah sorry we got an anonymous call that you were leaving the house every morning with an alcoholic drink in your hand.” He apologies again, give me his business card in case I had to show the boss why I was late to work, told me to have a nice day and I went on my way.
I just KNEW this was because of the lady across the street! So next day I walk out start my car. I can see her standing on her porch, doing the looking, but trying look like shes not looking.
I come out with the bag of cat food and look her way and yell “Good morning neighbor!” Making sure I was facing her house, with a bag of cat food in one hand and the red cup in my hand, I make a big exaggerate scoop out of the bag with a cup and hold it in the air. Then I set the cat food down in front of my door and driveway..
And that’s how I got pulled over for open container of cat food.
Image source: MarchCompetitive6235, Stephen Audu
#15 Neighbors Keep Trespassing. Today They Hired Laborers To Remove Large Retaining Boulders On My Property That Prevent Erosion
(Location: Massachusetts)
The neighbor behind our home moved in about two years ago. There’s a large drainage ditch close to the border of our properties that is on their side. Our property line begins at the top of the drainage ditch where there are about a dozen or more boulders that have been there for decades. Their house is part of a development (hoa) who is responsible for the general maintenance of the ditch. I have caught them on our side numerous times. One occasion she was removing brush that was on our side bc they apparently didn’t like the way it looked. We spoke to her and told her she couldn’t do that and she acted as if she didn’t know the boundaries so we made it clear where the lines were and let it go. Since then we have caught her walking on our side of the property multiple times. Not sure why on those occasions tbh as we have privacy trees and could only see that she was on our side not specifically what she was doing.
Today she hired laborers to remove and essentially steal (for what purpose is unknown to me) multiple massive boulders from my side of the property line. These boulders act as a retaining wall for the ditch and are there to prevent erosion. She was confronted and said again oh she didn’t realize and that she got “permission from the town.” Both I strongly believe to be lies. She said she would put the boulders back. What are my options here? She clearly has no respect for the boundary lines and speaking to her hasn’t worked. Can I have her trespassed even though it was her hired workers who technically were on my property and moved the boulders? I also don’t have proof of prior incidents as I never filed a police report since I was hoping to give her the benefit of the doubt and keep things amicable. Should I just let her put the boulders back, let it go, and hope she respects the boundaries in the future? Should I contact her development since they are the ones who maintain the ditch and tell them? Advice on what would be my best options. Thanks all.
UPDATE: Hey, just a quick update for those interested. The morning after this post she had her laborers return several of the boulders to where they were, (sloppily I might add) but there seem to be others that are still missing. I have gone to the police and they refused to issue any sort of trespass. They told me that unless I saw her actively on my property stealing that it was a he said/she said . They also said that because it was laborers and not her that she isn’t the one that would be blamed. They said unless it can be proven that it was in fact on my property they couldn’t so anything. Ultimately they told me it was a civil matter, not a police matter. I also called the towns Conservation Commission and I believe someone did go and inspect the ditch/wetland although I have not heard back from them yet. I have put a call in to a surveyor to establish the boundaries more clearly and once that is done I will be putting signs, and possibly cameras and fencing. At that point I will also have better standing to pursue further action against her and the landscaping company. Thanks for all the advice you have given. I will not be letting this go and will pursue it as much as I can legally.
FINAL UPDATE: Since this post is still getting seen…I had two markers that had been surveyed years prior, so I was able to run a string from one to the other between our properties. She did quite a bit more/worse than steal boulders tbh. I ended up putting four tall metal no trespassing signs on 6ft posts 10 ft apart facing her property and boy was she super pissed lol. She tried getting a fence built to hide them but this is alongside a drainage ditch up against wetlands so poor her will have to deal with those signs. I also got a trail cam installed and reached out to a lawyer (unsuccessfully as I think it’s just small stuff for them to want to deal with). In my area the signs are enough and I wouldn’t need a formal no trespassing notice sent to her. I
Image source: Melissaj312
Spite has also shaped architecture. In 1830, John Hollensbury of Alexandria, Virginia, got tired of people loitering in the alley beside his house and damaging his property. He built a house in the gap, about seven feet wide, and it’s still standing at 523 Queen Street, now known as the Spite House. The law has caught up with the habit. California treats a fence over ten feet tall that is maliciously built or kept to annoy a neighbor as a private nuisance and lets the victim sue over it.
#16 My Neighbor Got Me Fined For Playing Music. Guess Whose Dog Just Got Him Fined?
My neighbor Todd has a Pomeranian named Buttons. He isnt the worst dog, just kind of loud sometimes. Barks when people walk by, or when Amazon drops off a package. Normal stuff. Annoying if your home all day but not enough to get HOA involved. Todd though is one of those HOA rulebook guys. Last month I got a letter saying id been reported for excessive noise. Turns out Todd complained about me playing music in my garage every morning while I work. I wasnt blasting it, just enough to drown out the outside noise. HOA hit me with a $75 fine. No warning. So I bought this cheap rubber chicken that squeaks from Amazon. Now when Todd lets Buttons out to use the bathroom around 630 or 7 a.m. , I go out to my garage with my coffee and rubber chicken and give it a good squeak. Buttons completely loses it! Not a couple barks but full on melt down! Running laps, barking non stop and wont calm down for at least 10 minutes. After doing that just about every morning for a week straight Todd comes over and asks if im doing something to Buttons to get her worked up in the morning because he got a fine for chronic nuisance barking during quiet hours. I told him I had no idea what he was talking about, while buttons was still going absolutely bonkers behind him.
Image source: Dgorman927
#17 HOA Illegally Cut Our Internet Wire
For context I live in a house in a gated community. With many houses next to each other. Basically our spectrum wire that runs from the outside to the box (which is a bit of ways) they cut. I’m not sure if they knew it was a internet wire or what but they cut it. Apparently it was an “eye sore” how it was exposed a tiny bit to the box. Which makes no sense cause theres other wires there also. Not to mention it’s been there for YEARS.
So, we called spectrum and they sent out a guy today to check it out. Here’s the kicker. Not only did they have someone cut the long expensive wire but they also stole it. The spectrum guy was like “What the hell? They can’t do that. They can’t destroy our property.” He also said he could have reconnected it even cut if they didn’t steal it. It’s not even our cable/internet it’s spectrums. So, now we have to wait till Monday so they can bring in a few guys to put a new wire and the labor to get it from our house to the box. Spectrum is going to charge the HOA the bill.
It just doesn’t make sense to me. We had no idea they were even doing that to our property. No notifications or anything. They just came and did it. I was at work. Only reason we knew was cause my dad heard someone on the roof and the wire is cut. And the guy said he was part of the HOA. Isn’t that illegal? Beyond destroying and stealing spectrum property they can’t come to our property without notifying us and destroy something. If I was home I would have 100% said what the hell are you doing? Get down. If I saw someone on my roof.
Spectrum said they will increase our internet speeds and give us a faster and stronger cable when they come install it on Monday. For the inconvenience of waiting 2 more days. But my war is with the HOA right now because what the hell? Stupid HOAs.
Image source: Curse06
#18 She Thinks It’s Her House
I have a neighbour. She lives behind me.
When I first moved in, I was keeping my lawn at a nice, lush 5″ height. She decided to help me one day by mowing my lawn while I was at work. Came home to find she’d cut it right down into the soil. Soon I had dandelions instead of lawn. When I got home that day, I found her on her knees with a pair of scissors reaching under our fence and trying to cut the lawn in my backyard. I told we don’t her help and don’t cut our lawn anymore.
Next, we spent a ton of money and labour installing a new beautiful fence around our back and sideyard. The fence posts were all painted black and my husband was very proud of his work. Soon discover that neighbour has taken it upon herself to use her gas weed trimmer on the boulevard in front of our house and is chewing up our brand new fence posts. I go over to her house, politely thank her for helping us, but remind her that we’d prefer to look after our lawn ourselves. She starts yelling in my face that everyone in the neighbourhood hates me and that everyone hates my garden. I tell her that I’m not there to trade insults, I just want her to stay out of my space.
I overhear her telling a new neighbour that I don’t look after my yard.
I see her at my place of work and she glares at me.
General bad vibes, but whatever.
Last week, I returned home from a trip to find someone had left a bunch of broken shelving on the boulevard in front of my house. This happens sometimes in this town. The shelving is all about 6′ feet high. There are 3 pieces. They are upright and spread out across the boulevard. I look at them and see they are quite rotten and not in great shape. I decide to put them all into a pile, laying down, and then call the town to ask them to pick up and discard.
I go back inside, and suddenly hear the shelving being moved around. I go back outside and see the shelfs are once again upright and spread across the boulevard. I start putting them back into a pile. The neighbour comes storming out of her house, screaming at me to leave the shelves the way she wants them. Keep in mind, this is in front of my house. I tell her no, I tell her to calm down, that I am calling the town. She calls me a pathetic jerk, screaming all the while. I continue piling the furniture. She screams her way back into her house. I go back inside and hear both her and her husband screaming and yelling.
I’m considering calling the police non emergency line to file a complaint. I’ve been here for 6 years. So it’s not the worst case scenario, but it’s definitely unsettling and seems to be getting worse. To be clear, we have always left these people alone, we work hard, our garden is well cared for.
Image source: peachesandgranola
Britain treats hedges as a public issue. Under the Anti-social Behavior Act 2003, which came into force in England in 2005, residents can complain to their local council about evergreen hedges that tower over a neighbor’s property and block light. The law was mainly a response to Leyland cypress, a fast-growing tree that was sold as an instant privacy screen and became a decades-long source of neighbor feuds. If a council agrees the hedge is a problem, it can order the owner to cut it down.
#19 Just Moved In… Neighbors Called Cops On Us
We have lived in this house for a grand total of 3 days. Our kids were playing in the backyard, we had turned the sprinklers on beneath the trampoline and they were having a fun time playing as our dog chased them and the water beneath the trampoline. We came inside to put our kids to bed (it was 7:45pm) and 30 minutes later a cop pulled up saying our neighbor had called in a noise complaint against us, citing our dog had been barking non stop for over an hour. I checked the time stamps from our sprinkler system, and we were outside for 17 minutes total. 17 minutes!!
Our dog does enjoy barking when he’s playing hard with our kids, but he was in no way barking non stop for over an hour. What a welcome to the neighborhood. Now I feel like we can’t play with our dog in our own yard without the fear of getting the cops called on us. What do we do??! Bake cookies and bring them to every neighbor and hope they don’t call again? Set up a ring camera system so we can show receipts for how long he is realistically barking? Let them call the cops and risk getting a citation every time we play outside? Never let our dog play outside again? Get a bark collar?
I’m torn between being pissed and wanting to be considerate neighbors. But I just don’t know what to do.
Image source: microbiolochick
#20 Got Called A Karen For Asking Neighbors Not To Use Our Driveway
We bought our single family home 6 months ago. After years of dealing with NFHs and other random neighborhood happenings, I thought surely things would calm down. I knew there would be new challenges but I think I’ve just finally reached the boss level.
Neighbors across the street have been insufferable this whole time. Bumping music rattling our walls, people constantly coming and going, revving motorcycles, shooting fireworks off that land in our yard/on our house..They have 8-10 people living there with a car for each person so that means more spaces are taken on the street every day. Which is fine, we have 2 cars and don’t need a ton of street parking anyway. But they love to use our driveway multiple times per day when backing in/out/turning around. Most of the time this wouldn’t bother me, but they’ve started pulling halfway up to our garage, getting out of their car, and rummaging around in it for who knows what.
I finally had enough of it today and asked them to stop pulling in our driveway for their own personal use. So I got called a Karen for that. This is on top of multiple other issues we’ve had with them that could each have their own post many paragraphs long.
I’m hardcore mourning our first time home buyers experience. This was supposed to be a happy, fun, exciting time in our lives but it’s just turned into something driving a wedge between us and ruining our mental health. I’m honestly at a loss and we are already thinking of selling but don’t want to lose money on this..
Edit: this is the day after I was called a Karen and another one of their occupants decided to back his car up to our driveway but leave it on the sidewalk area so it’s technically not on our property. He just sat in it for a few minutes blocking us from getting out..
Edit 2: I appreciate all the responses and kind words! Thank you to everyone! For the people saying caltrops or spike strips, I don’t actually think that is legal. It might be considered booby trapping if I’m not careful. We are planning to save up and get the front yard fenced in, complete with a driveway gate, in the spring. And yes we already have 2 exterior cameras.
Edit 3: we’ve come to the series finale, y’all. The main perpetrator and his gf got into another big blowout argument today and he’s getting kicked out.
Image source: kanga_khan
#21 Downstairs Neighbor Called The Cops On Me At 2am
We have been having issues with this woman for over a year. She thinks we’re too loud and bangs on her ceiling / our floor for any little thing even in the middle of the day.
We have tried to go speak with her but she just threatens to hit me, spit on my partner, and told us slurs. So. We avoid her.
Yesterday we found out she called around to all the local police stations to report on my partner. He has a sticker on his car from when it was his father’s, a cop, car. She told them he was toxic and violent towards her and of course made herself out to be the victim. We found this out because they then called us yesterday to seek an explanation.
Last night I’m in bed, my partner is at work. I’m snuggled up with our cat, sound asleep and suddenly I get a knock on the door. Our next door neighbors have guests that sometimes go to the wrong door so I just kind of waited, half asleep and wasn’t going to answer it. There was another knock, louder, more aggressive.
I got out of bed and looked through my peephole and there are two cops outside. I’m convinced they’re at the wrong door because what? I open the door and they say they got a disturbance report from my downstairs neighbor for stomping around. I informed them that I was literally asleep? They told me to keep it down (???) and they leave.
She’s getting more and more unhinged and I’m kind of at a loss. We tried ignoring. We tried talking. She talked to management. She tried to get my partner fired from his job (that he doesn’t have) and called the cops on me for sleeping. I cannot wait to move.
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Homeowners associations took neighbor disputes and added a rulebook. The first planned community with binding covenants is often traced to Gramercy Park in New York, where developer Samuel Ruggles required lot buyers in 1831 to help pay for the upkeep of the private park. The idea took off after World War II, and by 1970 the US had roughly 10,000 community associations.
#22 Neighbors Opened My Mail
So my neighbor had received a letter of mine and took it upon herself to open it then send photos of what was inside. Thankfully it was just a baby shower invite with a diaper raffle ticket. I asked if she would just put it in my mailbox and she informed me that she threw it away. I needed the diaper raffle ticket??? I asked her if this happened again in the future if she would not open my mail and just return it to me instead and she blocked me. What the heck do I do? This isn’t the only thing that has raised some red flags from her. Is this not illegal?
Image source: ImaginaryLettuce8667
#23 The Day Has Arrived!
Got called out by our neighborhood busybody a while back. For having the audacity to screen in my porch without consulting him.
We were told “we really need to let the neighborhood know before we start doing anything” bear in mind, the assoc is still under developer control, and they’ve been pretty hands off and unresponsive. So I’ve been wanting to put lattice around the posts of our four season porch so I could use it for off season storage. So I shot off an email to the unresponsive developer asking for approval. The declaration says that if you’re not denied within thirty days, you have approval. And the thirty days is up.
Image source: the_pinguin
#24 Get Rid Of My Lady Lair That Came With The House? Sorry, HOA, You Approved The Sale
When we bought our house, the largest in the hood and the original showcase home for the development, there was a shed in the back yard. My Lady Lair, if you will. The home sale was approved by the HOA and a letter of “no violations” was issued. All good, right? The home unfortunately came with scads of “abandoned property.” Within 24 hours of taking possession of our home the former owners broke back in to remove what was now legally ours (a suitable story for entitled people.) I stopped at the security guard shack to inquire about ensuring that the former owner’s gate codes were inactivated and to keep an eye out for any attempt at continued entry into the gated hood. The guard assured me he would handle it and I went on my way. That evening the guard came to my home to give me additional info I might need and offered security cam footage for the police. I thanked him for taking the time to make me feel safe in my new home but before he left he said “Just to warn you, the HOA will go after you for your shed-they want it gone.” After a bit more discussion he informed the former owners were not only crazy but had gone toe to toe with the HOA over the shed. Three years and lawyers all around the HOA finally said eff it, this is costing us too much money and their lawyer is better than ours, and dropped the whole thing. Within two weeks I had two different neighbors tell me the HOA would give me problems over the shed. Fun! At the three week mark an inspector from the county showed up to tell me he was investigating an anonymous complaint about code violations and the shed, visible only if you stood on my property, was in violation with the county as there was no permit for it. I was livid and already considering what avenues I had to keep my shed or “win” compensation for the loss of property when the code enforcer smiled a devious smile at me, handed me a printout, and said “all you need to do is fill this out, pay $50 to the county, and you will be in code compliance.” He then said that “Mr. Little Man Syndrome…*oops coughcough…I mean the ‘anonymous complainant’ cannot touch your shed after that.” The key here is that 4y ago when they were battling the former residents the county did not permit sheds and the bylaws say all additional property structures require permits. If there is no permit the HOA can order the removal and fine the resident until it is gone. Two years ago the county started permitting sheds and HOA was unaware of the change. I paid my $50 and got the permit, making my lady lair code compliant and untouchable by the HOA. I also made a new friend in Code Enforcement and all is well in my 150 sq ft slice of heaven.
Image source: freerangeferal
Today, the Foundation for Community Association Research counts over 350,000, with more than 70 million Americans living in them. Boards can fine residents, and in many states they can foreclose over unpaid dues. The power has sometimes been stretched. In 2006, Congress passed the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act after homeowners across the country had been fined or threatened for flying the flag.
#25 You Formed An HOA, Huh? We’ll See About That
I’m not sure if this should be in this section or Petty Revenge. I live in a small neighborhood. There were original rules, bylaws and very loose HOA that was run by the developer. When the developer left, the HOA fell by the wayside. There are only a few of us that have the original rules. A few years ago, there were a couple of pissed off old boomers (I’m a boomer, but relatively mellow), and some new residents that knew better than everyone else, how we should live, care for our yards, paint our houses, park our cars, etc – you know the standard HOA horse squeeze – One of the ringleaders of this group is a county planner, who (according to him) is so much smarter than everyone else – you know the type. He knows all the rules, yada, yada so they decide we need an HOA. I got wind of it and as he’s talking to my neighbor one day, I say: “Tom (that’s his real name), I hear you guys are forming an HOA. I’m not sure that will go over so well.” He looked at me and arrogantly, says: “too late, we’ve already drawn it up and here’s our lawyer” (pointing to my neighbor that he’d stopped to talk to). I looked at both of them and said: “Dave (that’s his real name), how is such a staunch Republican who was talking to me last week about the government being too big and not representative of the people, in favor of creating another layer of government with taxing authority? That doesn’t make sense” He stammered and stuttered, and walked inside, Tom rode off. I realized that I knew all of the original owners some of who were still here, or others that still owned homes, but moved away. So, I quietly contacted all of them, told them that an HOA was being formed – they were, to a person, like – “OH HELL NO THEY AREN’T! They all were like, “these idiots can’t find their bottom with both hands – why do we need another group of people telling us what to do?” I told them that Tom was going to be reaching out and talking to them about the HOA, and that we had to remain united, because we have a majority. To a person, they all told Tom to go kick rocks, the HOA idea went down in flames, Tom moved away and we’ve never heard another word about it.
Image source: Stock-Food-654
#26 My HOA Tried To Fine Me $750 For A Satellite Dish. I Got It Thrown Out In 4 Days
got a letter in january saying i owed $750 for “unauthorized exterior modification” — it was a directv dish. like a normal satellite dish on my back patio. been there since i moved in 2 years ago and nobody said anything until now
my first instinct was to just pay it because fighting your HOA sounds exhausting. but $750??? for a satellite dish??? so i started digging
turns out there’s an FCC rule called OTARD (47 CFR 1.4000) that literally makes it illegal for HOAs to ban satellite dishes under 1 meter. like it doesn’t matter what your CC&Rs say. federal law overrides it. i had no idea this existed
but here’s the thing that actually won it — i didn’t just cite the federal law. i pulled my CC&Rs and found that they require 30 days written notice via certified mail before any fine. they sent me a regular letter dated 12 days before the fine hit my account. so even IF the dish was a legit violation (it wasn’t), the fine was procedurally defective because they didn’t follow their own rules
sent a one page letter citing both things. got a call 4 days later saying the fine was “removed as a courtesy.” lol sure. courtesy.
the biggest thing i learned: it’s almost never about whether you actually violated something. it’s about whether your HOA followed their own process. most of them don’t. they skip notice requirements, they don’t offer hearings, they charge amounts that aren’t in the fine schedule. every one of those is a procedural defect you can use
check your CC&Rs people. actually read the enforcement section. i know it’s boring as hell but that’s where the ammo is
Image source: Current_Lab_1184
#27 My Neighbors Called The Cops On Me And Then Got Arrested For It
Context: I, 26f, my husband 32m, and our daughter, 5f, live in an apartment complex on the ground floor. We live in a mountain area so our breeze way is closed off on one side leaving us to share it with only one other neighbor.
A week ago I called the cops to file a report because I had $100-$200 worth of car supplies stolen from by my front door within a 3 hour period of time.
When they asked me who I suspected I did tell them my neighbors due to the fact I had our cop neighbor check his cameras and no one was seen coming or going from our breezeway.
I also pointed out to the officer that they get the cops called and at least one of them will get arrested regularly.
Turns out there was a protective order put in place 2 weeks prior against the boyfriend when he got arrested. The cops put 2 and 2 together and sent a patrol car to catch him there.
Needless to say it started a war. Small things here and there have been done such as screming at us, blaring their security system every time I open my front door, nothing but small inconveniences.
Up until yesterday that is. I left to go pick my daughter up from school and was gone for about an hour to an hour and a half.
When I pulled into the apartments I noticed a patrol car parked near the entrance and the boyfriend was there with his dogs talking to the cops and violently started pointing at my car.
I pulled up next to the officer and rolled down my window asking if I could help with anything. He instructed me to park near his partner.
His partner informed me that they had called the cops saying they heard gunshots through their security camera and gave my description.
Crazy thing is, I don’t even own a gun. I told the officer this along with the fact I’ve been gone for the last hour and half.
He asked why I thought they would call and say such things and I told him I believed it was retaliation for last week.
He ended up being detained and his dogs were taken by animal control.
Now his girlfriend is going around to our neighbors saying I got him arrested and got their dogs taken away.
Funny thing is I don’t remember calling the police yesterday but i guess i got him arrested guys🤷🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️😂
There was so much more before all this but I wanted to keep the post as direct and to the point as I could
Image source: Khaoticgreatness
The petty feuds even reach children. After several lemonade stands were shut down for operating without a permit, Country Time began paying the fines for kids’ stands in 2011. Texas followed in 2017 with a law that stops cities and counties from regulating them. If you get a letter from the HOA about your child’s lemonade stand, the legislature is on your side. In the meantime, the only reliable cure for a feud is the one the neighbor in Frost’s poem never tried: knock on the door before the fence goes up. A plate of cookies has solved more disputes than any lawyer.
Do you have a wild HOA or neighbor story to tell? Share it with us in the comments!
#28 Next Door Neighbour Slagged My House Off To My Face.. Because She Didn’t Realise I Lived There
More funny than anything. My next door neighbours are elderly. Their parcel was delivered to our house by mistake, so I went over to give it to them. The older lady greeted me super kindly and thanked me for the parcel.
At some point she pointed at our house, her face turned snide and she asked me “do you know them?” I played dumb and was like no, haven’t met them. She then went on a tirade about my partner smoking substances (he doesn’t, there’s a path that runs between our house that youths regularly go to to smoke). She mentioned she sees him a lot with children (our kids) but never sees the woman (ME) and laughed saying she (I) must not get out a lot. Mentioned she’d reported us for the substance smoking but got nowhere with it. All the while I was just smiling and agreeing like oh, that’s not good. Her husband (who DOES know I live there and the partner of the ‘smoker’ then came over and said thanks, and I took that as my cue to get the hell out of there and run back to my house before she noticed who I was. Told my partner and he laughed his head off. Me, on the other hand, am absolutely mortified! We’re moving in a couple weeks, thank god. Had to share!
Image source: pIoddingalong
#29 Neighbours Had A Visit From Police Last Night
Our neighbour likes to spy on us. She has always stared through our gates or fences and even kitchen door. She was caught last month recording my husband while he was in the shower. Literally was standing with her camera aimed at the washroom. Cops told her to stop doing that. So then they put up security cameras. One of them is angled so it can actually sees the bathroom window. I asked her nicely to move it as it was invading our privacy. She told me I was delusional and refused to let me see the view. Cops came back last night and they saw the view for themselves and confirmed you can see our bathroom in the view so was warned to move it or face spying charges. We feel so vindicated! She’s been pushing her boundaries for years after she realized she couldn’t control us like she controls everyone else in her world.
Image source: Lanky-Distribution56
#30 She Called The Cops On Me Because She Got My Mail
We moved into our house a couple years ago and we love our neighborhood. We’ve made some really good friends here and it’s a nice place to live.
Our neighbor across the street, Wendy, hates us. I don’t know when it started. When we moved in, my husband backed up the moving truck a little too close to her mailbox, I guess. She sent a message to the previous residents that the new guy living across the street is ‘an idiot’ – which we know because the previous resident sent that to a different neighbor, whom we befriended.
She made a post on our HOA app with tons of screenshots from her door cam of people walking their dogs saying it’s illegal for dogs to walk on her lawn. The HOA president commented for her to knock it off.
About a year or two ago, my credit card expired and they sent me a new one. Apparently, I put her address instead of mine. There’s one number different. 1213 instead of 1212. [EDIT: for clarity, I updated my address on my credit card when we moved here about 2.5 years ago. When the card expired, they sent the new one to her address, because that’s what they had on file. If you think this story is fake, that’s fine. That’s not an issue for me to deal with.]
Instead of seeing my name on the card and bringing it to me, she called 911 and told them I was trying to steal her identity. The cop knocks on my door and explains, says he told her that’s not how it works but she’s a ‘bored old woman with nothing better to do’ and she won’t give my card back. I send him back over there to get it – and instead, she shreds it in front of him.
There are a lot more stories about her. She’s delusional and paranoid and has made problems for everyone on our street, but we mostly all ignore her.
ETA: Yes, messing with my mail was illegal. No, I’m not going to report this crazy old lady. She’s miserable enough and I’m not out for revenge.
Image source: gkdfp
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