My neighbours are driving me nuts

The BBQ Pit
1

Okay this Sunday morning the household was woken again by barking dogs and screaming kids at some god forsaken hour.

A little background. We live in a quiet, bush suburb on the outskirts of the city. Mostly the people who live in the area are writers, artists, or home based professionals. People buy here for the privacy and seclusion as did we.

Six months ago the house next door came on the market. We thought, great, someone is finally going to buy and renovate the place as it had been allowed to fall into disrepair after being rented for some time. Moving day, in rolls an old body patched Ford and out pile a couple with 5 small kids and two large dogs. Not to let appearances influence us, we baked cookies and went over to welcome them to the neighbourhood, letting them know what a peaceful, quiet area this was. This obviously fell on deaf ears.

The house according to the agent in its present state is unliveable, no wonder the kids are always screaming. The dogs are permanently chained up outside, and bark at the slightest noise or movement. Every damn morning either the kids, dogs or combination of both wake us. Yes we have spoken to them about the dogs and yes we, along with other neighbours have called the council about the barking dogs.

We have fixed their heap of a car, we’ve watched their kids, we’ve fed their dogs you would think they would have the courtesy to keep their damn dogs and kids reasonably quiet. The noise is so bad at times we haven’t been able to work because of the distraction. They have junk strewn all over the yard, the place looks like a rubbish dump.

I know it could be much, much worse but the fact is we bought here to get away from this type of neighbour. Now we are being forced to put a huge fence between the properties and sound proof the house, just because we have inconsiderate, lousy, selfish neighbours!!!

2

Wasn’t this a movie?

3

Your spelling (“neighbour”) leads me to think you’re not in the U.S., so I don’t know what laws might apply, but is there a local noise ordinance with some teeth to it? And are there neighborhood codes about keeping one’s yard clean, house in presentable shape, etc.? We’ve got such codes here, since a rundown house can lower the property values of an entire street.

Are the new folks renting or buying? If renting, I’d talk to the landlord, since you’ve already tried the tenants to no avail.

Good luck; I know unpleasant neighbors can be infuriating. I had a family living next door to me when I was in grad school who seemed to have about 350 loud children, and who were apparently selling drugs to most of the Southeastern U.S. between the hours of midnight and 4 a.m. They moved out quickly, though, which was good because I was about to get a cramp in my thumb from dialing 9-1-1 every time I heard screams or smashing glass.

4

Thanks for your reply jackelope. The new people have bought the place unfortunately and intending to stay. Thanks for your suggestion re the neighbourhood codes, I will check with the Council on that one.

I have lived next door to worse than this, I too had renters next door who were drug dealers for about six months before the police moved in. Cars going in and out all hours, screaming, yelling, banging all through the night, fun times. The next two tenants were more of the same which is exactly the reason I wanted to live in an area like this.

Anyway I feel so much better having a rant, even though this subject has probably been done to death.

5

neighbour = UK
cookies =US
bush suburb = US (I’m guessing)
yard = US
Council = UK

jastu looks like a bit of a mixture.

Anyway, I feel your pain. I’m moving because I’m fed up with my life being at the mercy of neighbours who either don’t give a damn how their actions affect others, or are just too stupid to consider it. (I’m saving up a really big rant about one couple in particular.) But you do quickly reach the conclusion that, unless you’re buying a remote farmhouse or a mansion set in acres of its own grounds, you always have to live with your neighbours. You just have to pray that they’re not inconsiderate jerks.

Best advice I remember seeing was; once you find good neighbours stick with them! If they move, follow them!

6

You forgot “rubbish = UK”. And I never heard of a “bush suburb”. Sounds South African to me.

(Yes, I have too much time on my hands.)

Anyway, condolences, jastu. I too am woken at an ungodly hour every Sunday morning … by the ravers in the building adjacent to mine.

7

Sounds like Australia to me. Australia’s land use and nuisance laws follow the North American model, so there should be noise and property maintenance standards. Enforcement might be lax in rural “shires,” which are the rough equivalent of rural townships or unincorporated areas in the US.

8

I think I have seen another post that indicates that jastu is well travelled but now in New Zealand.

9

A pirate is walking down the street towards his house. He’s got a steering wheel sticking out of his pants, and a nice white middle-aged couple (apparently from next door) are moving the wheel back and forth.

Another pirate sees this and asks the first pirate, “Who are these people?”

The first pirate says, “They’re me neighbors.”

“What in the deep sea of Poseidon are they doing?”

“Arrr,” replies the first pirate, “they’re driving me nuts.”

10

Do everything you possibly can to get your neighbours to behave like civilized people, jastu, then move when it becomes apparent that they’re going to win. The inconsiderate louts almost always win, because they don’t know and don’t care how they are affecting other people. It sucks, but that’s probably going to be your reality.

We were lucky with our last horrible neighbours, because we were renting and were able to get the heck out of there. We’re keeping our fingers crossed with our new set of neighbours, because we’ve bought now and aren’t planning on going anywhere for awhile. So far so good - an old couple to the north that shovel their sidewalks before daylight when it snows, and a middle-aged couple to the south that I’ve seen once in four months.

11

Thanks all. I didn’t realise my whereabouts would cause so much interest. don’t ask is correct I am now living in NZ.

We have considered buying another place and renting this one, just waiting for those lotto numbers to come up. :slight_smile:

After all the research we did in the area and particularly this street before buying, now not worth a damn. These neighbours are really struggling financially so don’t think they will be spending money on the place any time soon. We were hoping they might find it all too difficult and move to an area which would suit them better, but they seem quite happy living in that mould infested hovel.

Out of all the houses near to us this one is the only one we can see unfortunately but once we get double glazing on the windows, and the fence up, hopefully they wont bother us so much.

12

Did you happen to see this thread:

Just askin’, that’s all.

13

My neighbors have a pair of stupid basset hounds that bark at anything, me, the other neigbors, the stray cat, individual air molecules…

to make matters worse, i tend to sleep in on the weekends, and guess what happens at 5 AM?

“wroof, wroof, wroof…” (continue for the next 6 hours)

i’ve tried yelling at them, no luck, i’ve tried glaring at them, no luck, i’ve asked the neighbors nicely to please let the dogs in when they start barking, they either conveniently forget, or don’t care

so, i start planning ways to get the dogs to shut up, ways that won’t hurt them as i refuse to harm animals (so i guess using the .357, the .22 or the 12-gauge is out :wink: ) (I’M KIDDING, i’d never shoot a dog in cold blood, only if it was a vicious dog that was attacking)

first idea, use my paintball marker and white fill paintballs (looks like bird excrement), problem is, paintball markers are inherently inaccurate, and there’s a chance the dog could get hurt, or blinded, so that’s not an option, plus the marker does sort of sound like an airgun, it’s not silent

second idea, use a slingshot to fling a paintball, problem is that a slingshot’s less accurate than a marker, and unlike a marker, the velocity of the paintball will vary, sometimes being as high as 350 feet per second (in the U.S. markers are limited to a “safe” speed of no higher than 280 FPS), that’s enough to break the skin on a human

third idea, and the one i’m using now, take a compressed air pump up crop sprayer, fill it with water (with just a little bit of Habanero sauce for kicks :wink: ) and use it to spray down the dog, it works great, the dog shuts up, and is not hurt in any way (aside from being a little moister :wink: )

my final version will be to use a Super Soaker instead of a crop sprayer, for the greater range

all i have to do now is fling open the door in anger, and if the bassets see me carrying the crop sprayer, they shut right up

it’s the best of all worlds, no one gets hurt, and i get some peace and quiet :slight_smile:

14

My neighbors have a pair of stupid basset hounds that bark at anything, me, the other neigbors, the stray cat, individual air molecules…

to make matters worse, i tend to sleep in on the weekends, and guess what happens at 5 AM?

“wroof, wroof, wroof…” (continue for the next 6 hours)

i’ve tried yelling at them, no luck, i’ve tried glaring at them, no luck, i’ve asked the neighbors nicely to please let the dogs in when they start barking, they either conveniently forget, or don’t care

so, i start planning ways to get the dogs to shut up, ways that won’t hurt them as i refuse to harm animals (so i guess using the .357, the .22 or the 12-gauge is out :wink: ) (I’M KIDDING, i’d never shoot a dog in cold blood, only if it was a vicious dog that was attacking)

first idea, use my paintball marker and white fill paintballs (looks like bird excrement), problem is, paintball markers are inherently inaccurate, and there’s a chance the dog could get hurt, or blinded, so that’s not an option, plus the marker does sort of sound like an airgun, it’s not silent

second idea, use a slingshot to fling a paintball, problem is that a slingshot’s less accurate than a marker, and unlike a marker, the velocity of the paintball will vary, sometimes being as high as 350 feet per second (in the U.S. markers are limited to a “safe” speed of no higher than 280 FPS), that’s enough to break the skin on a human

third idea, and the one i’m using now, take a compressed air pump up crop sprayer, fill it with water (with just a little bit of Habanero sauce for kicks :wink: ) and use it to spray down the dog, it works great, the dog shuts up, and is not hurt in any way (aside from being a little moister :wink: )

my final version will be to use a Super Soaker instead of a crop sprayer, for the greater range

all i have to do now is fling open the door in anger, and if the bassets see me carrying the crop sprayer, they shut right up

it’s the best of all worlds, no one gets hurt, and i get some peace and quiet :slight_smile:

15

ejrn: Many small breeds are very active and noisy while many large breeds are laid back and quiet.
Revtim: I’d have to agree with you about the noise. Sometimes I think my pom barks at atomic decay.

16

We bought on our nice quiet street and greatly enjoy it, although we did notice there was a lot of traffic at one house across the street. Turns out the young woman was dealing drugs. Out of her house, as a stay-at-home mom with two young kids. (And their house has the nicest landscaping on the block – appearances can be deceiving.) She’d regularly get into screaming matches with a woman across the street; hubby would come out and shepherd the kids indoor while the four-letter words flew. Fortunately, that woman moved, but the whole neighborhood was trying to figure out what politicians she’d paid off to deal drugs unscathed, while our next-door neighbor’s brother, a high-ranking local policeman, couldn’t even get her arrested.

Fortunately, there is a deity of some variety; she vanished a few months ago, and suddenly her kids don’t run in the street any more, the drive-by traffic down our street has decreased by 90%, and we’re all just praying she’s having a long-term vacation courtesy of the State of Louisiana. (Nobody thinks hubby threw her out, he clearly was enjoying the proceeds of her drug sales.)

But I digress. There should be codes. Housing safety codes – health & safety codes – heck, how about rodent control? Is their hovel bad enough to attract rats, for instance? There might be a noise ordinance; you might have grounds to call the SPCA (or whatever the NZ variation of it is) to report mistreatment of the animals. Are the kids being neglected? There should be a child welfare agency you could at least talk to.

Be creative. Somehow you’ll be able to make a dent in their behavior. Or at least their mess and noise. (Any chance there’s a constant parade of young men driving up to the house for two minutes with small packages surreptitiously changing hands? If so, start writing down those license plate numbers!)

17

Ponder beats Shirley to the punch line by a nose. :smiley:

18

Remember the ‘Three S’ rule when dealing with unruley neighbors:

  1. Shoot.

  2. Shovel.

  3. Shutup.

19

Brutus, you forgot the fourth one:

Sodomized nightly, in prison, for the next 5d10 years.

20

And if they keep moving, you are the problem neighbor…