The neighbor flipped crazy on me...

[Shotgun Jeremy]

If it were me, I would have cut your grass for you — seems like a bigger slap in the face than any confrontation.

I tried this angle once for my whole cul-de-sac. Didn't work. Those lazy mofos started expecting me to do it more often. Now, they're all finally mowing and my mower decided to crap out on me so I'M the neighbor with the tall grass. I wish one of them would come mow my lawn once to get the point across! Lol

 

[hellishhorses]

I tried this angle once for my whole cul-de-sac. Didn't work. Those lazy mofos started expecting me to do it more often. Now, they're all finally mowing and my mower decided to crap out on me so I'M the neighbor with the tall grass. I wish one of them would come mow my lawn once to get the point across! Lol

I have a spare push mower if you'd like to borrow it...

I'm in Temple.

 

[TX69]

I was out of town today and was driving back this evening when my wife called. She got home and let the dog out like she normally does, but the dog bolted towards the neighbors side of the yard. When she looked over there she saw that the neighbor had decided to tear down the fence that we share without telling us. The wife went over to ask what happened to the fence. The guy says "I'm getting a new fence!" and my wife asks when will they be done and he said maybe Sunday or Monday, then said "You got a problem with that?" His wife was right there as well and she said "Don't mind him; he's being a poopyhead." He's a 50-something drunk asshole, not a 3-yo poopyhead... After that little exchange it sounded like my wife BS'ed with her for a little bit because she had all kind of nonsense about the neighborhood to relay to me. She sounds nosy just like her husband is.

After I got home I tended to the ducks and then hung out in the backyard for a little bit in what would normally be privacy but now isn't. While they have their fences all down a few other nosy neighbors stopped by to gawk. You can now see strait into our backyard from the side street. One lady even walked over with the neighbor wife to where they could see the porch of the guy who lives behind us, and they were talking about all the junky stuff on his back porch which was previously obscured by the the fence they tore down.

I just don't understand why people are so nosy and concerned with other people's business. Who cares if the guy with the junky porch is apparently a hoarder (one of those stupid things she told my wife). He's a fantastic neighbor because he doesn't bother anyone. You can't even see his stuff with the fences up...

One of the things my wife mentioned to the neighbor wife was that since she didn't know about the fence being gone, she had to stop our dog from just bolting out into the neighborhood. The neighbor wife told her that they thought we had a chainlink fence and that she had to get their little yappy dog out of our yard as well. They are nosy as hell and know we don't have a chainlink fence. Also you would know as soon as you took the first board off that there wasn't another fence on other side. Who knows how long their dog was in my backyard harassing the ducks, because it was obvious that the dude wasn't interested in controlling their dog. The ducks are another issue. Normally if I'm just a work I let them roam free in the backyard. They were only in their pen because I was out of town. I'm sure dude was expecting them to be loose when he tore the fence down.

Sorry to hear of your new problems with the neighbors deciding all of this for you. Is there any legal action here? Who gave him permission to do all of this tearing down the fence thing?

I'l say it again. We love our HOA.

 

[Mreed911]

Sorry to hear of your new problems with the neighbors deciding all of this for you. Is there any legal action here? Who gave him permission to do all of this tearing down the fence thing?

I'l say it again. We love our HOA.

It's his fence on his property? Why should he need permission?

 

[benenglish]

It's his fence on his property? Why should he need permission?

In my neighborhood, fences are exactly on the property line and are considered shared property. Nevertheless, the last time a section of my fence was replaced, the neighbor tore it down and just did it. They didn't give me a word of warning. In fairness, they knew I had no animals or property against that section of fence so I would have obviously given them an OK to do the work. Still, it would have been nice to have gotten a heads-up.

I had to pin my neighbor down to get her to tell me what the fence cost. I confirmed the price with the contractor, out of her earshot, so that I knew I wasn't being fed a bogus number. I handed her hundred dollar bills for half the price of the work rounded down to the nearest hundred, just out of spite.

I would have like to have had some input into the selection of contractor, too, but the price wasn't bad and the work was done well, so I'm not really complaining about the outcome.

The process, though, sucked.

Now I've got a back fence that I'm thinking of replacing without much conference with the neighbor behind me. He's a nice guy and we've discussed it. The fence really needs replacing. However, my section of back fence is only half of his yard wide. The rest of the fence he shares with my next door neighbor, a total deadbeat. My guy over the back fence doesn't want to start any work until he can do the entire fence but he'll never get a single dollar from my next door neighbor. He's been trying, just like I've been trying to get back the money I loaned the guy to get a generator during Hurricane Ike (and other things that aren't worth going into here). The point is, my next door neighbor will never pay his share for the fence.

I'm considering noticing my neighbor over the back fence and just replacing my portion. I'm loathe to do it because it'll make his back fence, from his perspective look like even worse crap than it currently is. I'm willing to bear all the costs, so that might take a bit of the sting out of it.

Still, what do you guys think? How would you react to a neighbor who says to you "I'm going to replace some of our shared fencing. You don't have to pay anything but I'm going to leave you with a really crappy back fence line."?

 

[Renegade]

SWAT him!

 

[Shotgun Jeremy]

I have a spare push mower if you'd like to borrow it...

I'm in Temple.

I appreciate the offer. I went out and bought a new mower Sunday afternoon. I couldn't take having my lawn look like crap any longer.

 

[TheDan]

Is there any legal action here? Who gave him permission to do all of this tearing down the fence thing?

There might be, but I'd have to get a survey done to confirm it. I don't think that is worth the trouble. One thing that was odd is that he moved the whole fence about 6 inches over to his side. I think he knew it was right on the property line and decided to make it HIS fence... There is of course a big gap now that I had to fill in.

What is funny is the people that did the fence didn't do it right. They are going to have someone else come fix it. At least the wife came over and told us about it this time.

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

I can't believe they didn't talk to you about it first. That's kind of ridiculous, IMO.

When Ive initiated new fences I'm always prepared to pay for it all if they aren't quite ready to do it financially (no biggie). I go talk to them about it to see if they have any concerns. When my neighbors have initiated new fences they have always spoken with me first, and I've paid half.

It's just common courtesy.

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

I did have one neighbor repair a long portion and wouldn't take any money. No big deal either there.

We talked about it and it all worked out.

Seems like there's a lot of a-holes out there these days.

 

[Sugar Land]

courtesy is not that common anymore.

 

[TheDan]

I'l say it again. We love our HOA.

My inlaws were just charged a $50 fine by their HOA for having their garbage can in front of their garage a couple days after pickup day. Yeah... no thanks.

I can't believe they didn't talk to you about it first. That's kind of ridiculous, IMO.

That plus getting smart-mouthed with my wife when she asked.

 

[FrankT]

Did you get your hair cut too and let him inspect?

 

[TheDan]

Did you get your hair cut too and let him inspect?

I put it in a baggie and left it in his mailbox. Figured he'd want it for pillow stuffing...

 

[FrankT]

I put it in a baggie and left it in his mailbox. Figured he'd want it for pillow stuffing...

LOL!!Good idea for the grass clippings too, I am moving to Bandera, no grass and few real rules so hopefully my neighbors will be more polite

 

[matefrio]

Good fences make good neighbors and they installed a crappy fence? :-)

 

[benenglish]

My inlaws were just charged a $50 fine by their HOA for having their garbage can in front of their garage a couple days after pickup day. Yeah... no thanks.

That's amazing. My HOA can only charge money for money they spend. If they have to get an attorney to send you letters, you get to pay for the attorney, for example.

In the case of garbage cans left visible, after 3 letters, including one from an attorney, the HOA would be empowered (they'd bring along a constable to keep the peace) to hire a porter to enter the property, pick up the garbage can, and move it to the back yard. That would be an expensive undertaking and would take so long that the homeowner would just move it themselves before it cost any money.

I've never heard of an HOA that could arbitrarily (and I think this fits that definition) levy fines against residents. If I were considering some place to live where the HOA could simply send me supplemental bills out of the blue without previous warnings and plenty of time to correct the situation on my own, I'd have to pass.

Fined by an HOA? That's amazing. And sad, too.

 

[TheDan]

I don't know all the details, but they have been chastised for leaving their trashcan in front of the garage before. Not sure on the specific legal device used to fine them, but the end result is the same. All over trashcan placement... The shrub nazi's would have an aneurysm if he left his kayak trailer in the driveway overnight.

 

[benenglish]

I don't know all the details, but they have been chastised for leaving their trashcan in front of the garage before.

Well, I suppose that's different. We had the same problem in our neighborhood. We had one resident who left their trashcan right at the front door, all the time. After a bunch of letters, a new board was elected. The management company wanted to start sending legal notices and work toward piling up fees and ultimately foreclosing. The new president thought that was ridiculous so he did something no one on the previous board or with the management company had ever conceived: he just knocked on the lady's door and asked why. It turns out she was too old and feeble to carry the thing all the way around the house twice a week. The HOA pres simply asked her next door neighbor to move her trashcan for her. He was happy to do it. She actually had to walk less because with the trashcan stored at her back door, it was easier for her to reach. Everybody got what they needed and the problem was solved.

Addendum - The management company was actually pissed. They wanted to start all the formal proceedings so that they could start racking up billings for themselves and their lawyer. It wasn't long before the management company was fired by the new board, btw.

 

[TheDan]

...The management company wanted to start sending legal notices and work toward piling up fees and ultimately foreclosing....

Addendum - The management company was actually pissed. They wanted to start all the formal proceedings so that they could start racking up billings for themselves and their lawyer. It wasn't long before the management company was fired by the new board, btw.

That's the main reason I will never own a house in an HOA. I can appreciate their basic premise, but they too often take the rules too far and then use it to steal your property. I don't make enough money to hire lawyers to defend my property from my own neighbors (or the agents they hire).