Neighborly Relations

Parking issues - ARGH!

ParkwayBunny — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 17:25:52 GMT

Is it too much to ask to be able to park in front of my own house once in a while?? Ever since we moved in (a little over a month ago) the guy next door to me parks his car in front of my house and the woman next door on the other side parks her ginormous SUV in front of my house too - I can barely get into my own driveway! And what if I'd like to just pull up in front once in a while? Or to have some space for my friends to park when they come over? I've asked both people nicely to not park in front of my house but they ignore me. The house was vacant for a couple of months and I guess they both got used to being able to park there whenever they wanted. But now I am here and I am getting sick and tired of having their cars in front EVERY single damn day.

Ok, so I know in the grand scheme of things this is a minor issue but it still burns my toast!

my neighbor's plum tree

erin_tigs — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 19:55:17 GMT

Hi Folks,

My next-door neighbor has a plum tree which hangs over into our yard. So here's my question: is it okay for my family to pick the plums that are on our side of the fence? Otherwise they fall on the deck (and there are a lot of them!), which isn't great for the deck and is a pain to clean up (especially when the mess wasn't from us in the first place.) I'm thinking we're in the right to pick them, but on the few times that the neighbors have seen us, they've been quite upset. What do you all think?

Thanks!

What should I do?

Thames121 — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:40:49 GMT

Hi All,

I have just shifted to Philadelphia two months ago. I like music and in the evening hours I play music for around 30 mins to 45 mins everyday with high volume.

My neighbours (old-age guys) hate this and complains my parents for this. And you know I am not able to play music... any more!!

My mom has tried to explain them but in vain. The immedate neighbor that complains is again the secretary for the locality maintenance.

What should I do?

Any suggestions please?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thames Wilson - My skills are Knowledge Based Management

Why, neighbor, why?

ZimaQueen — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 17:52:29 GMT

My neighbor [ a.k.a. SuperNeighbor ] is one of those guys that has to have the perfect lawn and landscaping. He spends hours upon hours outside in his yard ... pulling weeds, mulching, mowing, raking, staring at his perfect lawn. My problem with this: he does all this WITH HIS SHIRT OFF! I just don't get it. The worst part is, underneath that shirt he's got more hair than Sasquatch. Not only that, he's bald on top. It's like he's shouting: "i DO have hair! Look at me!" Why, neighbor, why?

Need Help with Design

Cherise — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:43:57 GMT

I just added an airconditioning unit to my flat roof. Since there is no attic space, all the duct work is exposed and looks unsightly to some neighbors. I need to cover it in some way but I don't know how or the type of company who would do it. Any suggestions? Thank you.

I need good tenants!

atibbetts — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:12:38 GMT

I have recently bought a very nice townhome to rent out and need to use a service to do background or credit checks on prospective tenants. Does anyone know a quick economical but thorough way to do this type of check?

NEVER USE FASTSIGNS in Northbrook

Gimzilla — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:59:09 GMT

Our company had a terrible experience with FASTSIGNS in Northbrook. We needed some emergency service on some signs because construction had begun at our Bannockburn location. We needed five signs same day service. We got quoted eight hundred dollars, which me and my partner thought was ridiculous, but we figured we would go ahead and place the order because the signs must be spectacular. The signs looked like they were made by my five year old nephew... and that is no offense to him. They were a joke!! One would also assume that we got plenty of rope to hang these horribly done signs and they gave us about two feet.

I called the next day to voice my complaint about the quality and price and order one more sign to be thrown in at a discount....not asking much. Dana, store manager, told me that they had to reprioritize their orders and jump through hoops for me, hence they charged 800 hundred for something that would normally be four hundred. I told her that we have five thousand cusotmers at the Skokie Valley Laundry & Cleaners and if anyone wants a special ...we do it...AT NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE! Although Dana was a nice girl ... i have never met anyone in business that refuses to make her customers happy and at least meet them halfway. I was asking for one additional sign to be made for the regular price of $ 135 same day....she said she can't do it same day...and it would be ready in three to four days.

I called SIGNSNOW...spoke to the nicest guy, John. He made me a better quality sign in 90 minutes for $ 85....FASTSIGNS had charged me $ 235 for the same sign. Next a guy named Don called ...who I thought was going to apologize to me..instead he told me they had to jump through hoops for me and that no other sign place in the state could get signs ready as quick as them. Funny I had one in my hands in 90 minutes for a third of the price that was ten minutes away from him.

He said I had no right to threaten them with going on Angie's List .. and I gave the phone to my partner. Please do not use this company. Go with SIGNSNOW... John is a heck of a guy.

The reviews are not all they seem!

IndyNewbies — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:11:08 GMT

Don't believe the reports on the contractors listed here. The wonderful reviews on these companies should never be thought of as honest and truthful. We used CertaPro Painters since they were so highly regarded on the list here in Indianapolis. Try drinking, non-english speaking workers playing soccer in our master bedroom! The paint job was the worst I have seen! Then they tried to cut the price by more than half but wanted us to keep quiet about it. Real professionalism.

All the other contractors we found on the list were similar in actvivities. Poor quality, professionalism and bad attitudes. We found out that alot of the contractors either bribe you to give a good review or browbeat you to remove bad reviews. Hmmm.

Just wanted to pass this along.

It's Not My Fault but I am Paying for It ...

esma — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:59:53 GMT

Last May, we had a flood in our bathroom (the only one!) in our apartment that resulted from the poor plumbing done in the unit upstairs during a renovation in February. The contractor pierced pipes in five places. Our walls were so wet that the cabinets fell down and the lights shorted. No one disputed that we were not liable, but the unit owner upstairs denies liability, her insurance company says she is not vicariously liable, the board is non-responsive, and the contractor (in VA) will not give me his insurance or bond information. Does anyone know a good resource for DC common law on issues related to independant contractors? Do unit owners bear any responsibility for the contractors they hire, particularly if they are not insured?

Illegal burning

Commonsense — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 00:48:32 GMT

Before we moved out to the country I researched a lot of subjects, and in the process I came across the laws about open burning in Ohio. They are convoluted, but they exist and I was surprised and pleased to learn that it is simply not legal to burn brush, refuse, etc. except in rare cases.

Then we moved here and found that our neighbors burn almost everything on a regular basis. One neighbor in particular is a major culprit. I called the district officer for the Ohio EPA, which is the agency that enforces the burning laws. He's a great guy but unfortunately he's extremely overworked. Also, he cannot issue a ticket unless he actually sees the fire! Given the fact that most people burn in the evenings and on weekends, that's probably not going to happen. So we seem to have very good laws without any way to enforce them.

Now I'm very frustrated because it looks like I'm going to have to suck down my neighbor's smoke whenever he decides to burn. He was issued a warning, but he still burns regularly. Some people out here actually burn all their trash, including styrofoam, plastics, etc. God knows what kinds of chemicals they are releasing into the atmosphere.

Has anyone else had experience with neighbors burning things illegaly? If so, how have you dealt with it?

It can always get worse

Commonsense — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:59:20 GMT

The construction across the street continues. The workers this woman has hired are some of the scariest people I've seen outside the show OZ. They drive cars that are held together with rust and duct tape. Today they are doing roofing, and they are playing CHRISTIAN MUSIC VERY LOUD, which. . .well, either you get how horrible that is or you don't <---completely irrelevant emoticon.

If we weren't already moving, we'd make plans to move. It's certainly nice when people make improvements, and there is always a certain amount of disturbance which is expected from that, but there should be a law against all-summer-long massive renovations that go on every day from 8:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., including weekends. After all, the rest of the community still has a legal right to "quiet enjoyment" of their properties, which can't happen in this atmosphere. When we were looking for a house to buy we passed up a couple of very nice places because it was obvious new construction was going to happen in the near future right next door (undeveloped field, irresistable to developers). Now we have it going on right across the street.

Once again, I'm so glad we're moving. I cannot wait to get out into the country where "private property" and "no trespassing" signs can be put up. In fact, our insurance company tells us we are required to put them up due to the extra insurance we bought on the pond. At this point I'm thinking fondly of razor wire and Rottweilers patrolling the borders, but I'm sure that's just a phase brought on by the tension of the move.

Neighbors

Saluki — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:26:44 GMT

I live in Arlington VA near the Pentagon... in a community of townhomes that houses many retired General Military Officers so as you would expect the majority of the neighborhood is EXTREMELY neat and orderly. But when I moved in with my new bride into her town home there I found out that her neighbor (now OURS) was the one exception. His home which is attch. to ours hasn't been painted in years, there are wires hanging where his doorbel used to be and both his outdoor lights are missing all glass, and his front door is still displaying the hinges where his storm door used to be...along with a ton of grease on the paint. Add to this list that the lawn which half is ours was dead on his side as were his bushes and we had a bit of a dilemma on our hands as his neighbors...how do you get someone who has lived this way for 30 yrs (we found out he was one of the original owners still left in the neigborhood) without jeopardizing peace and tranquility of a nice neigborhood?

As part of the prep for our April wedding I went over and talked to our neighbor and told him that I was getting the house ready for the wedding weekend and I was going to plant grass and flowers and trim bushes and would he mind if I did our yard and planters as a whole? The response though positive was baffling- " Sure if you want to spend your time and money- but doesn't the HOA do that for us?" (all our HOA does is pay to have our lawns mowed) " I haven't done anything to my lawn, bushes or shrubs since I moved in!" I explained that HOA mows lawns and cuts diseased trees but that was it and that I would gladly fix up his side along with mine if he was okay with it...he said sure and I went to work... I planted grass and flowers, fertilized his evergreens and turned them green again and pressure washed our side walks and drives- all to be finished just in time for the big Wedding/Easter weekend... when my Dad arrives and comments to my neighbor how nice the yard looks he tells my dad that he designed it and planted it all last weekend! This was said while I was standing right there and listening as he kept a straight face!! I kept quiet and agreed with my dad that it looked great and went on about the weekend (much more important things to do than squabble with my neighbor-atleast my future wife thought so!) and the wedding went great....

Fast forward to last weekend and my neighbor comes home out of cab obviously woozy from a few too many and tells me while I'm watering both our lawns... that his back yard needs some work and when am I going to be up for tackling it!!! :o)

Proof that no good deed goes unpunished!!!!

Just thought you all might find the story amusing...cheers,

Rob

IT's ALL GONE HORRIBLY WRONG!!!

Commonsense — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:05:01 GMT

Ah, neighbors. We've lived her for 18 months with no real problems. Then a few weeks ago we had a chat with our next-door neighbors about some ferns that were growing on our side of their fence. They said the former owners of our property had planted them there, and when I said I wanted to give them to someone because they were in the sun and would fry like they had last year, they said they'd give me the number of the local garden club. They didn't get that number to me but I managed to get it from someone else. I arranged for someone from the garden club to come get them. The woman from the garden club said she is involved in a natural garden for a local school for learning disabled children, so I was happy for the ferns to go to her.

Then the next door neighbor decided that she wanted some of the ferns after all, and I said she was welcome to some of them but they had to be taken ASAP so they could survive. Two weekends went by and she didn't come over, so I assumed she had lost interest, especially as she had about five times the amount of my ferns on her side of the fence. I made arrangements for someone else to come and take the ferns, and then she told my husband her "crew" was going to come and take the ferns on a certain date. He told her that he was sorry but we'd promised them to someone else. She stomped off in a huff, which I found odd.

Two evenings later Mrs. Neighbor and her husband were at my doorstep. She had obviously worked herself into a lather of fury (over ferns????) and did not want to talk. She read me the riot act. She informed me that the ferns were legally on her property, which is something everyone knew from the start. She put me "on notice" that we were not to go onto her property and we were not to touch the ferns, etc. Her husband stood there looking uncomfortable. Her anger was palpable and I felt threatened by her. I felt then, as I do now, that this amount of negativity and abusiveness could not be about ferns, and that whatever it really was about was not caused by us.

Then the neighbor across the street started letting her contractor pull his heavy truck and trailer completely into our driveway several times a day in order to pull straight into her driveway on the other side of the street. He left tire tracks and a scrape mark, and of course he was trespassing. (He was pulling up all the way to the garage door, about 40 feet). So my husband went across the street and told her very calmly (he's a calm person) that what was happening was not acceptable. She became surly and he left, assuming she'd gotten the message. The next day the contractor himself came to our door and my husband went out to talk to him. (I would have asked him if he got the message and then told him to leave.) He told my husband that he "had" to pull into our driveway, and my husband once again told him not to - calmly and rationally - and showed him the damage. The man said he would "make good" any damage, to which my husband responded that he should not damage our property at all and then he'd have nothing to repair.

The very next day the contractor pulled into our driveway the same way again, and my husband called his cell and asked if he had understood the message. The man said he had, whereupon my husband told him if he did it again we'd have to call the police. By this time we were very angry and also sad about the situation, because we felt it should never have happened in the first place. Since that time we haven't seen the contractor pull into our driveway.

Two days later my husband was working out front in the yard, minding his own business, and Mrs. Neighbor across the street came to the curb and started telling him what horrible people we are, how her contractor is "a good Christian man" (AARGH) and that we are nothing but complainers and bad neighbors, and everyone hates us. (Not true, and are you thinking how odd it is to use the "christian" card while being abusive?) I would have told her to go away, but my husband asked her how we were bad neighbors. He pointed out that she lets her dog bark for hours, to which she replied that "He's a Schnauzer. You can't keep them quiet." (I can think of a few ways, but the point is we've put up with it.) He pointed out the noise that comes from the children she watches during the day screaming on the front lawn. He pointed out the damage her contractor had caused not only to our driveway but to the city road in front of us - which of course is not our property, but it still shows what kind of people she's hired.

She wanted to focus on the fact that someone had called the police about her contractor parking trailers on the road overnight, causing him to get a ticket. She said she "knew" we had called since she had a friend on the police force, etc. My husband tried to get her to realize that the issue was that the contractor HAD gotten a ticket, which meant he was in violation of the law, but she seemed unable to appreciate that. She even brought up an incident we'd forgotten about, which happened about two days after we moved in. Some children were riding their bikes on our driveway, and we calmly told them to stop. No yelling, no abuse, etc. She had apparently been harboring resentment about that, since they were her grandchildren. She said "the former owners allowed them to do that," as if that had anything to do with anything. She kept going on about how "unneighborly" we are.

Last night the next-door neighbors had their property surveyed, and allowed their surveyor to climb our privacy fence at the back in the process. Occasionally we've seen our next door neighbors chatting with the neighbor across the street, pointing at our house and no doubt having a really good time trashing us. (Don't they have anything better to do???) They obviously think we are Satan's minions, despite the fact that we have always been very quiet people who keep our lawn and house tidy and really only want to coexist in peace.

We are overwhelmed with the small-mindedness and pettiness of people. In each case the situation in question could have - and should have - been resolved with communication and discussion. If Mrs. Neighbor next door had said "Look, I really do want those ferns and I'm sorry I didn't get them sooner but I'll take them now," I would have given them to her gladly. If Mrs. Neighbor across the street had known the law and made sure she and her contractor stayed within it - or even if she had listened to reason - we might still manage to have an acceptable relationship.

But we can't change people, so we are moving. We've found a house on several acres so we won't have people with sick personal agendas to deal with right next door or across the street. What do you want to bet that after we leave our former neighbors will find that their anger and hostility do not diminish at all, and they quickly find someone else to focus it on?

Neighbor's dead tree

rody — Tue, 15 May 2007 19:43:19 GMT

My neighbor has a large tree that has been dead for at least 5 years. It is close to our property line and wires providing service to our home. The county tells us this tree is our neighbor's problem, not theirs.

Last year we mentioned our concerns to our neighbor (falling tree limbs, etc.--there have been plenty in our yard) The matter was acknowledged, but no action taken. Everyone who sees this tree remarks about the potential danger. Anyone have a benign way we could address this again?

Seattle Hardwood Floors A+ Work

alanandvtor — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:30:48 GMT

My name is alan i had alex come do 1600 sq ft sand refinish and some install in my house and i wanted evereyone to know that the work was perfect thanks alex and i will tell all my friends about you . Sincerly Alan

Barking dogs

msmelly — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:52:44 GMT

Hi,

We have a lovely neighborhood (54) homes with a lot of pet owners. There is one house that has 6 cocker spaniels that bark all day and all night. The owners work at night and they really are terribly noisey.

They get very hostile if anyone complains. The sherrif has been out to see them many times. We are exhasperated. Any creative suggestion?

Thanks

msmelly

Neighbor's Leaky Pool

RJT323 — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 16:20:13 GMT

I purchased my first home earlier this year (Memorial Day Weekend 2006). At the time, the home inspector pointed out some wood rot in the 2x4's in the detached garage. We did not think this to be a huge issue, we just assumed the 2x4's along the bottom would have to be replaced. Come to find out (a week or so after closing), my property is slightly lower than my neighbor's. And the neighbor has a leaky in-ground pool. So every time he turns on the pump, my garage and driveway flood. I corrected the majority of the problem with the garage flooding by working on the ground between my garage and his property. But my driveway was flooded nearly every day this summer. He has a hose that stayed in the pool the entire summer, so I assume he knows he has a problem.

My concern is that I do not know how to approach him on the subject. All of my neighbors have been extremely welcoming. They have invited me to a number of their gatherings and they even do a cookie exchange for the holidays! I currently feel that the best part of this house is the neighborhood. With that being said, this neighbor also seems like a frugal guy. I foresee him getting very defensive. I am worried that if I do not approach him in just the right manner, all of my neighbors might not be so kind anymore. (The previous owners had some minor disagreements with this neighbor.) I would appreciate any suggestions on how to approach the subject with my neighbor without becoming the neighborhood outcast.

Are you serious?

Laura R — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 17:46:54 GMT

My neighbor cut down a 50-year-old maple and piled the branches and trunk sections between our houses. Most of the debris is on his side of the property line, but the 20-foot-high pile has been there for about two months. About two weeks ago, he said he'd take care of the mess. In the next breath, he said he thought leaving it as is was a good idea because it would "keep the termites off the house." I asked him if he actually had evidence of termites in his house, and he said he didn't. What gives?