What to do about workers next door that use my water faucet on my house without my permission?

Question

OK here's the situation:
My neighbor has hired a landscaping company to plant a bunch of trees in his lawn and paint the walls. There are about 7 hispanic males that work on his front lawn. They never use HIS water faucet because it's in his backyard. They always use mine because it is conveniently located. This bothers me because
1) they do not ask me and it's right on the side of my house.
2) when they wash their paint they splatter the white paint all over my fence and on my grass. They do not clean up their mess
I have tried to speak to them but they don't speak english. My neighbor is never home so I can't speak to him.
What really bothers me is yesterday morning I was awaken at 7:30 AM with TEJANO music. Yes, they took their truck and parked it in front of my driveway and BLASTED TEJANO music up from the truck's radio. I could hear it in the bathroom.
I can't call the cops to complain because it is during daytime and not night. There's no landscaping contact info.

Ovid you're idiot-- for your information, I am 32 years old and highly educated. Would you want someone making a mess on your property?

And CookieMonster, you are also an idiot-- for your information, I work full time as a teacher. During the summer I am a tutor and teach a class in the afternoon. I never said I was unemployed I was complaining about people disrespecting my property.

Both of you are idiots.

CookieMonster if you want to continue your idiotic banter and label me "unemployed" "lazy" and now infamously "psycho" that is fine. You can't help it if you were born stupid or without any degree of intellect. You're obviously an **** with mannerisms of a juvenille.

CookieMonster-You are a LAZY and stupid jackass. I served in the US ARMY during the GULF WAR. I am a US Veteran. I helped fight for the freedom of the American people. You are a DISGRACE to americans. You are a coward hiding behind a computer and you love to insult people, you will even disrespect me, a veteran of the US army. I paid for my college with my $40,000 GI BILL and worked 3 jobs. I have a masters degree which I earned. This is more than what I can say for your lazy idiotic butt. You are a coward and a disgrace. You are a sorry pathetic boy. For your information, I am an AMERICAN citizen and lived in AMERICA for 32 years and have an AMERICAN NAME. Not "Ting" or "Tang" you racist jackass.

cookiemonster I feel sorry for you that you are racist and act so stupid. It's obvious you wanna get a rise out of me. It's sad that you are a failure to your parents' upbringing. Your parents did not raise you right at all. I feel sorry for you.

Cookiemonster, yes you are very racist and extremely ignorant. I have reported you to Yahoo abuse for racist name-calling and harrassment. You are a sick individual and you need psychological help. Get help now before it's too late! You are a sad case.

Answer 1

You should still be able to contact the police on this issue even if it is not night time. The only difference is there might be a local noise ordinance at night in your area.

This could even fall under harassment, trespassing, vandalism, or destruction of property.

For the water faucet though, I'd imagine the cheapest and easiest way to discourage them would be to remove the faucet handle. It should unscrew. Granted they could always use a pair of pliers on it. If that doesn't stop them, get a lock for the faucet and contact local law enforcement.

Even if they don't speak English they should understand "NO".

Answer 2

Im sure your neighbor is home at one time or another. Find out the times he is home, and when he is you need to have a talk with him. If he's away on business or something or you just can't seem to get a chance to talk to him, write a note to him and leave it on his door or in his mailbox. Leave your phone number so he can call you if he has to.

If none of that works, then you need to tell the worked they cannot do what they are doing. Even if they cannot speak english, you can get across your message by pointing to these faucet and saying NO or waiving your arms or give them the messase that they shouldn't be were they are. I know that sounds silly but it's really all you can do if they do not speak english. Although, thinking from your point of view I wouldn't want to do that alone especially when it's several of them against you. Ask a friend to come with you for assistance.

The last resort is contacting the local police department. Im not exactly sure how they handle a case like this, but they would definatly do something, wether it be fileing a claim that probley takes months to process or actually coming to your house to review the situation.

Obviously these people have come across from Mexico for work and your neighbor has got some cheap labour to do his landscaping.

Answer 3

Why can't you call the cops? You should be able to call them during the day. I would first try to talk to your neighbor. Leave a note on his door if you have to. You are paying for the water and they should not be using. There are many spanish translators online, you could also try to translate a phrase such as "please don't use this faucet. See if there is a foreman who comes in that you could talk to or see if any vechicles have a number for the company. You could also put up a sign on your fence that says do not enter. Do they have to open a gate to get to the faucet. Techinacally this is tresspassing and I hope you can get something done. Good luck!

Haha I love the person who put get a job! Just because you are home at 7:30 doesn't mean you don't work. I know people that work 50 hours a week that don't have to be there till 9.

Answer 4

They're not very professional, are they?

I would do 2 things:

1) I would get a screwdriver and remove the HANDLE off the spigot for your faucet and place it in a safe place. (You don't want to forget where you put it.) Doing this is cheaper than a buying a lock for this temporary situation. But if you think your hose is too accessible, you can always buy a lock-out for your spigot at your local hardware store.

2) I will assess the MESS on my property and take notes. If you can talk to your neighbor face to face, it would be better. Otherwise, I would hand deliver a NICE (and I do mean NICE, KIND, FRIENDLY, CHEERFUL) letter over to the neighbor saying that you are happy that they are getting a landscaping makeover, but there has been a few "OOPS" things going on.

Invite your neighbor to INSPECT your property and the surrounding areas so they can see what is going on. Thank them in advance for being such a good neighbor and to get back to you as soon as possible.

Being bitter at a neighbor for the fault of landscapers is never a good idea. Keep a good and friendly attitude! (You will be neighbors for a long time.) I'm sure the misunderstanding will be taken care of in short order.

Keep your wits about you and play it smart, and you could have goodwill given by all.

Answer 5

Obviously your neighbour is trying to get a cheap deal and does not care what they do as long as the price is right.The workers are probably being paid peanuts and are not expecting to get a bonus for tipping their hats to everybody in the street.
If you do not want them in your yard,then attach a hose to your tap,run it over the fence and they can wash the sweat off in the street.Perhaps if you were not so rude and ill mannered about the situation,they would not spatter your lawn with paint.They probably do understand you,but consider you to be too up yourself to be taken seriously.If you cannot spare a working man a little bit of water and some common courtesy you deserve all you get.In the Australian outback,refusing someone a little water would probably be considered sufficient reason for them to paint rude words on the side of your house.I would not want you teaching kids around here.

Answer 6

You could try one (or more) of these --

Note the time and day, and, if possible, take a picture or make a video recording of them doing it, then present it to your neighbor with a water and clean up bill.

Note the time, day, and get film evidence as noted above, then take it to your neighbor and explain that if this doesn't stop then you will be billing him for the usage and clean up hassle. YOU might not be able to contact the company, or communicate with the workers, but apparently HE (your neighbor) knows how to contact them, and there's got to be SOMEONE at the company that can tell them to stop.

Go on-line and, using Bable fish or some other similar program, print out signs that say NO TRESPASSING and DO NOT USE THE WATER SPIGOT in Spanish, laminate them or cover them with clear contact paper, and mount them to the side of your house by the spigot.

It would be pretty inconvenient for you for a day or two, but have you considered cutting the water off to the spigot? You might have to actually turn the water off to the house to do this, but it might be worth it to do this for a day.

Answer 7

If you have a basement, go there and turn off the water supply valve on that pipe (blue handle) which will be located right where the faucet enters the building. This will turn off the water to that faucet only. If on a slab look in any cabinet or cupboard space where the faucet enters the building as well. Turn it back on when you need it.

Other than that, go talk to your neighbor and have that idiot fix the problem. You do not have to put up with that crap.

Answer 8

Ahhh yesssss. Tejano Music. I suggest getting a job, what the hell are you doing at home during the day. i hate lazy people


This lady is PSYCHO. She answers one of my questions just to "get back at me" for calling her lazy. Be cautious, she might even get your phone and address, and come over late at night to stalk you till the perfect time. Yea she's that PSYCHO


Can i have some of what you're on?? You old tart. Why don't you just drop it? You really have some anger issues. I really feel sorry for your students, having to put up with you. I bet they really hate you too. Obviously anything I say will fuel your rage, and so I shall wait for your retarded response. Later Ting or Tang or however the spoon sounded when they named you.



Anytime , any place grandma. and you're a veteran huh?? doing what? being entertainment for the soldiers probably. grandma got banged by the entire platoon. Oh and can you stop posting your resume on here, its getting sad actually, that you have to always write that you were in the army or that you're a teacher. Shut up with that, you annoying old hag. And somebody please put something in her mouth cause my zipper is stuck



sticks and stones love. and woah woah woah. why you making this out to be a racist thing here. Im only talking about you Puti Tang. Anyway, the only reason your kids take your class "3 semesters in a row" (very unlikely, but i'll humor you) is probably because they can't stop laughing at your ugly mug.

Oh no response? Victoria!!!!!!!!!

Answer 9

If, like most houses, you have the off switch connected to your faucet under the sink, turn off the water. It's that simple. Then, you can watch out the window one morning for the stupid looks on their faces when the river doesn't come a flowin'...you know what I mean?

You could take a photo of them using the water, and press charges (i.e. take it to the police). It's called theft of utility, and it's generally a misdemeanor in some municipalities (it is in mine, you'd have to check locally).

You could also use that same photo, and send the contractor a nice bill with a note attached saying something about "I really hate to do this..." and "fourteen days to pay for your illegal use of my water", making sure that you add "contacting my attorney at the end of the 14 day period". End it with, "Waiting for your remittance, {insert your name}".

I could see you were pissed, so I tried to add a little humor to lighten things up, but this is seriously the progression that I would take. I'd send a bill right to the contractor for the usage they have so far (I'd just divide my water bill into a 30 day or whatever-your-billing-cycle-is-period) and charge them per diem for the days they used it. Simple.

Answer 10

The lock and turning of the water is an excellent idea. You can do it from the basement.

You can call the cops about them stealing water and damagin your property. They are so wrong in doing what they are doing. I would call right away. They really should be blasting music either even if it is during the day. Are you sure you can't call about the music too.