How do I handle my new annoying neighbor?

Question

The first day my boyfriend andI moved into our new house, my next door neighbor came over and began shouting about the barking dog(was a friend's dog) granted, he does bark but he is controlled. later that day I was warned by another neighbor of how grumpy this man was and to ignore him. now, whenever music is being played in my backyard( I can hardly hear it) or the dog is over, my neighbor is taking a radio and placing it against the fence, toward my yard and playing it at full blast. I feel I am not making that much noise and other neighbors are looking at me because of his music! What should I do? Who is at fault? What rights do I have as a homeowner?

Answer 1

There is not much you can do about annoying neighbors. I would try my hardest to be the bigger person, and not play childish games like he is doing. Be respectful, and ignore him. If it should ever escalate, do not be drawn into defending yourself illegally. As for your rights, you may want to visit the home page for your city/town, and see if they have information on homeowners rights. If all else fails, you could file a formal complaint, but I don't think that law enforcement likes to get involved over petty incidents, so make sure you have a very good reason

Answer 2

I think you should seriously talk to your homeowners association about this guy. Dont feel threatened because if you take no notice then maybe he'll back off. but if your other neighbours start blaming you for this then you should bring some other authority in. You have a right to call the friggin police if this man trys anything. As long as YOU know that you arent actually being loud or offensive. But dont back down.

Answer 3

Feral Cats !!! that is the answer,pick up every stray cat you can,donate them to the neighbor.


4real. I had the same thing in my neighborhood. Then hurricane Rita came 2 years ago,i help the old nosey grumpy POS board up their house for the storm,helped remove the boards after the storm and even cleaned up the yard too.

Since then they dont complain or mess with me hardly at all. I dont have a dog that barks at the air or radios playing loud.

Maybe some kindness,may help ya. If not remember Feral Cats, dead road kill all donated to the neighbor !!!!

Answer 4

video tape him in the act of intentionally creating a disturbance. He could be cited by the city once the evidence is shown to the code violations department. He feels that he has the right to do whatever he wants because he has been allowed to act like a jerk by the people who moved away prior to you. You may also have the right to go after the previous owner as a result of non disclosing the behavior of the neighbor.

Answer 5

The next time he does this contact the police and let them determine if your music is to loud or he is being unreasonable. If they deem him as being unreasonable they will explain to him what your rights are as a homeowner and what would constitute harassment on his part. As far as the barking dog... as long as it is very minimal the same goes. But to be honest I would tell your friend to keep their dog at home..nothing brings out the worst in a neighbor than a barking dog. Maybe if you show you have made an effort he will ease up.I wouldn't try to confront him.. he sounds a bit unstable.

Answer 6

Ignore him. He is trying to get to you. He probably has no life.

There are laws that protect us. One of the laws is no loud or disturbing noise after 11 pm. So, just don't worry. Grumpy old man probably needs a friend.

Have a little get-together and invite him over. Maybe it will help matters.

Answer 7

OMG....did my old neighbor move in next to you? lol...We used to have a neighbor that was just like that, we had a party in our garage one night ( it was an anniversary party for my husbands parents ) and the music was not up loud at all, we were all being fairly quiet and the party even ended by like 11pm well anyway when people were leaving 2 of our friends were walking along the side of our house to get to the front and my neighbor started squirting them with the garden hose, they were so mad. Then at 5am that next morning, the party was on saturday, so Sunday morning, he tied something around the handle of his lawn mower so that it would keep running and left it running next to my bedroom window until around noon. Then another night my husband was outside working on a car and was listening to the radio until about 10pm, the radio again was not up that loud, and he did the lawn mower thing again the next morning, so I called the cops on him and they came and made him shut the mower off. I hated that man so much, he sold his house to the city and moved away, I was so happy to see him leave.

If I was you the next time that man does that with his radio, call the cops on him.Just keep calling the cops on him, file a harassment complaint on him. Maybe he will get the point. There are just grouchy people out there that are very hard to live next to. right now I have no neighbors, and I would like to move to a bigger house but I am scared to because after living next to that guy, and now not having anyone around me, I don't want to have to deal with a mean neighbor again, I think people should be allowed to meet the people the live next to a house they are looking to buy because if you don't get along with your neighbors you are not going to like where you live.

Answer 8

Kill him with kindness. It sounds as though your neighbor is a lonely older man and could use a friend, though he definately is not going about it the right way. Maybe because he dosen't know how. Invite him over for coffee. Show him that you respect his rights, then try to compromise. Calling in the law will only make him more bitter toward you. Only do that as a last resort.

Answer 9

You need to start keeping a diary of all these actions, making sure to write down specific conversations, get witnesses to confirm, and take pictures of your yard and property as well as his yard and property. This way you have some sort of proof of your own actions in case this person tries to file a lawsuit.
You might want to look into the possibility of reselling this property and moving out rather than putting up with one bad neighbor. Barring that, get to know your other neighbors and get all of your complaints and stories straight and write them all down, sign, and date them. If this person becomes belligerent and calls the police, show the police your diary, your witness statements of yours and your neighbors. If this neighbor refuses to leave you alone, or accuses you without justification, you may be able to file a restraining order against this person. By having other neighbors on your side, you have more leverage to fight and stand up to one belligerent bully.
But you also need to stand up to this bully. Make sure you meet your other neighbors, invite them over in a body, and together as a group confront this man as a neighborhood group and ask him to leave YOU alone or move. Stop being afraid of him, stop letting him bully the whole neighborhood. As a group there are more of you to stand up and tell him to cool it, and if he files some sort of lawsuit, if you have your statements, your diary of all interaction, and witnesses, you have a case for a countersuit. If the other neighbors join you in a countersuit, this one person may drop his case. But stand up and stop being afraid!
And one last thing - be sure you try to be nice to this person and not yell or scream back at him. Be polite, state your side frimly but politely, and try not to speak ill of him behind his back. Write down your statements, be as honest as possible, but without injections of personal opinion. State the facts, not your opinions. By keeping the anger all on his side, by "taking the high road" and not getting into a shouting match every time you see him, you will have at least the knowledge that you attempted to be decent on your part.
Good luck. There is no pleasing some people, boy, don't I know it.

Answer 10

I'd call the police next time he starts blasting you with load music. He doesn't have the right to make your lives miserable just cause you play music a little in your yard and have a yappy dog.