What to do about a neighbor that dumps "stuff" in the yard?

Question

My neighbor routinely lets their dog do his business in my yard. They flick cigarette butts everywhere and dump grass clippings in my back yard. I am new to the neighborhood and live in a recently renovated house that had stood empty for some time. My neighbors are a very young family with three children. I am not home very much between work and weekend trips. What is the least harmful way to deal with this?

Answer 1

William has a good answer. Doesn't just about everyone have a bad neighbor? Mine use to walk her leashed dog (the kind of leash that expands) along my property line letting the dog go wherever he wanted, well his favorite spot was to wiz on my cellar door, with her still attached to the leash! My bedroom window is right above the door so one day I just opened the window and said "Hey! Don't let your dog go on my house! There's a field down the road, take him there!" Needless to say she was offended but stopped walking him around my home. They too would dump there yard waste into my back yard, I have an acre so they thought the empty lot was fair game, besides they had used it before we bought the house. My husband told them that we were cleaning up back there and would no longer be able to use the clippings. They stopped. My mom had a LARGE dog use her driveway to go every morning. I remember looking out the window, seeing her scoop it up with a shovel and heave it over their hedges onto their front lawn screaming "How do you like it?" It's amazing what we have to go through isn't it? You'd think people would just use common sense.

Answer 2

Its aways touchy with new neighbors, especially when your the new one. You don't want to start off on the wrong foot but you need the bad behavior to stop.

I suggest the next time you see them you ask them if they know of someone with a dog that's messing up your lawn. Or dumping lawn clipping in your yard. This will only work if they don't know that you know(or it couldn't be someone else. Its letting them know without confrontation. I wouldn't touch the cigarette issue, smokers are too sensitive now-a-day.

If they attack, they are not nice people and you should ask the police how to handle.

Answer 3

The real problem isn't what the neighbors are doing, rather, it's an issue of one's willingness to confront others. Most people know when they're doing something wrong. Silence is received as placid consent.
Right behind public speaking being the number one fear, confrontations with others runs second on the list. If you can't confront the offenders, put up a sign that reads no dumping by humans or animals.

good luck

Answer 4

im always having problems with my neighbours the best thing to do is to go round and talk to them if they get abusive walk away and phone the police or you can also install cctv like we had to then you will have them on film then you will have prove that its them i would actually do this first then confront them perhapps if they see you installing the cctv it might stop them all together good luck

Answer 5

dump it back into there yard