Off topic - talk me out of it

Okay. So, I get home today and there's a notice from the city that we are in violation of some of the stupid neighborhood codes about our lawn and the house needs painting, etc. Like we didn't know that already.

I am very certain that our obsessive leaf-raking neighbors reported us, rather than coming and telling us to our faces that they have a problem with our house. They're like that. I personally could give a rat's behind about mowing the lawn and painting the house. And the whole bit about it devaluing their house - that's hogwash. Their house can't be devalued if it isn't up for sale.

So anyway. Here's the note I want to put on their door. Now's your chance to talk me out of it...

 

My parents have neighbors like that. My mom sent a letter to them as well. You get em girl! Just don't expect for them to ever speak to you again, my mom's don't. teehee :wink:

 

Wow Jaimy i'm sorry you have to go thru that. I'm not sure if i would be that bold in the letter but i understand your anger i have had that kind of stuff happen. But then again it's the only way to get your point across. Well i just dont like to see neighbors fight it can be a pain we people that live next to each other dont get along.

sorry i'm no help at all.


Rene

 

Jamiya you go get 'em girl i would do exactly the same if they are that bothered about your lawn or your house needing painting tell them to do it i would hehehehehe.

we have neighbours abit like that but they complain about birds singing all the time and then one day they started shouting at me saying if mitzy went for there cat again they would poison her so i said well your cat comes in my garden again trying to get my birds digging up my plants you will find the flipping thing hanging from your clothes line by its ears ( not that i would do that ) and they have never bothered since.

THink it takes for you to say something for them to butt out and mind there own business but i think as they get older and more lonely and sad they like nothing more thant to put in complaints and moan about things.

Well i like your letter and i would give them it then again i would paint it on there house but thats just me heheheheh.

You have my support on this one.

Mike

 

Sorry, I can't talk you out of it...cuz I agree way too much!!! We're lucky b/c our retired neighbors keep their yard immaculate, but they are VERY NICE people!! And because they are so nice to us, we try to be sure that if we don't have time to mow the whole lawn (we have a HUGE yard) we at least do the strip by their driveway. Maybe if your RUDE neighbors had been a little nicer about it from the start, you might be inclined to do the same!! Your property, and as long as it's not an eyesore, which I'm sure it's not, you can keep it however the heck you like! If my neighbors acted like yours do, I would NEVER mow the strip by their driveway!! I can be a little spiteful that way :wink:

 

Hey - sounds like your letter really got a lot off your chest. Some people don't have enough to do in life. Let me tell you a story (it's short). My Dad used to be the President of a Condo Assoc. There was one lady that complained about EVERYTHING! The final straw was when she put in a formal complaint that the cleaning people putting out the "Wet Floor" signs after they washed the tile floors. (Better "unsafe" than sorry huh?) She didn't want those signs out there because they looked ugly...... My Dad would listen to every one of her complaints and then say... 'Thanks Winnie" - then walk away. He never did anything about any of her complaints and never had to argue with her.

Your letter is great and I think it probably helped you vent a little. Maybe you should just keep it on your refrigerator (or a closeby drawer) and take a glance at it once in a while. Don't get yourself wound up about them. If you take care of one problem - they'll probably just find another to complain about.

Do your best to concentrate on your other priorities....... family, education, animals, etc. ENJOY LIFE!

Maybe they'll get sick of you and move!

 

Unfortunately, now we HAVE to fix the "problems" or we'll get fined. I'm sure there's some stupid deadline or something, but I can't find the notice. My husband must have taken it with him.

Another thing that makes me angry is knowing the city people must have gone into our backyard. People never close our gate right and if MY dogs get out and are in danger because THEY are irresponsible and don't close my gate, you can bet they are going to regret it.

I am so steamed!!!

 

rudysjoy, your story about your dad's complainer reminded me of this 4-plex I used to live in...we had the crazy laundry lady!! I lived in this building for almost a yr before she moved in and everyone got along great! I lived in the basement, a nice middle-aged couple lived above me ( nice to the point that when I moved in they told me they remembered what it was like to be young and were not ones to complain of noise!), crazy old lady across the hall from me in the basement, with a very nice young couple above her. Couple up from me both worked shift work and did the laundry every Sun. morning at 9 am (they had asked me if that was too early as my apartment was next to the laundry room, of course it was fine) Crazy lady starts waking up at 8:30am on Sun. and throwing her laundry in at 8:45am! Just to be rude to the nice couple...she had NOTHING else to do the rest of the week!! Then, she would take people's laundry out of the dryer if she needed it, and put it on the floor...with the undies ON TOP! I finally wrote the landlord a letter, and his ex-wife (my friend) told me I was the LAST one to complain. He was waiting for me to complain to do something....He gave her a specific time for laundry, told the rest of us not to use it at her time and told her to stay out of the laundry room the rest of the time!

 

We had a simular incident. Our neighbors complain because we added a closet on the other end of the house. They also complained because we were working out of our house. Anyway at the end of the ordeal(2Yrs), my husband spent 3 days in jail and 3 yrs probation. He's never so much had a traffic ticket up till then. But then I should add that he sprayed a city inspector with a garden hose. They called it assault.

Your letter is good and I would give it to the neighbors, but I'm afraid if your city is as anal as our city, they'll make it really hard on you until you comply. You know that old saying, You can't fight city Hall.

Neighbors are a pain. That's why when I retire We're moving to Montana out in the middle of nowhere.

Good luck with your neighbors and the city.

 

Go ahead and send it. How about this one
I ahd an old couple living above me for awhile. I usually respect odler people, but not this women. Can you beleive I heard her yelling about the boat in front of her garage, saying it was the *itch down stairs. LOL I never laughed so hard in my life. I think she was refering to me. It was not our boat. And the only reason she wanted in the garage was becuase it was there. She would get annoyed if I water my plants saying her hubby did it already. She would stand there and watch my relatives talking to me. Creepy lady. Bless her soal. She's gone now. I don't miss hre a bit.

 

Sounds like your neighbors really need to get a hobby! I can't stand it when people are so bored that all they can think of doing to keep busy is knit-picking on things that others are or are'nt doing.
I'm sorry that you have to deal with this...what a pain.

 

I would love to talk you out of it but just cant do it. It erks me when people are like this. Our yard is not always cut and we have a strip in front of the house that got really high and the neighbor came over one day and asked if he could cause it blocked his view of the road coming out of his drive. Well I was mortified cause I didnt know it was effecting him and I apologized profusly but our lawm mower is broken and he laughed and said no problem he just didnt want to offend us by cutting it. So he nows cuts it whenever he cuts his lawn, now we need to do the rest cause it really looks bad with one nice strip!

 

Jamiya - if it really makes you feel better then you should send the letter, but I wouldn't expect that it will stop future complaints from that neighbor. I guess it's better that you deal with the neighbors rather than the city and having someone end up in jail like love-da-pits

I had another neighbor experience that was kinda funny. I am a lighthouse fanatic (visited 185 of them in the U.S.). We lived in a condo. I had a 2-foot lighthouse on the front porch with a 10 watt bulb in it. The lighthouse came on automatically every night at dark. Wasn't that a life-threatening problem in the complex????? Our neighbor didn't like the lighthouse so he brought it up at the annual meeting (we never go) asking to have it banned. The association passed a by-law that you couldn't have "lighted" lighthouses outside of any condos.

We didn't say a word - left the lighthouse on the front porch (lighting every night) until that last day we lived there - about another year. (It was the last item I packed!).

Good luck with you problem. Hope it all works out for you.

 

I'd send it too if I knew for sure it was from them. People can be so petty sometimes. My mum once worked for this lady in this upmarket street, and she had to go and pick up fabric and stuff from this woman in her 4wd. The neighbours must have seen it often and complained, ok so it wasn't the best looking car but who the ^&%$ cares! So she was informed that she wasn't allowed to park her car on the street again!
I think if you don't have time to mow your lawns, that's your business, not your neighbours. It just seems so ridiculous.Man I wish I had the time to worry about what MY neighbours have or haven't done! I envy their spare time!
I just don't know what goes on in some people's minds. A little story I can never get over that I read in the paper goes something like this: (It was a "thumbs up thumbs down" catagory where people write in to complain about other people, or commend them. Anyway, this one was a comlaint.)

I read that in the paper a while ago but it still bewilders me that someone could actually go up to someone else and say this, especially when the person putting the flowers up had just lost someone close to them. Un-be-lieeeevable!!!!

 

Hi Jamiya,

I can't beleive the city has the right to tell you to paint your house! What! do they think you all are made of money! It sounds like you have your hands full and those neighbors of yours need to mind thier own business. SEND THE LETTER!!!! It may make no difference to them, but you'll feel better...

Susan

 

Hmm how about you paint your house pink or some other outragous color! Bet they would love that! Maybe some tye-dye. Just kidding unless you wouldent mind a pink house!

 

There is a White emulsion over here made by dulux paint and it goes on bright pink so you can see where you have done but then it dries white i would use that give them a shock when they see it going on heheheheheheh.

Mike

 

That would be such a crack up to see the neighbors faces. I bet it changes color fast, like a day or so. I'd want it to stay pink for at least a week. LOL.

 

That would be crazy! It is weird here there is nothing saying we can'T grow our grass as high as we want (for the year my bf was inUSA, no one mowed the lawn once!) or let the house fall down if we want, my neighbors don't seem to care either, but it could be in my neighborhood the houses were buit just before WWII and the same families have lived in them since and they have this thing where you are not supposed to notice other people busniess. We have one house that is falling down really bad, but no one says anything. but the snow must be shoveled according to law incase someone gets hurt, but even if you didn't no one would complain.
As for the letter you shouldn't send it, it could get you in more trouble. When things are in writing like that it could be taken as an actual threat and then you go to jail or something, then who would walk the dogs? and give us info on raw feeding. just picking. but for real don'T send it as mad as you are, it would only get worse. And iam sure if you are trying to improve your house the fine won't get any worse, chances are the city might even forget about it.

 

Oh, I doubt the city will forget about it. It's revenue for them, after all.

The stupid thing is, the front of our house is brick!! It's only the sides and back and the trim in front that needs painting. And you can only see the trim from the front of the house! I was going to go out and take a photo for your guys, but my husband has already mowed the lawn.

I wonder if the neighbors can see the side of the house if they crane their necks over the fence? Busybodies...