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Bad Neighbor....HELP!!!!!!!!

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PioneerGuy75

PioneerGuy75

Certified Lurker
I have rather of a dilemma here...I Own my house and have been dealing with a ghetto ass renter the past 2years+. This is a townhouse with shared walls.

She has absolutly no respect for anybody around her. She doesn't work, stays up all night and cranks the subwoofer to MAX. I am told to "DEAL WITH IT".
I have called the owner of the house, they don't want to hear it. I have called the police NUMEROUS times, she sees them in front and turns it down and I can't file a complaint.:sigh:

I had a run-in with her two weeks ago (I was out hosing off MY parking spot and she didn't like it so she comes out and CUTS my hose in half!) And ever since then I have been informed to "PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE"....
Also since then the bass has been going every night, just loud enough to be REALLY ANNOYING!!

Also she keeps her 3 dogs on the back deck 24/7 where it is their litter box. STINKS to say the least. When she DOES let them out, they crap in my yard and she doesn't pick it up and they piss on the bush that is RIGHT NEXT to my front door!! :no:

She does not seem to see a problem with any of this and the attitude I seem to get it "Please stop picking on the disabled lady." From the owner. (She is NOT diabled FWIW.)

I cannot afford to sell my house right now, nor do I want to. Don't want to go through the trouble to move out, rent my house and move into a rental....
I have been wanting to get a roommate to help pay off some bills but certainly can't because they won't put up with that crap!


What can I do???????


Any help would be much appreciated!!!
 
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Wow tough situation! Good Luck.
Regards,
Jim
 
Sounds like it's time for the hidden video camera...... I've seen bad situations finally get settled with these. Nobody really believes the problem exists, until you have it on tape.
 
enricosonic said:
Maybe a stupid question, but are you part of a homeowner's association?
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Yes there is HOA, they don't do much.:sigh:

They won't touch it without police reports etc and as I stated I haven't had any luck doing so as she turns it down and doesn't answer the door when she sees them.
 
PioneerGuy75 said:
This is a townhouse with shared walls.
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I wish I had some sage advise for you. You could try the old 'burning paper bag full of dung' trick on her, but that wouldn't resolve your issue. It would just make you feel better.

The bottom line answer is that walls don't make for good neighbors. Fences make for good neighbors.
 
Maybe Ohighway has the right course of action - catching her on video could really help. Gives the police evidence and she'd at least be questioned.
 
Keep calling the police. Keep calling the owner of the house - even if it's 3:00 in the morning. They'll get tired of it too.
 
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What I would do is find her "hot" button(s) and push them repeatedly until she does something really stupid and make sure you have a witness or a camera on hand.

For example find out when she sleeps and play Barry Manilow or whatever as loud as you can. Put the speakers up to the shared bedroom wall facing the wall and crank it up to 11.
 
enricosonic said:
catching her on video could really help. Gives the police evidence and she'd at least be questioned.
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I've seen some stuff on TV that would suggest that sometimes this is the ONLY thing that gets it resolved. In your face evidence so to speak...

Tarl Of Gor said:
Keep calling the police. Keep calling the owner of the house - even if it's 3:00 in the morning. They'll get tired of it too.
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Yes, that is true. Had a buddy of mine in a townhouse with an a-hole neighbor. Guy would get drunk, come home, crank up the stereo, then pass out. It took dozens and dozens of calls, but finally the police started wising up and realizing there really was a problem. Only then did it finally start getting resolved.
 
I don'y know the kind of area you live in colorado, but having a split-house would make it seem like a suburb or residential spot. So, if you have other neighbors, maybe they have issues with this as well. The bass problem may only apply if the houses are close together, but the other problems could be detected from a greater distance, I think. Either way you go about it, the most direct fix is a video camera...you can't dispute much if its on camera. I really hope you find a solution to this, I can't imagine trying to enjoy myself very much under circumstances like this.

Also, I wasn't aware that you could blare music, and when the cops show up act like no-ones home...

Edit: I have to say, as much as I dislike the hoodlum approch, merrylander has an excellent point, she has supplied the ammunition for revolution...
 
I had a friend with a similar issues. He was an audio engineer. Whenever he was not at home he would blast a 12khz or higher tone against the offending neighbor's wall at blistering decibels. It was a frequency too high to generally be audible but loud enough to effect the subconscious. It apparently drove them away in short order.

Since you own your property, they are affecting the value of your property negatively. A lawsuit, or a threat of one, against the landlord would be a potentially effective move. It may cost you in legal fees but you would make it back in property value and peace of mind. You will need to amass an overwhelming collection of evidence: pictures, video with sound from all times of the day, personal witnesses and affidavits from people in the neighborhood. Civil suits are the opposite from criminal charges in that the burden of proof is on the defendants side. This means that when you present an avalanche of credible proof of your claim, the defendant will also have to be prepared to do the same thing. Just them saying "Uhuh, no way!!!" in court will not hold up. This also means that you will have to keep your nose clean so that they have nothing to fight back against you with. Keep up the pressure with the authorities and get documentation from everything to show in court. When the landlord finds that this tenant is going to cost him money; he'll move them out quickly. Loud noise is disturbing the peace in most communities and a nice conversation with the police ahead of time telling them what is happening when they arrive and the sound is turned down can be circumvented by unannounced visits or your proof of a video w/sound. It is hard to argue against video tape. Do not give any threat of lawsuit to the landlord, which gives him time to prepare himself. His being served a subpoena by the court may just be enough to jog him into compliance. At that point you may never have to go to court and all it cost you was the subpoena server's cost.

All this said, and it may be too late for this, a simple sit down conversation with the neighbor, in a civil, quiet manner can often work quite well at fixing these type of things. Not always though. I had a neighbor who's dog barked all day starting a 5am and ending at 8pm. I am not talking occasional barking, but rather continuous barking. The neighbor would leave for work at 5am and that is when the barking would start. In addition he had two pitbulls that he let run free all day. It was the German Shepard tied out back that was the barker. I got up at 5am one morning and met the neighbor as he was driving to work. I flagged him down and spoke nicely with him asking if he could please keep his dog quiet during the day because I worked till late at night and was unable to sleep, due to the noise. He looked at me and said "NO!!" and drove off in a huff. I tried once more to request quiet in a pleasant manner to no avail. After that I went on the warpath with the landlord. I picked on anything I could throw his way, code enforcement, animal control, power company, police complaints. This guy would dress up in camo, complete with bandoleros, and come out in his front yard at 5-6am in the morning and shoot his assault rifle and big pistols into the orange grove across the street. He was scary. The landlord and I were never again on speaking terms but my scorched earth campaign eventually got the guy out. Asking nice works sometimes, but, when it doesn't, then it is time for the gloves to come off. Good luck to you in your efforts. I'm sorry to hear of your disharmony.
 
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33&athird said:
So, if you have other neighbors, maybe they have issues with this as well. The bass problem may only apply if the houses are close together, but the other problems could be detected from a greater distance, I think. Either way you go about it, the most direct fix is a video camera...you can't dispute much if its on camera. I really hope you find a solution to this, I can't imagine trying to enjoy myself very much under circumstances like this.

Also, I wasn't aware that you could blare music, and when the cops show up act like no-ones home...
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Yes there are neighbors on the other side, an older lady and I think she cannot hear it the same as I do. (I think I have very sensitive hearing.)

Also she has closets along the ajoining wall that are PACKED with clothes etc and this may well block quite a bit of sound.

I did talk to her sister who stays here about once a year and she DID hear it but didn't know what it was...


Also I wasn't aware that the cops could be ignored!:scratch2:


Also it has been to blast msuic as Krowmagnum suggested but I don't want to become enemies with the people on the other side of me.

KingBubba I have tried NUMEROUS times to talk to her, and the attitude gets worse each time....First it was "I'm sorry we will resolve it" Now it is <hand outstretched towards me> "THAT WAS NOT ME!!!"

This is what ticks me off the most is her attitude towards the whole situation!!

FWIW.....Two things she said to me within a week of moving in:

<pointing towards my house> "Everybody that has ever lived there has been trouble." (She lived in same house a number of years back.)

"When I crank up my music people around here just DEAL WITH IT"

BULLSHIT! I have been dealing with it for 2 years+ and I AM SICK OF IT!
 
Problem is, she does not see you as a person.

Does she have family? Perhaps you could appeal to her grown children, or sister, or mother if she has them and they visit. There's a chance they would see your concern and might try to address it w/her.

If there's no one in her life you can appeal to on a personal level, the idea of grouping efforts with other neighbors might be good. If the police got calls on about her from residents within a radius, they might pay more attention to the situation.

One thing I would NOT recommend is escalation. Like; she cuts your garden hose, so you fill her door locks with epoxy; then she slices your car tires, so you hang her patio furniture from a tree, and so-on. Nothing good ever comes of this kind of pursuit.

Best to find a way to connect with her and appeal to her directly.
 
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