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Hello, I am a goon who has been dealing with complete fuckheads as across-the-street neighbors for a few months now, and would like a little advice on how to proceed in a way that leaves no one feeling like complete garbage. A little background on the situation: about three years ago, my girlfriend and I bought a house in an affordable neighborhood, due to rental prices being insane and our desire to have pretty much all the cats (we have 4). Our neighborhood has been generally nice and quiet, despite being only a couple blocks off of a major highway that passes through our city and on out into unincorporated county land beyond. Most of our neighbors, a mix of renters/owners of various styles (families, young couples, multi-family folks, old people) have been nice or at least outwardly civil and respectful of each other. We considered ourselves very lucky to have found such a nice community of people in an area of town that in general terms is considered less desirable overall. So three or four months ago, the nice people who were living across the street from us moved out, the property owner spent a little time doing upkeep, and now it's been rented out again. At first things were pretty typical, moving trucks in/out, seeing new faces, trying to smile, be cordial, etc. Then more and more people continued to move in. Okay, so I guess maybe there are multiple generations there, or multiple families? Cool, none of my business. Except now there isn't a single time of day that there aren't people on the front porch being obnoxiously loud, with the exception of maybe like 4am-12pm. It looks like there are a couple smokers, so I guess to avoid smoking in the house they just sit on the front porch all day long. They also have one volume and that is as loud as possible. Sometimes they're screaming at each other and threatening to murder people (I am assuming at this point they are not actually murdering people). They also have accumulated five or six vehicles since they moved in, and despite seemingly having garage/alley access, they insist on parking on the street. Which, okay, it's unregulated street parking, but there was one morning I was getting ready to leave for work and they had sandwiched their next door neighbor in so tight that he couldn't leave. And weren't responding to their door. I have no idea how long the poor old guy had to sit there until someone finally came out and helped. In addition to their own fleet of cars, they often have 2-3 other visitors over on a frequent basis, who usually park on our side of the street and prevent us from parking near our house (again, not really anything to be done since it's unregulated, just kind of dickish behavior). Today, my girlfriend came home from work and one of their friends was idling in the middle of the street, blocking the entire roadway. My girlfriend was unable to get around his car to park, and tried to wave to get their attention. They didn't move until someone slowly walked down from the front porch and gave the person in the car something. Then the car drove off and she was able to park, but not without the 2-3 people congregated on the front porch scowling at her as if she was the problem. Finally, every night around 10:30 pm or so, someone gets home to their house, and instead of like, turning off their car and going inside, they sit in their car, sometimes for ten minutes but up to a half hour or forty-five minutes, just blaring their car stereo loud enough to shake the block. We have a city noise ordinance and I have complained via official channels multiple times but it's clearly done gently caress all. Here's my issue: clearly a lot of this could be solved by simple direct communication, I think. My problem is that if I start getting pushback from people I tend to have a short fuse, and I don't want the situation to escalate. There's also the matter that all of my attempts to be neighborly and friendly (smiles, waving, saying "good morning/afternoon") have been met with scowls and silence. And because I've heard them scream awful things at each other, clearly someone over there has some anger management issues also and I don't want to end up on the evening news as the guy who gets shot or stabbed or beat up by his neighbors over a stupid confrontation about dumb poo poo. Can someone give me some good advice on ways to confront them on some of these issues without being an rear end in a top hat or sounding pushy? I just think they should know how their neighbors are being adversely affected by their behavior and maybe be a little more considerate, especially at night. (I don't really care about the noise all that much but my girlfriend has to get up at like 5 am for work and it really messes with her sleep schedule). If anyone reading this turns out to be my neighbors from across the street, hello, and can you kindly shut the gently caress up?
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Jul 20, 2017 03:02
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 00:28 |
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Go talk to them but bring your girlfriend, even better talk to a couple of your other neighbors and bring them. It'll send a stronger message if it's several neighbors then making it just you vs. them. Introduce yourselves politely and ask that they please keep it more quiet in the evening. If that doesn't help or things get worse, you said they were renting, correct? Contact the landlord. Again, it's better if you can team up with some of your other neighbors to talk to the problem household and landlord.
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Jul 20, 2017 09:27
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I vote "contact the landlord." They don't sound like the kind of people likely to leave a rental-house in tip-top condition, so if he takes an interest he might well start eviction proceedings. Complain about the noise and the sheer number of people living there (I imagine he probably doesn't know that there are dozens of people living in the house.)
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Jul 20, 2017 17:45
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You mentioned they blast loud music late at night? Most municipalities have noise ordinances after like 10pm. Contact the Landlord. If that doesn't work, call the cops.
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Jul 20, 2017 19:06
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In theory, it's a great and civil idea to bring over a bunch of folks and chat like reasonable people. Even better if you can can bring 1+ other renters with you. However, based on past experiences it's not a good idea to assume that they are reasonable folks (which I doubt from what you are saying) best case scenario in that case is you have embarrassed decent folks who may be not be as mindful as the rest of the neighborhood and the problem is solved and hey, maybe friendships are made. I wish we could live in that world. My experience is that it usually creates a hostile atmosphere, which is really the kind of poo poo you don't need in a place you are calling "home" I think that by complaining directly to the landlord and being anonymous is the overall best course of action. With the amount of stories I have heard and experienced over the years with neighbors. It's best to never assume they are as even minded as you are. If they are decent folks, then the result is hopefully the same without the social awkwardness on either side. If they are lovely folks then you are usually dealing with someone whose best interests is to have someone in the house who is not causing headaches. The main takeaway here: Always keep a buffer and never deal directly. Go with Landlord first and then cops. Never, EVER, go over personally and knock on the door. You are asking for a world of lovely awkward conflict while they rent there. It's a sorry world where that's how you deal with your fellow man, but my sister has to appear in court as a witness to an assault case between two neighbors next month so gently caress it.
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Jul 20, 2017 21:01
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Lonos Oboe posted:
This is good advice. An easy, and anonymous, way to deal with the # of people might be to just contact your city's housing office. If there's no housing office it'll be the zoning office. You might even contact the fire marshal too. They'll have an official come by and tell them it's too many folks. This, of course, will get to the landlord as well.
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Jul 20, 2017 22:17
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Above suggestion is good. Also enlist your neighbors in complaining about the noise. If the cops are getting 10 calls every 30 minutes every night they will start sending cars. You have to make the bureacracy realize doing something is less work than doing nothing.
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Jul 20, 2017 22:48
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Thanks for all the good advice. I tried to make clear in the OP that I'm not afraid of talking to people or anything, but everything about their behavior that I've observed gives me the impression that I would probably regret approaching them directly. Any suggestions on how to find out who/where/how to contact the landlord? I tried searching for property tax records and that got me a name but there's like 4 different matches in my city alone and I don't want to start cold calling someone who may or may not be the landlord/property manager at all.
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Jul 21, 2017 01:22
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Your county tax assessor's office might have that information, try giving them a call.
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Jul 21, 2017 01:39
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DrNutt posted:Thanks for all the good advice. I tried to make clear in the OP that I'm not afraid of talking to people or anything, but everything about their behavior that I've observed gives me the impression that I would probably regret approaching them directly. I'd be wary of contacting the landlord. He/she is likely to rat you out. I'd go with the zoning/housing office of your city. I know you're not afraid of talking to people or anything, but I've gone that route and you end up coming home from work to vandalized poo poo because they will take it personal.
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Jul 21, 2017 05:12
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spacetoaster posted:I'd be wary of contacting the landlord. He/she is likely to rat you out. I'd go with the zoning/housing office of your city. Thanks. That's probably my biggest fear and why I went to the SA Forum Goons for advice. This is the first time I've encountered something like this as a homeowner and I really don't want the situation to escalate. Renters come and go, but we plan on being here for awhile and would like things to stay reasonably chill.
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Jul 21, 2017 17:55
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How would the landlord rat you out if you call/write him anonomously? Also seconding calling local zoning. Often they have an obligation to follow up and will definitely contact the landlord as part of the process. They should have some kind of guarantee of anonymity as well. Some situations, you deal with you neighbor directly. For folks like this, who sound like all around total poo poo birds, best do so at arm reach.
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Jul 21, 2017 19:06
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LogisticEarth posted:How would the landlord rat you out if you call/write him anonomously? Yeah, it's not likely. But we (my neighbor and I) were able to track down a lady who thought she wrote an anonymous letter to him (saying terrible things about his disabled kid). And it wouldn't be too hard to figure out who probably complained about a particular thing.
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Jul 21, 2017 20:57
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DrNutt posted:Today, my girlfriend came home from work and one of their friends was idling in the middle of the street, blocking the entire roadway. My girlfriend was unable to get around his car to park, and tried to wave to get their attention. They didn't move until someone slowly walked down from the front porch and gave the person in the car something.
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Jul 21, 2017 22:49
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GWBBQ posted:Your neighbors are making GBS threads up the neighborhood and selling drugs. There's a very easy way to get rid of them LMAO I thought about that but... They wouldn't be that stupid would they? I mean, they'd at least meet people off site, right?
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Jul 22, 2017 02:31
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DrNutt posted:LMAO I thought about that but... They wouldn't be that stupid would they? I mean, they'd at least meet people off site, right? Seriously man? DrNutt posted:Today, my girlfriend came home from work and one of their friends was idling in the middle of the street, blocking the entire roadway. My girlfriend was unable to get around his car to park, and tried to wave to get their attention. They didn't move until someone slowly walked down from the front porch and gave the person in the car something. Then the car drove off and she was able to park, but not without the 2-3 people congregated on the front porch scowling at her as if she was the problem.
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Jul 22, 2017 02:49
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Swat them. There's prob enough poo poo in the house to get some of them out of there for a few years
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Jul 22, 2017 09:52
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DrNutt posted:LMAO I thought about that but... They wouldn't be that stupid would they? I mean, they'd at least meet people off site, right?
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Jul 24, 2017 16:29
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Well I've been waffling back and forth but there is definitely some anonymous tipping happening this week. Today as I was out working in my van, I had no choice but to listen as the matriarch of this lovely clan continually verbally assaulted a toddler who couldn't be more than 2 years old. Called him a little rear end in a top hat and repeatedly shouted at him to shut up while he was crying. gently caress these disgusting people.
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Jul 24, 2017 21:37
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GWBBQ posted:No, you live across the street from a crack house. Pretty much this. It couldn't be more obvious.
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Jul 25, 2017 19:52
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Hire someone from Airtasker to pose as one of their neighbours, not naming a specific house. Have them air your complaints to them then drive away, they can ring you and inform you how that went later. If the problem continues you can inundate them with multiple "neighbours" who have issues with their neighbourliness. If you make noise complaints and such they won't pin it on you but one of their many, many, many neighbours. The sharing economy works guys!
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Jul 26, 2017 09:45
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DrNutt posted:Well I've been waffling back and forth but there is definitely some anonymous tipping happening this week. Today as I was out working in my van, I had no choice but to listen as the matriarch of this lovely clan continually verbally assaulted a toddler who couldn't be more than 2 years old. Called him a little rear end in a top hat and repeatedly shouted at him to shut up while he was crying. gently caress these disgusting people. Tip the police. They will want to know that there's a drug den and they're the only ones who can deal with it properly. Also you can't one-up people who have all day to think of things to make your life miserable. Just smile when you have to and keep to yourselves. And please don't send random people with your complaints to a drug den 
Lima fucked around with this message at 13:04 on Jul 27, 2017 |
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Jul 27, 2017 12:58
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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask / Tell > Tell me how to deal with a drug den ? Calling the Police seems the answer, but as I assume you are in the US, deploy some bullet proof items to protect your house should they arrive, or get out of the area for a short holiday. Calling the US Police can put your life in danger.
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Jul 27, 2017 13:31
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DrNutt posted:Well I've been waffling back and forth but there is definitely some anonymous tipping happening this week. Today as I was out working in my van, I had no choice but to listen as the matriarch of this lovely clan continually verbally assaulted a toddler who couldn't be more than 2 years old. Called him a little rear end in a top hat and repeatedly shouted at him to shut up while he was crying. gently caress these disgusting people. CPS (Child protective services) like to hear about this sort of thing.
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Jul 27, 2017 14:57
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Comstar posted:The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask / Tell > Tell me how to deal with a drug den ? I literally live two houses down from a drug den that sprung up in the last year. The cops are there at least once every couple of months, and yet the occupants still reside there. Should I call the non-emergency number and chat with someone just to see what is being done about it? It's painfully obvious it's a drug den (random folks coming over, idling in the street to get hand offs, etc.). The rap sheet of the people listed as the owners on the tax records is about the length of my forearm, too. So these folks aren't strangers to the law. fake edit: I don't mean to hijack the OP's thread, but this seemed an appropriate place to ask
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Jul 28, 2017 03:47
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OP, I lived across the street from this place for a year or so, it seemed like an eternity but in actuality it was only a year. After they showed no interest in dealing with me, I stopped interacting with them for the most part. For my particular neighbors, I tried to keep in mind that they were trashy because they didn't know any better - and I really believe that was true. They didn't have malice, they were just intergenerationally poor and uneducated and "could you please not throw trash in the street" was foreign to them. The cars parking in the middle of the street is particularly apropos to my situation, as well as the people parking perpendicular in my driveway blocking not one but both of my garage doors. It didn't really matter whether I was sweet as pie or angry as a hornet, if I asked them to move the car (or told them to get it the gently caress out of the way), a slow search for the owner of the car would begin, then at a snail's pace, they'd come move it. Again, I really think they didn't (generally) do this to aggravate me (and oh god did it aggravate me), but when I think about why I hustle, it's because I have a job to go to and poo poo to do, and if I just sat around and smoked and watched Judge Judy all day, I probably wouldn't know how to move fast either. Ok, now to the advice part. Their actions break into three categories: Annoying and not illegal: this is parking in front of your house, making racket and smoking cigarettes on their patio from noon to 4am every day Annoying and minorly illegal: this is littering, loading and unloading in the middle of the street, etc Annoying and more significantly illegal, this is stuff like booming the stereo for 30 minutes after noise curfew and probably other poo poo I forgot from your story 9-1-1 stuff: this is the big guns and what you are hoping and waiting for. **Annoying and not illegal**, I had to really have a come-to-Jesus with myself and decide I wasn't going to be annoyed by this stuff anymore, and it mostly worked. **Annoying and minorly illegal**, In my case it was heavy on littering and trash, so one day I swept up my dignity and got my broom and dustpan and shovel and trash bag and leafblower and started at the bottom of the block and worked to the top and picked up every piece of trash. It was probably two garbage bags full. Then I did that once a week (much less trash) and after a while other neighbors pitched in and the street was basically clean after that. The traffic problems, I had an alley that I could go down and I started using that exclusively. **Annoying and majorly illegal**, here is the official cutoff between minor and major, the major stuff continues going on long enough for the cops to come and (ideally) do something about. Loud music, parties, fights, etc. The key to my whole system is calling the cops every time this stuff happens. The cops roll out and probably do nothing. The goal is not that they get a noise ticket, the goal is that after the cops visit their house 100 times the drunk guy at the house finally says to the cop "what the gently caress is your problem, anyway?" and then the cop beats him up and takes him to jail. In some municipalities there are "party house" ordinances where if you get enough verified calls for service to an address the city will start proceedings to blight the property and take it from the owner. **9-1-1 stuff** this is where the money is at, you are waiting for this moment where someone is brandishing a weapon or stealing something from another neighbor or breaking into a car or something. Call 9-1-1 and use your "i'm scared" voice. Cops will come and arrest somebody, maybe a lot of somebodies. I got this twice, once when the kids from this house (ranging from 2-10) climbed a ladder onto the neighbor's roof (THERE WAS A 2 YEAR OLD RUNNING AROUND ON THE ROOF, NO ADULTS PRESENT), and once when the boyfriend of the 16 year old pregnant girl was roughing her up on the sidewalk. After the cops came and arrested the boyfriend, the family moved days later. The neighbors rejoiced. Calls for service help the police/sheriff ask for more budget money and hire more people. Generally speaking they do not mind legitimate calls for service. When something happens that is illegal and will still be going on in 30 minutes when the cops arrive, call the cops. Call your local substation and ask advice on what to do about this stuff. Cops became cops to rough up people. Give them a target. Anti-Hero posted:I literally live two houses down from a drug den that sprung up in the last year. The cops are there at least once every couple of months, and yet the occupants still reside there. Should I call the non-emergency number and chat with someone just to see what is being done about it? It's painfully obvious it's a drug den (random folks coming over, idling in the street to get hand offs, etc.). The rap sheet of the people listed as the owners on the tax records is about the length of my forearm, too. So these folks aren't strangers to the law.
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Jul 28, 2017 06:40
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Burn their house down.
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Jul 30, 2017 08:45
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Bloody Hedgehog posted:Burn their house down. Was going to post this, I think this is the reasonable and smooth option.
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Jul 30, 2017 19:21
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Bloody Hedgehog posted:Burn their house down. what is this passive aggressive bullshit? light the neighbors on fire.
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Jul 30, 2017 20:45
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Last time I had white trash noisy neighbors move in across from me, I made friends with them. Now when the music is blasting way too loud past curfew, I'm already over there and usually drunk. Note: I am also white trash.
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Jul 31, 2017 15:34
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LloydDobler posted:Last time I had white trash noisy neighbors move in across from me, I made friends with them. Now when the music is blasting way too loud past curfew, I'm already over there and usually drunk. Ok, now I'm with this solution. OP, is there anyway you can acquire a broken 80s Camaro and 4 cinderblocks to put up on your driveway?
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Aug 1, 2017 18:16
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Buy crack from them.
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Aug 1, 2017 18:46
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beeaar posted:Buy crack from them. They might have good dope too if that's your thing.
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Aug 1, 2017 21:10
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Had a similar problem a couple years ago with a schizophrenic/tweaker neighbor across the street. What eventually worked was a combination of involving his landlord (to evict the tweaker) and the police. It took a few months but I eventually got the pleasure of watching the police kick his door in at 7am on a Sunday morning while serving a search warrant.
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Aug 1, 2017 22:20
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I think the cops and child services seem like a good place to start. I doubt these people are criminal masterminds so it seems likely that they were involved in the law before. If there is some legal safe way to find out their names. You could see if they had any past criminal poo poo with a google search. Then contacting the landlord and let them know. Kind of a longshot, but it would be good to know a little more if you could. A private detective could possibly find this stuff out in minutes if you get a good quote. As for the child services thing, not too sure how it works in America. But they tend to interview the parents if there is complaints. Child service people generally can spot abuse a mile away with dickheads like these, so that might actually do some good aside from also getting rid of them. I would start keeping a diary of all the problems and touch base with other people on your street if you think you can. It's something I always make a point of doing anyway for general neighborhood security. Odds are they will bring it up.
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Aug 2, 2017 20:31
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Call the drat police. Jeezy. Or call CPS and relate that cute li'l toddler abuse story; they may well call other authorities and you won't have to.
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Aug 2, 2017 22:11
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Have you filmed any of this? Seems to me if you got some video of child endangerment or blatant drug activity it might help. But gently caress all that, I just want see it and want you to post it.
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Aug 6, 2017 19:36
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I feel you--I've been here too. Our trash neighbor kids were definitely dealing, possibly engaged in prostitution, and tossed garbage everywhere they could. Other folks in the community were like, "Yeah, they drive us all crazy but what can we do?" My wife spent 15 minutes doing research with the county and found that they weren't the homeowners. A local charity owned the home, and rented the property to hard luck cases. We gave them a call and said, "Hey look, we're not assholes but we're tired of this crap and there's probably illegal stuff going on. You want to have a word with them?" It got better for a while, then went straight south. Final straw was when a cop with drawn weapon banged on our door in the middle of the night, not realizing that we weren't the house he was looking for. We called the charity people back: "Either you get these people out or we look up your board of directors, then call each of them along with the local news to let them know you're tolerating criminal activity on your property." They were gone in a week, but came back to break in and trash the place. Then they were gone for good. A lovely family of Afghan refugees moved in after that, and they were great folks. TL;DR: contact the landlord. S/he doesn't want to clean up after this poo poo any more than you want to live with it.
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Aug 9, 2017 17:27
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Guerilla warfare is the answer. Start small. You get up for work early? They're sleeping? Let the air out of their tires, then cut off the valve stems. Just cutting the valve stems will make too much noise from the air rushing out. Be creative. I'm talking catapult open cans of tuna on to their roofs, dogfood, catfood, fishheads etc. Maybe kill that guy you work with that you don't like, dump his body in their back yard....... E: I pretty much had to deal with that for 10 years, except it was upstairs, and the culprit was my landlord. Waking up at like 330 in the morning to Ozzy, Motorhead and lots of bad 80s hair metal blasting on the stereo kinda sucked. But hey, these guys were still rocking it out like they were in high school. Fights, drug deals, domestics, general yelling and screaming, stomping, piles of puke outside the backdoor and so on. Tons of garbage and poo poo in the backyard, Landlord and his buddies boning hookers, all right above my head!! The electrical box happened to be in my place though. Shut the power off a few times on them. But hey, the rent was cheap. wesleywillis fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Aug 12, 2017 |
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Aug 12, 2017 20:25
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 00:28 |
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Just start stabbing stuff. Their tires, the doors, the windows, the mailbox, the boyfriend, just really get into the art of stab.
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Sep 10, 2017 22:14
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