Intolerable Neighbor Rant

[Kitsa]

An update, of sorts:

I had to call the landlord because our dryer-vent was completely plugged with lint and our clothes weren't drying. When he came (removing both the log of lint and some ancient pre-us beercans and shuttlecocks from the gutters), I mentioned delicately that we were having a personal-space problem with the neighbors. I showed him some portable accordion-fencing from a catalog and asked if I could put up at least a couple, just as a territory-marker. He approved it.

It's a start. If they don't respect a fence, well, the situation is probably beyond hope.

[Pandajuice]

Originally Posted by Kitsa

It's a start. If they don't respect a fence, well, the situation is probably beyond hope.

It's a good start Kitsa. And if they don't respect the fence, then it becomes an issue of trespassing and gives you leverage against them. As others have said, you already have leverage based on everything else they do to you, now you just need to document it, and inform the right people, and justice will be swift.

I'm having issues at the moment with neighborhood kids here thinking they are funny by kicking the wing mirrors of our car, pounding on our front window (our house is right up on the street, common in England), and generally being loud as they walk past the house. I've yelled at them, chased them, snuck up on them and watched them run as I scared the shit out of them, etc, and all that does is make it more of a game and more fun. It just escalates things when you confront bad people, and I'm sure confronting your neighbors won't help either.

It's much better to document it (my neighbor has installed a CCTV system to watch over the street), and go to the right authorities. We'll just keep calling the police and giving descriptions every time our property is messed with until they do something about it; at least to just shut us up. I suggest you do the same to your landlord.

[Colonel Flagg]

Originally Posted by Kitsa

[...] I mentioned delicately that we were having a personal-space problem with the neighbors. I showed him some portable accordion-fencing from a catalog and asked if I could put up at least a couple, just as a territory-marker. He approved it.

Congratulations. Not only did you score a small victory in getting him to approve fencing, but you also got a tacit endorsement of a potential "your side" vs "their side" scenario. The fact that you were polite about it, and that he concurred (I'm assuming that he didn't even flinch) gives you leverage.

Not that you need to use it, mind you, but this kind of support is a good thing to have in your hip pocket.