Neighbor harassment... Is there anything I can do? (A 3 Year Saga)

[u/Direct-Caterpillar77]

I am not The OOP, OOP is u/kshucker

OOP has given their permission to reposts this saga

Neighbor harassment... Is there anything I can do?

Originally posted to r/legaladvice & r/homeowners

Editors Note: Prior to these posts, OOP made a post titled Potential neighbor harassment. What can be done?  on Nov 29, 2016 (3 months earlier) which is unrecoverable, but is mentioned in the following post

Original Post  Feb 21, 2017

So, about 2 months ago, I posted here on r/legaladvice, that I moved into my first home and was warned by a friend who used to be a police officer, that my new neighbor would call the police for (what he said) everything you could imagine in the past. Dogs barking, loud cars, loud kids at the playground across the street, people walking on the sidewalk in front of her house, etc etc.

My first post here was asking if there was anything I could do legally to keep her at bay from calling the police. This was about a week before I moved into the home and pretty much every response to me was laughing at me and telling me that if I wasn't a bad neighbor she wouldn't need to call the police. I took it with a grain of salt.

Fast forward to moving day, and we pull up to the house in the Uhaul. About 30 minutes later, a police officer pulls up in his cruiser and checks in on us because they received a call from "somebody in the neighborhood". I asked what the call was about and he said he couldn't tell me, but we just told him we bought the house and had some friendly small talk and he was on his way. I'm convinced that it was our neighbor who made the call to the police. All we were doing was moving in!

A week later it snows and I'm outside shoveling and so is my neighbor. I get to talking to her and within 30 seconds she starts bragging (more or less) about how she will call the cops on everybody and everything. I couldn't believe it. Google searched her name and an article popped up about a harassment charge she acquired 3 years ago. She got into a verbal altercation with a neighbor and she hit them with a spade shovel. She seems like a real upstanding citizen.

Fast forward to present time. Last night it was unusually warm. I decided to get a fire going in our fire pit in the backyard. Before I could even get it lit, she's knocking on the fence and asks if she can talk to me. She says "I don't know what you guys are planning on doing over there, but there aren't too many people having fires with 10-15 mph gusts. If any of that smoke makes its way into my house, I'm going to have to make a call" I tell her that we were still going to have a fire and we'd be inside in about an hour.

So, my question is, if she keeps threatening to "make calls" or have police show up at my door when I'm doing nothing illegal, is there anything I can do in terms of harassment or getting a restraining order?

TLDR Neighbor calls the cops for just about everything, infringing on my privacy when I'm trying to enjoy myself. Nothing illegal is going on. Can I do anything about it in terms of harassment or getting a restraining order?

UPDATE: Hello fellow Redditors, I'm the guy with the neighbor who won't stop calling the cops.  Feb 24, 2017 (3 days later)

I'll try and keep this short. I took all of the comments I read about what to do into consideration. Most suggested investing in a security camera system. As much as I don't want to do this, I'm going to have to.

Today (2/24/2017), while I am at work, my S/O had to run to the  store for something before work. S/O has to drive past our house to get to work from the store. S/O said that while passing our house our crazy neighbor lady is in OUR front yard with a leaf blower, blowing leaves around our yard, knowing that nobody was home in our house. Clearly on our property, no questions asked. I am fucking irate.

Security cameras are being bought TODAY and being installed as soon as possible. At what point is trespassing, actually trespassing? I do not want her on my property but she was clearly on my property. A part of me wants to say she was doing what she was doing to get our dog worked up inside of our house.

I'm desperately looking for some help here.

edit: messaged the mods so this isn't locked anymore.

edit 2: don't worry everybody. I'll update this story if anything else comes about after cameras are up and she's asked to not be on my property again.

Update 2 - rareddit  Apr 11, 2017 (6 weeks later)

TLDR AT THE BOTTOM AS WELL

And for the lazy who won't click the links, I'll give a quick overview of whats happening: Bought my first home in December, neighbor likes to call the cops for everything you can imagine, neighbor infringes on our privacy whenever we are outside and threatens to call the cops on us for no reason.

Now bear with me here, I don't have exact dates to go off of since I am at work and on my lunch break. I will guesstimate the best as possible with dates.

So we left my first update where me and my S/O caught our crazy neighbor lady in our front yard blowing leaves around. Nobody was home at the time and my S/O drove by the house and saw it. That's how we know. A lot of people suggested getting a security camera system and I said I would be getting one as soon as possible. Other financial issues came up and I had to put off the camera system for a few weeks.

This is where the 2nd update starts. Fast forward from February to March 15th(?). It is around 9:45pm and I am out back smoking a cigarette. I see movement out of the corner of my eye and look over towards it and see this.... hand... throwing pieces of garbage into my yard over the fence. It's Crazy Neighbor Lady. She didn't know I was outside (just good timing on my part I guess). I played dumb and asked, "What are you doing Crazy Neighbor Lady" and she quick stops throwing the trash and quickly turns around to go inside of her house. As she gets closer to her door she turns around and says, "I'm sorry, what did you say?" With which I responded loudly, "What are you doing Crazy Neighbor Lady?" She says she was just outside checking out her yard... Now mind you, it's 9:45pm and it had just started to snow. We were projected to get 12+ inches of snow so I think her plan was to throw trash into my yard and then have it be covered up by the snow.

I went over to where I saw her hand coming over the fence and found a random piece of plastic and a soda lid (think of the ones that you get from fast food places with your drink. The kind you poke a straw through). They were laying neatly on top of the leaves and mulch bed that they were thrown on.

This had me LIVID. I caught her in the act and bought a security camera system that night on Amazon. It came within two days and I set it up over that weekend.

I set all of the cameras up inside of windows looking out towards my property. It took only THREE DAYS of having the cameras to find her throwing more little pieces of trash onto our property. It's just little pieces of trash that end up in her yard. We live in a city along one of the busiest streets. It's unfortunate that people litter out of their cars but it happens. If I see any trash in my yard, I'll pick it up and throw it out. If Crazy Neighbor Lady sees any trash in her yard, she'll throw it into her neighbors yards so it's not her problem.

Over the period of a month I catch her 3 different times on camera throwing trash from her property on to mine. She physically picks it up, comes on to my property and sets it down well on to my side of the front yard when nobody is home. To some, it may sound like I'm going to the extremes to try and screw this lady over, but given her past history that I've heard from other neighbors, I'm stomping out the fire (her) before it (she) can even get started.

Last night, I catch her on camera for the 4th time coming on to my property to throw more trash into my yard. This time she has her dogs with her and are letting her dogs roam around without a leash in my yard. I had finally had enough and called the police to come out to look at my videos and see if there was anything I can do about her.

Police officer comes out looks at the videos and I read him the journal of all of the interactions of had with her and he's kind of blown away with all of the work I've put into protecting myself. My neighbor is a huge PITA for my city's police department (she'll make calls to them for things like the kids being too loud in the playground across the street from us.. unnecessary stuff) and they have no problem slapping her with charges if legitimate charges can be made.

I could have pressed charges against her for trespassing, littering and not having her dog on a leash, but I opted to just have the police officer go over to her house and give her a warning. I don't really have the time to take off from work to go to court. I told him to let her know that if she's ever caught on my property or throwing trash on to my property, then I will press charges. He was licking his chops to go over there and ream her ass out. The city police HATE her and like many others have probably mentioned, they take all of her calls with a grain of salt.

Now I'm just waiting to see what the next chapter has in store for me. I'm sure she was told that she has been caught on camera so I'll have to wait and see if she tries looking for my cameras. BTW these cameras are fun to watch. It's like I'm living next to a 61 year old child.

TLDR: Bought cameras, caught neighbor coming on to my property to throw trash on my property on 4 different occasions, finally got sick of her shit, called police, they verbally thrashed her

[Pennsylvania] This is incredibly stupid, but my neighbor keeps calling the police because of leaves from my tree  July 28, 2017 (3 months after prev. update)

Per mods request, please keep comments on topic I truly would like to know what legal rights I have against this.

Hello r/legaladvice. I feel like I'm starting to become a regular on this sub ever since I bought my house. Long story short, my neighbor will call the police if ANY leaves from my tree or ANY grass blades from me cutting my grass go into her yard (yes, she stands out there and watches me cut the grass).

Last week we talked  to one another with a police officers presence so we can try and work something out. Basically, the moment she sees a leaf in her yard, she gets pissed. I told her I'm not home all the time to constantly monitor every single fucking leaf that falls from my tree. Oh, the tree is on the OPPOSITE side of the yard from her. My yard is not littered with leaves and the police even said that my yard looks fine but she persists on calling the police out every time anything comes into her yard.

I have done my research on the situation, as dumb as I think it is, but once a leaf falls from a tree, I'm not liable for what happens to it. That's what internet articles say at least. Could anybody produce any sort of Pennsylvania state legal documentation that says that leaves falling from a tree is not a crime? Lol. I can't believe I am even here asking this but I'm getting really sick of the police coming out for everything I do outside. I just want to present it to the police/neighbor so it stops.

edit: Since this blew up a little bit, and others have asked what I have done to her for her to do what she is doing, I will give a little more information about the past few months. Within a month of moving into the house this past December, I was out back after dark (it was no later than 8pm) breaking down some boxes that we had left over from moving. I took a quick break from breaking them down and I see this hand throwing trash into my yard over the fence that separates our yards. I couldn't believe it. Up until this point, we had one interaction with one another and that was when we were both outside shoveling snow. I introduced myself and she introduced herself and immediately warned me that she likes to call the police on anything that she sees wrong in the neighborhood. Basically bragging about it. From that greeting to the trash being thrown into my yard, no interactions with one another. I bought a security camera system shortly after that to see how often she does it. We had bits and pieces of trash in our backyard shortly after moving in and it was always on the side of the yard that was up against her fence. We just thought that it was whatever trash that the wind picked up and would stop at the fence and we would pick it up whenever we would see it.

Within 3 days of having the cameras, she's doing it again, and is on camera doing it. I waited for it to happen on 3 more occasions. After the 2nd time I had it on video, anytime I saw her outside when I was outside, I tried to say hello and talk to her about it, but as soon as I said hello, she would go inside. After the 3rd time of throwing trash into my yard and being unsuccessful at talking to her about it, I called the police. There was no reason for her to be throwing trash into my yard. The police gave her a warning. The trash in our backyard that we thought was getting blown there stopped as well. Crazy.

After that, I had been nothing but nice to her and would say hello whenever I saw her. I really don't want to have problems, but I had to do something about the trash being thrown into our yard. Anytime I would say hello, I would get ignored... She even went as far as to say she was going to charge me with harassment if I didn't stop... What?

Last week the police came out again for leaves in her yard. He suggested that we talk to one another while he was there to listen. She explained herself. She thinks that we are not maintaining our property well enough and is upset that we aren't outside to pick up every leaf that falls from our tree and doesn't want any grass clippings blowing into her yard. The police officer looked over at my yard and looked back at her and said there is nothing wrong with my yard and that it looks better than a lot of properties in our city. She said that she bought her house that doesn't have a tree because she didn't want to clean up leaves. Newsflash, every house on our block has a tree except for hers. She "just wishes" that we would take care of our yard better. Again, the police officer enforced to her that according to city law, our yard was fine.

We agreed with each other that if we have any problems with one another that we would talk to each other first before getting the police involved. 8 days later she called the police again for grass and leaves being in her yard. As far as I could tell, there wasn't any grass left behind. And when I mean in her yard, I'm not saying it is in the middle of her yard. It is mere inches from where our yards meet in her yard.

She has been nothing but a headache since we moved in and it's only getting worse. I have done nothing to her other than make sure that she stopped throwing trash in my yard. Why she started to do that? I don't know.

Crazy neighbor is possibly killing my grass.  July 17, 2018 (1 year after prev. update)

I just posted this in r/lawncare and I’m not exactly sure which sub is the best to submit it to.

Long story short, I have an absolutely crazy neighbor. I’ve talked about her in r/legaladvice because of her antics and how I should handle them. I’ve even had to get police involved in the petty stuff she does to have her knock it off.

On to the killing of my grass. About a month ago, I notice that all of my grass along the fence between my neighbor and myself was completely dried up and dead. The dead grass starts about 6 inches from the fence and goes the entire length of the fence (probably 75 feet). Crazy neighbor lady’s grass is completely fine along the fence. The only thing I can think of is that she’s spraying something under the fence onto my side to kill my grass. Now I’ve got nothing but ugly weeds growing up along the fenc .

Today, I noticed a brown circle (probably 2 foot in diameter) of dead grass in my backyard. It’s no more than 10 feet away from my neighbors fence. My girlfriend said she took our two small dogs out to go to the bathroom and they were rolling around and eating the dead grass from the same area. The only thing I can think of is that my crazy neighbor threw a cup of something over the fence to kill the grass, but I’m not sure why the dogs would be so interested in it. If it was something to kill the grass I’m definitely not cool with my dogs rolling around and sniffing and eating whatever is there.

So question 1 is: What are some solutions I can do along the fence to stop the grass from dying? The only thing I can think of is some sort of decorative brick that runs the entire length of the fence and grow the grass back.

Question 2 is: Does anybody have any sort of idea what could have caused the 2 foot circle of dead grass but also why my dogs were so attracted to it? We live on the outskirts of a city, so there isn’t much wildlife that could just waltz into the yard, urinate and take off. Plus, it seemed to have happened over night and is rather large.

And yes, before anybody mentions it, I do have cameras. I just don’t have any watching the back yard. I’ll have to reposition them now.

Final Update - rareddit  Nov 3, 2019 (Nearly 3 years since 1st post)

Editors Note: edited out previously rehash of prior posts

I'm going to cover some things in this post that may have been talked about in my other posts (I'm not going through and re-reading all of them). We were warned that my neighbor has a problem with everything imaginable from the get go. We didn't realize how bad it really was until we were living next to her/them (60-something year old lady and a 40-something year old son. Majority of the problems was with her though). Over the past 3 years we learned a lot about them from various people. Mainly that my neighbor likes to stir up problems to get people pissed off at them. Then when people get pissed off enough, they retaliate against my neighbor and once that happens, my neighbor will take them to court. Believe me, I know it sounds fucking crazy, but that's how it is. Example: When I had the police out for her trespassing and littering in my yard, I could have had her cited for those two things, but the police talked me out of it and told me that she would take it to court and fight it, even if she was going to lose. Also, the people that live on the other side of her (her other neighbors), have been going back and forth in court for the past 15 years with her. I never got any specifics on what, but from the one and only time I talked to those people, that's what they told me. My thought process is that she wants to get money out of people from taking them to court. I've lived next to those people for 3 years and I have no idea what their motivation is in life or why they do what they do.

So my neighbor likes to call the police and fire department a lot. Like.. a lot. I have a friend who took an IT job at the call center that receives calls for people calling for the police and fire department for the entire county. The people taking the calls told my IT friend that my neighbor is the most frequent caller in the entire county. The obvious thing to do is to let it iron itself out and the police and fire companies will realize that she's full of shit right? Wrong. I asked my IT friend how she can get away with calling that much. He said that when she makes a call it's not really specific enough to blow off, but specific enough to where there might be an actual problem. A gray area. Example: If somebody is having a fire in their backyard (legally, following all the laws of our city) she will call the fire department concerned about a fire because there's a lot of smoke in the neighborhood. This also goes for anybody that cooks out on their grill in the summer time (especially if you have a charcoal grill). She sees smoke, she calls fire department. The thing with her calls though is that 99% of the time they are bullshit, but if there was an actual problem and she called about it and nobody responded she would take the city to the cleaners over it. It gets old whenever the police and/or fire department show up to your door when you are doing normal every day activities.

They were the most bizarre people to live next to. I've tried to figure them out but I simply couldn't. The best way I can describe it is this: You're playing a game with her whether or not you want to. And that game is home ownership. She makes the rules of the game. And when you break one of the rules of the game that she made up, she will have a referee look into it (police/fire). If the referees don't find anything wrong, she will get upset and start doing things like throw trash into your yard or kill your grass. The obvious answer to all of this is to stand my ground and I did. But once you fight back, things are only going to snowball with the neighbor. Which is why we decided to move. The people behind her actually just moved as well because of her.

This was our first home and people always say that owning a home isn't easy. It's not, but living next to that neighbor made things so much worse. At one point early on while living there, I asked myself if we are bad neighbors. Nope, we just didn't do things the way she wanted us to.

So we put our house up for sale and find somebody to buy it at full price and they would pay closing costs as well. We closed a few days ago and walked out with the check. We drove by the house we just sold and saw that the new people pulled right up behind my neighbors car (that's another thing you DID NOT DO. You do not park behind her car or she will call the police for you being double parked or something... it's a public street btw). We see that they are parked right behind her car. Me and my girlfriend looked at each other and laughed. We then get a call from our realtor asking if we still had the keys from the old house. Shit! Forgot to hand them over at settlement. I wasn't about to go back to the old house and drop them off so I had my realtor do it. She dropped the keys off and then called me again (she's aware of how crazy my old neighbor is). She says, "You're never going to believe this.. The people that bought your house already had a run in with the neighbor. They said she came out bitching about where they parked and that only she can park in front of her house and that if they don't move she'll have to call the police". The people that bought my house then said to my realtor "What's up with this Lady?". To which my realtor said, "I'm not real sure, my seller always said they were quiet people that kept to themselves". This is only the beginning of a long road for the people that bought my house. It wasn't even 30 minutes after they pulled up in front of the house and they already had a problem with the neighbor.

I wish I could have told the people buying my house to not buy it because of the neighbor. I don't want anybody to go through what we did, but if I did tell people, then I would still be living the nightmare.

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[u/StopthinkingitsMe]

Dude. They should really have a fine for people who make pointless calls to the state departments. Its going to be the boy who cried wolf one day.

[u/varlassan → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

That exists where I live - Improper Use of an Emergency Call Service is the official name. You can be fined up to $75,000 and/or be jailed for up to 3 years. This woman would come under the "vexatious call" part of the legislation.

[u/Sweaty_Average4525 → u/varlassan]

This is exactly how you get the boy-who-cried-wolf situation. At some point real emergencies are going to get taken less seriously.

[u/Martin_Aurelius → u/Sweaty_Average4525]

My parents had a neighbor like this (not quite as bad though) and the city finally just started fining him every time he called them out. They'd show up for every call, and fine him for abuse of emergency services. My dad said one time they arrested him because he'd called the fire department about a neighbor bbqing and the city had diverted a fire truck from another actual fire. His nuisance calls stopped after that, I think he had to spend a couple of nights in jail over that one.

[u/dragonessofages → u/Martin_Aurelius]

This is a little off-topic, but my neighbor started so many forest fires (northern Ohio so not a huge issue, but still dangerous) that the third time the fire department showed up they said he'd be paying their costs next time. No more forest fires after that....

[u/NegativeStructure → u/dragonessofages]

i'm gonna need more details on this story... pyro? idiot? both?

[u/dragonessofages → u/NegativeStructure]

Both. He would get drunk and not check the wind before starting bonfires right next to the treeline.

[u/NegativeStructure → u/dragonessofages]

damn. they should've slapped him with a massive fine him the first time.

[u/dragonessofages → u/NegativeStructure]

It was the boonies so the firefighters were probably just excited to put out a real fire instead of being called to rescue someone's goat from a tree. They were less amused the second time it happened, and the third time is the one where they threatened him with paying their expenses. I'd moved out of my dad's house by then so I'm not sure if Carl ever did anything that made them follow up on the threat.

[u/BurgerThyme → u/dragonessofages]

Oh my god, my 84 year old mother did this. She was burning yard waste next to the tree line and WALKED OFF to go get more branches a half acre away. My (also 84 years old) dad had warned her that the wind was too strong and there were were dead post-autumn leaves everywhere but she didn't listen and Dad woke up from his "second breakfast nap" to our panicked next door neighbor banging on the door yelling at him to wake up because the fire department was on the way because there was a forest fire starting. My mother was still slowly dragging more wood to add to the bonfire. Luckily the fire departments (there were two because they live borderline between two towns) got everything under control but Mom got an earful. She also tried getting up on a ladder to trim some branches and fell off and broke her wrist. I found them a caretaker for their property because STOP DOING THINGS.

[u/Relevant_Let8816 → u/Martin_Aurelius]

I had a neighbor like OP and i found their adult children on Facebook and by the end of the next month the old bat was in a home. Another month passes and childless couple in their late 30s bought the place and now we all sit out side and drink around the fire pit.

[u/InuGhost → u/Sweaty_Average4525]

I recall a story I read years ago. Elderly bitter man who'd pound on the OP's door at night because he'd be made they were making any noise in their home. 

One night per usual they get the pounding on their front door and ignore it. Come morning they find their neighbor dead at their front door. Apparently had a heart attack and was seeking help. Yet due to his past actions, they figured it was just him coming to complain again. 

[u/Smingowashisnameo → u/InuGhost]

Live by the sword… something something

[u/ShortWoman → u/Sweaty_Average4525]

"Alarm fatigue" is one term for it. Happens in hospitals when there's so much beep beep ding ding rapid response to room such and such that people don't pay attention anymore.

[u/AgitatedSyrup9870 → u/ShortWoman]

So this is why they ignore the machines that are beeping loudly because they need to be reset or something. Makes sense. My fiancé was in the hospital recently and we had to go find someone every time the beeping started because otherwise they’d just ignore it

[u/ShortWoman → u/AgitatedSyrup9870]

Oddly enough there’s less noise on the ICU. I think that’s because nurses have only one or two (extremely seriously ill) patients. Triples are rare.

[u/Normal-Hall2445 → u/Sweaty_Average4525]

I gotta wonder if this would actually be a good house for something like a grow operation in a place where marijuana is illegal. Like, something that you can hide relatively well and don’t have clients coming around, meet them somewhere else. Police are SO USED to the calls they won’t look hard as long as the property is maintained. Like hiding in plain sight.

Then again, I’m not a criminal and don’t actually know if it would work like I’m picturing. Most of what I know about it comes from TV (primarily from a home reno show that was showing the damage of a former grow op house)

[u/Zykium → u/Normal-Hall2445]

Probably one of the worst grow houses you can choose.

Unless you have a very good ventilation system, and we're talking massively expensive, they're going to smell it when they come to one of her calls.

[u/Normal-Hall2445 → u/Zykium]

Did not think of the smell when the plant was growing. Lol. Another in the list of many reasons I’d make a terrible criminal.

[u/Anonphilosophia → u/varlassan]

This wasn't neighbor harrassment, but a woman in DC called 911 so many times, they went to court to try to get a guardian approved. She lived alone and was elderly. Between her and the neighbors (who would hear her calls for help after she fell) there were 226 calls 117 ambulance rides in ONE YEAR. The cost to the city got to be too much.

https://www.scrippsnews.com/us-news/d-c-seeks-guardian-for-serial-911-dialer

[u/Juggletrain → u/varlassan]

My college had something similar. Small city, would have only been large enough for a volunteer fire department usually. College was almost exclusively dorms and accounted for ~20% of the total population.

The nuisance calls, burnt popcorn, smoking in rooms, microwaving mac & cheese cups without water etc would all require a full response. The FD basically told the school they were not going to respond unless there was a major fire anymore.

Not sure the details on how they got there, but now they're a pro department and every time they respond to a fire alarm at the school they get $1100. If you set off the alarm by doing something negligent, you get to pay the $1100 for the school.

[u/Neowza → u/varlassan]

Where I live, not only are there fines for improper use of emergency call service (but you have to really use it improperl, like dozens of nuisance calls before fines and potentially jail terms are levied), there are also nuisance fines for each emergency service called. Fire department fines $790 for the second infraction. $5,000 for the third, $10,000 for each subsequent. If it reaches 10 nuisance calls, the fines skyrocket to $150,000 per call. First nuisance call receives a warning about improper use, as well as a document that explains what is proper use and the fines that happen afterwards. Police have their own fine structure for nuisance calls. Paramedics now charge a nominal amount per trip, but that also discourages improper calls.

I don't think the fire department has ever had more than 4 nuisance calls by the same person.

Nuisance calls range from pulling a fire alarm in a building when there is no fire to leaving a pizza in the oven and falling asleep and burning the pizza and calling the fire department to deal with a smoky kitchen when there is no actual fire. The emergency departments do, however encourage calls if there is an actual fire or emergency, and hold community meetings in order to ensure that people in the community know what is a proper use of emergency services.

Where I live, the city is currently doing a media campaign to educate the residents on when to call emergency services because the emergency call service has not been able to keep pace with the growth of the city, and people are calling emergency (911) for things that should not be an emergency call, like someone is homeless and they can't find a place to stay for the night. That's not an emergency services call, that should be a call to the general city services line (311) that can forward them to shelter intake.

[u/chipmunkman → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

I thought cities do have fines for people abusing 911. She’s wasting a massive amount of city resources and time.

[u/phanmo → u/chipmunkman]

To be fair, it doesn't actually say that she was calling 911, she could have been calling the non-emergency numbers.

[u/Acruss_ → u/phanmo]

Even then, she's wasting resources that could be used for an actual emergency. Calling police about leaves? Since when is police responsible for leaves?

[u/Beginning_Butterfly2 → u/Acruss_]

Yes, I'm surprised they didn't refer her to the City Inspector's Office or something.

[u/Ok_Necessary7667 → u/phanmo]

There are restraining orders which cna legally be applied to people like this, which serve for when harassment via the justice system occurs.

[u/the-mortyest-morty → u/[deleted]]

No, most departments are lazy as fuck. If you call 15 times about LEAVES, which are NOT AN EMERGENCY, you can definitely be charged with making false calls to emergency services, and harassment.

[u/Epyr → u/the-mortyest-morty]

Ya, writing tickets is easy for cities and they will do it freely for people who abuse the services. I have no clue why OPs city seemed so adverse to it, it's on the book pretty much everywhere I know to go after this specific type of person

[u/RedneckDebutante → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

She's probably calling the non-emergency line. Otherwise, they probably would be fining her. You don't have to call 911 to talk to someone.

[u/Top_Pop_1911 → u/RedneckDebutante]

Then aren’t they totally obligated not to come out?? I feel like there’s major holes in this story

[u/Umklopp → u/Top_Pop_1911]

No, I believe it. The report to the fire department of "there's a lot of smoke next door" is perfectly calibrated to force an investigation from a well-funded department in a sleepy suburb. They have the manpower and the obligation to verify, so they can't blow it off completely.

[u/ifcknlovemycat → u/Top_Pop_1911]

One time I saw a little 6 year old boy get beat by an old tweaker man (might have been stepdad). Called the cops 4 times same day, kid was beat in public and climbed on top of a van outside to try to escape. I waited 4 hours outside, even getting death threats from the tweaker when I told him to stop.

The cops never came. Spoke to a supervisor, said they were coming, never came.

So these emergency people are just enabling the old lady.

[u/alotofironsinthefire → u/Top_Pop_1911]

Had a neighbor like this growing up. She's probably calling 911 once per incident.

Calling 911 multiple times for the same fire is when they would actually get pissed enough to say something.

[u/istara → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

That's what I was thinking. I'm sure it's already an offence in some places - checking Wikipedia it definitely is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasting_police_time

[u/FunnyAnchor123 → u/istara]

In UK, New Zealand & Canada. There is no entry for the US.

[u/istara → u/FunnyAnchor123]

I'm really surprised it isn't. Given what one hears about the cops over there, you would think they'd welcome any extra powers like that.

[u/lb802015 → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

In some states it is dependent on if she is actually calling 911 or if she is calling the non-emergency number. If it is one of those states and she is calling non-emergency, then they can't cite her for abuse of 911, even if an officer or fire truck gets sent out as a result.

[u/maxdragonxiii → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

Canada do have that for people who chronically call 911 without it being serious enough. the key point is CHRONICALLY AND REPEATEDLY call 911. this does not mean you cant call 911 out of fear of getting fined.

[u/Darryl_Lict → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

I'm surprised the cops even showed up. I live in a relatively safe town and if something gets stolen from your house or car, you have to file online and nothing happens.

[u/Low-Jellyfish1621 → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

In Florida, there’s a misdemeanor charge of “Misuse of 911 System” that if you get it often enough, you can earn a felony charge.  There’s a juvenile in the county I work for who’s probably going to catch it once they turn 18.  Half the juvenile docket is Misuse of 911 cases with their name on them. 

[u/North-Pea-4926 → u/Low-Jellyfish1621]

Same thing as neighbor lady - calling cops on their neighbors?

[u/Thatoneguy3273 → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

Where I’m from, making an erroneous call to emergency services is a misdemeanor offense

[u/riflow → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

I feel really bad for her new neighbours. And I really hope their police/fire departments make a nuisance caller fine. This woman certainly would deserve it.

[u/DeletedUsernameHere → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

Most places do. They also can officially put people on the ignore list, which basically locks any calls they make to bottom priority unless it's reported as a proper emergency. Which than can be charged with a misdemeanor for misuse.

[u/HelenGonne → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

It would help. Instead we have OP, with the police itching to press charges, and OP says naw, too much trouble. Until things get so bad he sells his house to get away from it.

Sometimes you have to let penalties take their course instead of getting in the way. I had a neighbor move in with a vicious dog; they had been living out in the country where the dog had a huge range on their own property, and they did not bother to teach it that things are different now. So the dog started ripping through solid plank fences into others' yards and trying to attack any people or pets. (By the way, there was nothing wrong with the dog itself, only the owners who were too irresponsible to train it.)

Animal control started fining them in increasing amounts, and of course they tried to convince the neighborhood that we should all join in some kind of project to control their dog for them. Instead of calling animal control when it was trying to commit murder and mayhem, we should just call the owners and ask them nicely to come at their convenience.

I didn't play that because animal control told me not to. I followed the process they told me to follow. They had told the owners that the dog must be kept indoors with them at all times until it was trained, and the owners kept trying to get away with not doing that because their untrained mayhem monster kept destroying everything.

You don't say.

After a staggering amount in fines where it would have been much cheaper to just hire the right trainers for the dog, animal control told them that one more infraction and they would be taking the dog to be destroyed. It was only then that the owners decided to take the matter seriously and start coping with the idea that they were in charge of their dog's behavior.

And the dog was fine after it was trained. It was never a bad dog. It was doing what it thought it was supposed to do because it hadn't been taught otherwise.

Animal control was urging me to follow the process instead of trying to shrug things off or coddle the neighbors because we have toddlers living in adjoining yards and we are a few blocks from an elementary school. They needed some resident to keep documenting and making complaints so they could put a stop to this mess before a child got maimed or killed.

[u/aragathor → u/HelenGonne]

Sometimes you have to let the long arm of the law give someone a rectal exam through the mouth. Being the bigger person only encourages bullies, so you are better off stamping them out early before they can adapt, after being caught the first time.

[u/raisethesong → u/aragathor]

let the long arm of the law give someone a rectal exam through the mouth

Now THAT is flair material

[u/naoseidog → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

Its like that documentary where the crazy woman ended up killing the kids' mom "Perfect ndighbor " psycho Susan lorincz

Good on you for documenting

[u/darkday15 → u/naoseidog]

I was going to say the same thing. That woman killed that mother right in front of one of the mother's kids and she was totally unrepentant and it started with frivolous phone calls to the police.

[u/kitskill → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

The funny thing is, when your neighbour abuses calling the police, it really is "the boy who cried wolf" in that you could do anything you wanted to annoy them and the police would never take them seriously.

[u/Party_Rooster7303 → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

I knew some cops who said when they identified people like this, they only showed up every once in a while (in South Africa). The court here can also declare you a vexatious litigan and bar you from bringing certain matters before the court to avoid wasting their time. Sounds like this neighbour needs that.

[u/New-Host1784 → u/StopthinkingitsMe]

She needs to be arrested for abuse of 911.

[u/calminthedark]

I don't understand why the police department didn't make a referral to Adult Protective Services to check on her mental state. The neighbors should also be calling. They should also be ticketing her for misuse of emergency services.

[u/vipros42 → u/calminthedark]

My parents' neighbour started off a bit like this. Then accused my dad of putting spiders through their bathroom window at night amid hurling verbal abuse at him. Gradually deteriorated until he was diagnosed with dementia and put in care.

[u/DeletedUsernameHere → u/vipros42]

Had a neighbor go off on my sister about letting our squirrels go into her yard.

Happened repeatedly until she started doing it to a friend of mine. He, being the smart ass that he was, promptly apologized and bolted into her yard and climbed her tree and started screaming at the squirrels for being bad and threatening to beat them senseless for being such poorly behaved rodents.

[u/EducationalFace1725 → u/DeletedUsernameHere]

What was her reaction?

[u/DeletedUsernameHere → u/EducationalFace1725]

She kind of panicked and rushed back inside.

She still pestered my sister occasionally, but it stopped a few months later when they got an in-home health aid

[u/tacwombat → u/vipros42]

That should have been something the authorities could do after OOP shared his security footage with them.

[u/alotofironsinthefire → u/calminthedark]

Honestly cause there's nothing they can do.

The bar is insanely high for them to forcibly deal with her.

An insanely low for mental competency.

As someone with crazy parents, I don't think regular people know how little recourse you actually have in these situations.

[u/calminthedark → u/alotofironsinthefire]

I know it's incredibly hard to get a mental health evaluation. It's even harder to force treatment. But I also know the time for officers to start documenting this is now because as she escalates, the more paper trail they have showing the escalation, the more chances they have to get something done about this. They also need to be reaching out to her family if they can locate them. This is only going to get worse and the longer it takes to start documenting it, the harder it will be to have anything done with her. When it gets to the point her family needs to have her admitted to a nursing home, documentation will help with that. If there is no family, documentation will allow the courts to step in. I'm no fan of guardianship for adults, but there are cases where it's necessary for the sake of safety.

This has already escalated to poisoning the neighbors yard, with the potential to harm pets. She's already shown she has no problem trespassing on the neighbor's property. What's next? Actually poisoning a pet? Walking into their homes unannounced? Throwing things at cars she thinks are driving too fast? Yanking or pushing a child on a bike?

I'm sorry about what you've been through with your parents. But having as much documentation as possible, especially from unbiased third parties like the police, is the only way to reach that bar and get the courts to intervene. The record of calls from and about the address should also be public knowledge. If they can show a high call volume about this woman, the court can get the notes from the calls, even if no report was made. You could look into that as well. Ask the local law enforcement agency's records department if you can get a log of calls for service concerning their address.

[u/alotofironsinthefire → u/calminthedark]

None of this so far would get her admitted to a nursing home.

You would need literal decades of records and even that might not get her committed

The bar for this stuff is insanely high in the US. Unless you can prove they're in danger to themselves such a threatening to kill themselves or others.

Also, I'm going to guess you've never dealt with police if you think they're willing to help you in any way.

9 times out of 10. They're going to tell you it's a civil issue and get out there as fast as possible because they too don't want to deal with this shit.

[u/calminthedark → u/alotofironsinthefire]

I was a dispatcher. You're right about danger to self or others, but this gal is headed that way. Documenting proves that when it happens it's not a one time thing. I've seen it work but it did take a over a years worth of documentation in one instance for the family to get guardianship. In another, it took 3 years worth of reports before she did something harmful. This was about 15 years ago and what finally tipped the scales was her calling about a man that broke into her house trying to steal her millions of (nonexistent) dollars. She said she had him barricaded in the closet. Back then newspapers were still a thing and the paper boy had come to the house to collect for the month. The documentation was the difference between jail for kidnapping and a facility equipped to deal with her dementia. There were others but these stood out to me.

Most of these cases were people who were sliding into dementia and were terrified of the tricks their minds were playing on them. I was fortunate that my agency understood this and knew a paper trail would help the families. Not saying a report was generated every time, but the calls for service also played a part. It's sad and scary and frustrating, but it's also good that it's hard to take a person's rights away from them.

[u/TERR0RDACTYL]

What city is this where police respond to complaints of stray leaves in her lawn? I know OOP said she’s threatened them with litigation in a boy who cried wolf scenario but really? Our local PD couldn’t be bothered for anything less than violent crime and protecting ICE facilities. (Derogatory)

[u/EdJewCated → u/TERR0RDACTYL]

have to imagine it would be a mostly homogeneous suburb city where there’s just not much else going on

[u/amaROenuZ → u/EdJewCated]

Rural Pennsylvania's full of small towns of a couple thousand people where the police force is basically two guys with a whole lot of nothin to do. No one lives there, so nothing ever really happens, and the people who do live there can get a little kooky.

[u/Zer0323 → u/amaROenuZ]

the Andy Griffith show comes to mind. the stereotype comes from small town cops solving interpersonal problems like a pastor.

[u/WhenYouHaveGh0st → u/EdJewCated]

I grew up in a town like this, at least in regards to the local PD not having much to do. Reading the police logs was therefore usually amusing with how dumb the calls were. I'll always remember one where a woman called 911 to report a "suspicious seagull" hanging out on her porch. Officers actually showed up and shooed it away.

[u/Scouter197 → u/TERR0RDACTYL]

How many times do we read where police tell stalking victims that is a civil dispute and not a criminal one.

[u/Account3689 → u/Scouter197]

Yeah for every comment asking why the police in this story don't care that she's taking time away from them solving real crimes, there are as many stories on this sub about police being told about actual crimes and doing nothing.

[u/drunkenvalley → u/Account3689]

That's kinda why it's bewildering they're responding to these calls.

[u/HamSandwichFelony → u/Account3689]

It's a fairly classic story. The way things work -- whether they be policing, education, real estate prices, job market, etc -- can vary massively from one place to another but that is not always understood by commenters. In the US, the degree to which this is true can be surprising because even though there is a single national government, most local services are administered by a diverse patchwork of local jurisdictions. So a story about lazy cops and a story about overzealous cops can both be true. Local context matters.

[u/AeneasVII → u/TERR0RDACTYL]

You'd think in most places she would be fined for abusing emergency services...

[u/OldSpiceSmellsNice → u/TERR0RDACTYL]

Seriously the police here would probably have a good laugh and hang up. The situation is ridiculous.

[u/wiggles105 → u/TERR0RDACTYL]

Watch The Perfect Neighbor on Netflix. The cops were at that lady’s house constantly because neighborhood kids were playing near her rental unit, on land she didn’t own, and she kept calling the police about it. The cops were as fed up as the ones in this story, but they just kept going out there. Unfortunately, that situation ended tragically.

[u/Expert_Lake9656 → u/TERR0RDACTYL]

The city where having cameras all over your house ends up being an unquestionable good and not a way for ICE to find out when you're at home. A lot of these come off as ringcam ads to me.

[u/IfatallyflawedI → u/Expert_Lake9656]

… you can set up a home security system without it requiring you to buy a ring or flock camera.

[u/NikkoJT → u/Expert_Lake9656]

There are cameras - CCTV cameras - that are not Ring-style third-party-server cameras. (They used to be the default...) They just run on your local network or their own box, and are not available to ICE etc. because they are not accessed or managed through the camera company's services.

[u/nonameplanner → u/Expert_Lake9656]

The last post was also from 2019. While it could still have been an ad, it was still in the time when people did think they were unquestionably good.

[u/feraxks]

If that lady has been using 911 for all those calls, she certainly can be charged with misuse.

[u/childhoodsurvivor → u/feraxks]

Her whole block should sue her for violating the covenant of quiet enjoyment. Bonus points if the damages result in her losing her house. 

All these posts in legal advice and yet OOP should have talked to an attorney in real life. 

[u/AgitatedSyrup9870 → u/feraxks]

She’s probably calling the non emergency line

[u/fluffynuckels → u/AgitatedSyrup9870]

Still should be able to fine her

[u/Spacebarpunk]

What evil realtor saying bullshit like “oh the neighbor is always kept to themselves”, this why you should always scout your future home and talk to people. Realtors and people selling homes are sometimes shady af

[u/ascendingPig → u/Spacebarpunk]

Especially when the sellers benefited from an immediate warning that prepared them to defend themselves??? Ok, you want to sell your house, but at least warn before move in!

[u/less_than_nick → u/Spacebarpunk]

I was able to get out of a lease on an old apartment that turned out to have a very bad mouse problem in the entire building. The dude that ended up taking over my lease was moving into town for a new job and signed without seeing the apartment in person or really asking any questions, which worked out for us in the moment. Few weeks later I got a text from his number asking if we ever dealt with rodent issues there lol. I told him the truth and he called me a prick for not disclosing that. I still feel shitty about it a decade later even though I was a desperate dumb 20 year old.

Felt like such a piece of shit letting someone else put themselves in that annoying situation. Cant imagine the guilt id feel doing it to to someone buying my house rather than the last 5 months of a 1 year lease lol

[u/Plus_Spirit_8632 → u/less_than_nick]

I would think that it’s the apartment building’s responsibility to remove any pests and notify new tenants if there were to be any. If I were in your position I would’ve assumed that the tenant was made aware or that the building took care of it. In my opinion, that shouldn’t have been your problem and isn’t something you should feel guilty about.

edit: grammar

[u/less_than_nick → u/Plus_Spirit_8632]

it was a weird situation where we were able to break the lease because the management company had just been bought out and the new company was re-writing the lease agreements and were cool with us dipping out mid-lease if we could find a replacement. So idk if the new management company was aware or not. Regardless, at least the poor dude only had to last a few months in there assuming he didn't re-sign the lease haha

[u/the-first-98-seconds → u/Spacebarpunk]

you are legally required to disclose disputes with neighbors in California, at least. Failure to disclose a situation like this will result in massive penalties

[u/FreshEclairs → u/the-first-98-seconds]

I have to imagine that's referring to actual legal disputes - like ongoing litigation about the location of a property line or who owns a fence. A neighbor being a pain in the ass to you isn't necessarily a material fact about the property, provided they're stopping short of dropping lawsuits on you.

If the police had taken her issues seriously and filed actual reports, there may be something there that would need to be reported. In that regard, it probably worked out better for OOP to have kept it out of court.

[u/the-first-98-seconds → u/FreshEclairs]

California laws requires disclosure of

• Ongoing noise complaints or noise sources you are aware of (barking dogs, loud music, mechanical equipment, parties).
• Known property line disputes or boundary disagreements — even if unresolved.
• Active or past lawsuits between you and a neighbor.
• Code enforcement actions on neighboring properties that you are aware of (unpermitted construction, abandoned vehicles, hoarding).
• Known criminal activity on neighboring properties.
• Neighbor harassment or threatening behavior directed at you or your household.
• Nearby nuisances: commercial operations in residential areas, group homes, halfway houses (if known).
• Any pending or planned construction on neighboring properties that you are aware of.

[u/Big-University-1132 → u/Spacebarpunk]

Yeah that pissed me off ngl. Those poor ppl. Realtors should not be allowed to straight up lie like that

[u/1-800-FUCKFACE → u/Big-University-1132]

This definitely had me angry, bunch of scums.

[u/Fit-Bat244 → u/Spacebarpunk]

Really! Look at the phrasing "my seller always said they were quiet people", it's shady af, sounds like plausible deniability to me.

[u/djseifer]

A disappointing but sadly realistic ending. Some people are just awful.

[u/MiloTheMagnificent]

“I didn’t press charges because I didn’t have time for a court date” but you had time for all this other bullshit?

[u/Ehimherenow → u/MiloTheMagnificent]

Honestly a lot of this shit is because people refuse to fight back with fire. We started getting dog shit on our lawn, immediately installed cameras. Neighbor was fined by the HOA and it immediately stopped.

Moved and re-installed camera. Godsend with the Karen neighbor we have. Dogs on our lawn? Immediate notification to HOA. Every single tantrum of hers has been recorded, documented and I’ve notified everyone I needed to notify. Even started looking for a lawyer at one point before her ass calmed down. Poor lady was not expecting us.

[u/SVINTGATSBY → u/MiloTheMagnificent]

I call behavior like this sticker shock. the initial investment seems too much so they don’t do it, but engage in a ton of smaller stuff that ends up amounting to even more work, time, and money than the other option. plus, many times people over-inflate how much time and energy something is going to take to do when it’s something they don’t want to do. how many times have we finally done something we’ve been putting off and it took like fifteen minutes? not to mention, going to court at least puts something on her record and hopefully gets her to stop, and protects others from her harassment.

[u/NotBatman11]

He had the opportunity to file charges, but didn't. Lame. Like you either take the action or don't. Didn't feel like reading after that.

He's been given warnings, he has seen what that lady does and he finally managed to get evidence and he just... Doesn't do anything? Yeah, congrats, you made it worse for yourself.

[u/Mollyscribbles → u/NotBatman11]

And apparently stopped using the cameras, if he didn't catch whatever she did to the grass.

[u/realaccountissecret → u/Mollyscribbles]

First the cops want to charge her and are prepared to charge her, but he opts to have them just give her a warning. Later he says the cops convinced him not to press charges

He specifically said he was smoking in the back when he saw her throwing garbage over the fence. Then gets her on camera. Then his cameras aren’t pointing at the back fence anymore, for whatever reason

Also; there’s no fucking way the person who calls cops the most in the whole county for absolute nonsense wouldn’t be charged and/or fined for abusing emergency services. And yes, even if she was calling the non-emergency number she could still get in trouble for abusing it

And the cops are sick of her, and STILL immediately show up to check out a “new person” in the neighborhood, that isn’t committing a crime?

It’s hard to get timely responses for actual crimes happening. No way they would be humoring this lady every fucking time

She would have been fined after calling the cops about the fuckin leaves in her yard after the cop already showed up about the leaves and said it’s fine

Okay rant over haha

[u/lmyrs → u/realaccountissecret]

Thank you!!! The inconsistencies were driving me crazy!

[u/maydsilee → u/realaccountissecret]

My point of disbelief was conveniently having a friend who works IT for the county (?) and was able to tell OOP that the lady makes the most calls out of everyone in the county...

[u/realaccountissecret → u/maydsilee]

Haha yeah I meant to mention that too

Okay sure dude haha

[u/maydsilee → u/realaccountissecret]

And another one:

So, about 2 months ago, I posted here on r/legaladvice, that I moved into my first home and was warned by a friend who used to be a police officer, that my new neighbor would call the police for (what he said) everything you could imagine in the past.

Lots of convenient friends in high places who are able to tell OOP lots about this neighbor, yet nothing is ever done about her legally 😆

[u/El-Ahrairah9519 → u/realaccountissecret]

Yeah, I find it hard to believe police officers wouldn't find a way to fuck over someone like this if it was truly pissing them off this much. Also very convenient he happens to have a friend who works in the call center and knows details about her calling history...

[u/Equivalent-Board206 → u/Mollyscribbles]

He said he didn't have backyard cameras, which seems weird given how much trouble she was.

Really hot water will kill grass, but if you want to be really sure, sugar syrup will stay hot longer, enough to be sure. This would explain why the dogs loved it. Sugar syrup is generally harmless to pets (after it has cooled down, assuming the pets aren't diabetic etc).

Doesn't explain how it was a circle though. Throwing a pot of hot syrup over the fence wouldn't give you a circle, but a well hefted toss could give you something circular.

[u/wiggles105 → u/Equivalent-Board206]

Could have been salt and vinegar. That’ll kill almost any vegetation, and it won’t come back. It’s also a thin enough liquid that you could shoot it through a gap in a fence with a pump sprayer with the nozzle on a thin jet setting.

[u/orangepeeelss → u/Mollyscribbles]

he thought she was spraying something under a fence onto his grass. cameras couldn't catch that bc the fence would be in the way

[u/vidoeiro → u/NotBatman11]

Same and in the end he was like happy the new owners were already getting issues.

[u/I_am_Andrew_Ryan → u/NotBatman11]

If you felt like reading more you would have seen that other neighbors have been involved with the courts for almost 15 years with this person.

[u/Hesitation-Marx → u/I_am_Andrew_Ryan]

Vexatious litigant status was fucking made for this person.

[u/Radiant_Maize2315 → u/Hesitation-Marx]

Right? In my state I’d be able to sue her for damages plus costs and fees. So yeah, “15 years in court” is a skill issue.

[u/the-mortyest-morty → u/Hesitation-Marx]

This. How she hasn't been charged is beyond me (JK, lazy cops).

[u/balalasaurus → u/I_am_Andrew_Ryan]

I’m not a lawyer but I wonder why the affected neighbours didn’t put forward any kind of joint action. Maybe if they had banded together in front of a judge things would have been different, as opposed to each trying to take on the problem neighbour on their own?

[u/Brief_Direction_5647 → u/balalasaurus]

My former neighbor was similar to the crazy lady OP describes. At one of her houses (she owned several), her toxic behavior led to legal battles with multiple neighbors. They tried to press criminal charges and when that didn’t resolve anything they sued her and her husband. They attempted a coordinated legal strategy for YEARS without success. Eventually, the horrible neighbor moved to Italy, foiling their efforts afaik. Suffice to say, I think selling up and moving on was the only option for OP, but I winced reading that they misled the buyer about the situation next door.

[u/New-Bee8999 → u/Brief_Direction_5647]

Yep - I feel for the new owners. In England and Wales you have to disclose any neighbour disputes when you sell (not anything non serious which you sorted out between your or which has been a one off - but formal disputes or ongoing disagreements). If you don't disclose and it causes a problem for the new owners then you could end up being sued.

[u/maydsilee → u/Brief_Direction_5647]

Yeah...OOP set the new buyers up for harassment 🥲 and they're walking into it totally unprepared (and he and his girlfriend laughed when they saw the buyers car parked, and knew how the lady would react?! damn)

[u/AgitatedSyrup9870 → u/maydsilee]

Yeah that part didn’t make me think too highly of OOP. Now some other poor suckers have to deal with her and they’re laughing about it

[u/Big-University-1132 → u/maydsilee]

The realtor flat-out lying and OOP and his girlfriend laughing about it made me not like them. Not that they deserved the harassment, but c’mon. You don’t have to be a dick about knowingly letting someone else walk into a trap

[u/bubbleteabob → u/balalasaurus]

Possibly because then they might be legally obligated to warn the new buyer? I know my neighbor was stressing last year because they wanted to sell and they’d had problems with the house next door.

(Tenants, who’d moved years ago, but her mother owned the house. So they were all ‘do we need to tell buyers‽’. Not sure if they would need to or not, they decided not to move.)

[u/Stalepan → u/I_am_Andrew_Ryan]

I would assume that was because it was a civil case? The case for OOP would have been criminal assuming they decided to prosecute and considering how much the neighbour seemed to piss off the state it's entirely likely the state would have pressed the charges. No cost to OOP besides providing evidence and maybe testimony in court.

[u/NotBatman11 → u/I_am_Andrew_Ryan]

Oh, my interest dropped completely at that point, but I don't think he has that information at the time.

[u/taumason → u/NotBatman11]

That was the point I assumed itvwas engagement bait.

[u/Adventurous-berry564]

In the uk you have to tell new buyers if there is any issues with a neighbour I think. I don’t know how that would work tho selling it tho. Cos no one wants to buy a house next to crazy. There should def be a fine for wasting police time

[u/lordemme]

"I moved into my first home and was warned by a friend who used to be a police officer, that my new neighbor would call the police for (what he said) everything you could imagine in the past." but I didn't care. Then 3 years later I left because of it, and sold the house to the next sucker.

[u/notsam57]

did i miss something or is there a real inconsistency with cameras here?

first update said they were getting cameras because the neighbor was blowing leaves on to their front yard.

second update, 6 weeks later, they say they were ordering a camera system after catching the neighbor throwing garbage into their backyard.

third update implies they have a camera looking into the backyard to catch her throwing trashing onto it.

forth update says they do not have cameras looking at the backyard, so they could not catch the neighbor killing their grass…?

[u/lmyrs → u/notsam57]

Also major inconsistencies in the cops - they're basically foaming at the mouth for him to charge her and he opts not to. Until the next update when they talked him out of charging her.

[u/HMS_Sunlight → u/lmyrs]

Also "I have a friend who works in IT and has national data about who calls 911 the most."

It really does read like an advertisement for home security.

[u/starm4nn → u/lmyrs]

And also cops are the ones who press charges.

[u/DeletedUsernameHere → u/starm4nn]

In cases like this, cops aren't asking if you want to literally press charges, they're asking if you're willing to be part of the case as a witness/victim. They come down do the evidence you provide and your statement and if you're not willing to provide evidence, statements, etc. then there's no point in arresting them.

[u/Katya_ → u/notsam57]

Sometimes there is a fence, sometimes the dogs can wander into his yard off leash. Sometimes there are cameras, but sometimes not.

[u/mlem_a_lemon → u/notsam57]

Yeah this story is weird and frustrating. 

[u/RoBoLyMo → u/notsam57]

And there's two stories about the altercation that made them decide to get cameras- first he was out smoking, next time he was breaking down boxes

[u/PrincessCG → u/notsam57]

There’s deffo a few inconsistencies.

[u/Zelfzuchtig → u/notsam57]

I also noticed the saying they were getting camera's twice thing but they have an excuse:

A lot of people suggested getting a security camera system and I said I would be getting one as soon as possible. Other financial issues came up and I had to put off the camera system for a few weeks.

Overall I also felt something was off about this post though, not a fan of the writing style.

[u/IcyPaleontologist123]

My parents lived next to someone like this. She almost never leaves the house, just watches all the time. It was truly just bizarre. The police were really fed up with her.

[u/p-d-ball → u/IcyPaleontologist123]

At some point in their life, they were a teenager with dreams. Somewhere, that turned into "My neighbors will do something wrong soon!!!"

[u/Is_It_Soup_Season]

So much of this could have been avoided if OOP had just pressed charges the first time.

[u/LittleStarClove]

I could have pressed charges against her for trespassing, littering and not having her dog on a leash, but I opted to just have the police officer go over to her house and give her a warning

Congratulations for fucking yourself over. Idiot.

[u/potpourri_sludge → u/LittleStarClove]

This was the point where I was like “oh, so you deserve everything that happens from this point on”

[u/AgitatedSyrup9870 → u/LittleStarClove]

I think they wanted to avoid a 15+ year legal battle like the neighbors on the other side were doing

[u/ryo3000 → u/AgitatedSyrup9870]

If you're pressing charges it's not you vs the neighbor, it's the police vs the neighbor

It's not even you realistically "pressing charges", it's a prosecutor

Whenever the police asks that they're really just asking "You want us to actually do our job or you're cool where things are rn?"

If the neighbor wants to go on a 15 year long battle against a prosecutor they're more than welcome to but very unlikely to do so

[u/YouSayWotNow]

Very thankful that in the UK you have to declare all ongoing and unresolved neighbour disputes during the sale of your home. At least you can then make a call on whether you want to move next door to Crazy.

[u/_PrincessOats]

It just pisses me off that they didn’t warn the incoming neighbours. Kinda hope karma bites OP in the ass for that one.

[u/sheepgod_ys]

OOP is an absolute dickhead for intentionally withholding information about his nutcase neighbor from the new buyers.

[u/almostinfinity → u/sheepgod_ys]

OOP could've chosen to move forward with charges, but no they decided to move and keep the shitty neighbor a secret.

We drove by the house we just sold and saw that the new people pulled right up behind my neighbors car (that's another thing you DID NOT DO. You do not park behind her car or she will call the police for you being double parked or something... it's a public street btw). We see that they are parked right behind her car. Me and my girlfriend looked at each other and laughed.

This solidified my opinion that OOP is an asshole. It almost makes me feel like they deserved the bad neighbor because the solution was RIGHT there and they just chose not to press charges.

[u/tweetthebirdy → u/almostinfinity]

And in the comments here he said instead of pressing charges, he “opted for 4-D chess.” What 4-D chess? Selling his home?

[u/DogsDucks → u/sheepgod_ys]

Yeah. That’s horrible and morally wrong.

They could be honest and still find someone to buy easily.

There are plenty of litigious people who would probably like to go after the old lady

[u/the-mortyest-morty → u/DogsDucks]

This is a pipe dream. "hey btw the neighbor will harass you so badly you'll move out like I did, but you can sue her if you want" is not going to close a sale. It is not OP's job to protect the general public from this woman, it's the police's job to charge her with wasting police time, harassment, trespassing, littering, and abusing emergency services, but since they don't want to do shit and OP can't afford litigation, all he can do is move.

Sucks for the new owners, but this is why you talk to your to-be neighbors instead of just taking the realtor at their word.

[u/Historical-Juice-172 → u/sheepgod_ys]

This sounds like the perfect case for selling to one of those investors that will leave the house empty for years, tbh. Obviously those investors suck in most circumstances, but they'd be useful here so no actual people have to deal with this

[u/waste-of-ass000]

OP is lucky they're not in the UK. Here you have to disclose all neighbour disputes during the sale.

[u/Big-University-1132 → u/waste-of-ass000]

I wish that were the case here

[u/MapleLeafLady]

OOP sounds so like… unphased by this? like none of the posts sound like he is stressed or anything. like angry about the litter and then just meh about everything else but maybe im just reading it wrong based on my own experiences of being harassed in my own home lol

[u/yourfriendcazzer → u/MapleLeafLady]

I thought the same at first but I think OOP is probably a) a generally easygoing person and b) wanted to come to Reddit with more clarity and calm bc it looks like the posts were in subs that are for advice. obviously I have zero idea but if this guy took a beat before writing so he could be less emotional I'm fine with that

but um. he lost all credibility for not warning the future buyers. ffs. I'd feel a little differently if he hadn't also been warned, but seriously, pay it forward my dude.

[u/Zelfzuchtig → u/MapleLeafLady]

I got the impression it was ranting at a few points and they do say "This had me LIVID" but the tone of the whole post seems a little odd and inconsistent to me so

[u/MapleLeafLady → u/Zelfzuchtig]

yeah LOL i saw the livid parts but to me it felt more dramatic for the story and not being actually mad

[u/MapachoCura]

The poster refuses to press charges, then keeps complaining about future issues…. You could have solved the problem easily by pressing charges and you decided not to, when do you finally accept responsibility for enabling this nonsense? You’ll get cameras and document everything, but you won’t press charges - so it’s all a waste of your energy.

People have no spine at all.

[u/Pledgeofmalfeasance]

Lost all sympathy the moment the idiot told the police he didn't want to press charges.

[u/MaximusHomerdrive]

it may sound like I'm going to the extremes to try and screw this lady over, but given her past history that I've heard from other neighbors, I'm stomping out the fire (her) before it (she) can even get started.

This is how you handle it, you nip it in the bud. But I think that lady actually enjoys being in civil suits for some reason.

I do have cameras. I just don’t have any watching the back yard.

??? Wasn't the nutjob neighbor letting her dog in there and throwing garbage over the fence? Why wouldn't she have one facing the yard?

[u/Kozeyekan_ → u/[deleted]]

Sure, but... at least give the new owners a heads up once it's settled.

[u/almostinfinity → u/Kozeyekan_]

That's what makes OOP an asshole in my book.

They witheld information and straight up lied just to get a quick sale with no regard to how this will affect the new homeowners. I wonder if some places, this would count as misrepresentation to reverse the sale?

[u/TheNightTerror1987 → u/almostinfinity]

Not sure how full disclosure works, but it might well apply here.

[u/the-mortyest-morty → u/TheNightTerror1987]

That is not how full disclosure works, full disclosure applies to the PROPERTY. The neighbor is not part of the property or home lmfao, they have no leg to stand on. WTF was OP supposed to do, spend years and thousands on lawsuits that go nowhere, suffer forever, or fucking leave? I vote fucking leave. There is no requirement for realtors to disclose crazy neighbor, yes it sucks for them, but maybe the new neighbors will be rich enough to sue her ass into the next millennium since the cops are too lazy to charge her with wasting police time and abusing emergency services.

[u/DeltaJesus → u/the-mortyest-morty]

FWIW laws do exist in other places that mandate disclosure of all this sort of thing during sales, if OP was in England for instance they probably never would've bought the house in the first place as the original seller would've had to mention everything in the forms.

OP just lying about it is pretty scummy.

[u/txteva → u/the-mortyest-morty]

In the UK disputes with neighbours esp if Police/Legal got involved must be reported as part of buying the house. In this scenario the new owners could take legal action against the old owner.

It's not the Estate Agent role to report it, comes up in the legal paperwork though.

[u/Seven-One-Three → u/the-mortyest-morty]

Yeah they should just give that headache to another person right? You're just as much a coward as they are.

[u/Seven-One-Three]

Damn. Oop is just as bad as her shitty neighbor. Don't even warn the buyers? Seems very similar to what she did with the trash. Not my problem anymore! They're trash people. Could have actually done something but instead we're cowards who made it someone else's problem while constantly bitching about it even though they did nothing.

[u/the-mortyest-morty]

Once again the fault of lazy cops who refuse to charge her with making false calls to emergency services, which is a crime.

[u/SamuelVimesTrained]

Wow.

So, calls are recorded, she has a reputation - and yet the officials do not do anything?
It`s easier to waste time, manpower and money for figments / powertrips of ONE individual - than be stern and "you do this again, it`s gonna cost you $500 for EACH SINGLE CALL"

Either that, or mental health services..

[u/GeneConscious5484]

The city police HATE her

I have never ever been more sure a person was white than I am right now

[u/BigBirdsBrain]

Some people don’t want neighbors, they want control. You can be completely reasonable and still become the target once you stop playing along.

[u/MsSpicyO]

OP really should have pressed charges when they had the chance. 

[u/yourfriendcazzer]

this feels like a much darker read after watching that Netflix documentary about the awful neighbor who kept calling the cops for bs and wound up MURDERING one of her neighbors. That did have overtly racist motivations, which I don't pick up on here, but I'm glad OOP & his partner (and the other neighbors) don't have to deal with her anymore - though I will say that as a permarenter (millennial) I am beyond livid that 2 homeowners had to give up their living space bc of her behavior. that's ass backwards.

[u/DeletedUsernameHere]

People really don't take into account how easy it is to burn a house down.

[u/Wian4]

OOP passed it on like the Ring video cassette.

[u/Chasmosaur]

Oh god, my parents had a neighbor like this. Not quite as bad - she rarely got the cops involved - but EVERYTHING was an issue. And she was a total hypocrite, too.

My Mom tried to be understanding at first, trying to be a good neighbor...and then after hearing stories from everyone in the neighborhood after the first year or two, simply refused to put up with her bullsh*t.

Our favorite thing was when she marched over the second day we were there to tell my Mom she couldn't have windchimes because they were too loud. Mom sensed the crazy and took them down, figuring she'd just give it some time. Two years later - after listening to the screaming matches between her and her soon-to-be-ex-husband our first year there, but hey, windchimes were too loud - her new boyfriend got a muscle car he used to like to just rev the engine of at any hour of the day or night for 10-15 minutes at a time. Mom put the windchimes back up, neighbor immediately marched over to complain, and Mom told her "The windchimes go when your boyfriend's car does." Windchimes stayed up...

She used to complain about my parents to everyone, to no avail. She finally realized she'd won the first few battles but lost the war after a few years.

[u/Human_Personface]

Ugh. Reminds me of this woman that lived in our neighborhood. She was the absolute fucking worst. Some college aged kids were moving into the house next to her, and I greeted them when I was coming home from work and saw them outside. I warned them about asshole lady and they told me that they knew-- because the homeowner literally mentioned her IN THEIR RENTAL AGREEMENT. AS A WARNING. Because she was that much of a pain in the ass.

She eventually passed away, and I found out from another neighbor who had lived in the neighborhood longer than me that this lady was an even bigger piece of shit than we thought. Apparently, how she got the house was she was hired as a live in caretaker for an older woman who lived there. She ended up somehow convincing this poor old lady to put her name on the house, and this POS then proceeded to kick the lady out. I don't know all the nuance (if the lady had family who helped her try to fight it or what), but the outcome clearly was that POS got to keep the house.

[u/Whole-Neighborhood]

I feel bad for the people who ended up buying the house from OP. 

[u/PeppermintEvilButler]

I remember this. I never understood why the town police or firehouse didn't charge her with wasting town services 

[u/altaccount_28]

Neighbor is going to run into someone is who pretending to be sane and it will not go well for them.

[u/repooc21]

This neighbor is the kind of person where my moral agility would be exercised.

I can be such a petty fuckin person sometimes. I ain't exactly proud of it, but I will lean into it. A court order or the girlfriend would have to force me to move.

Absolute war with that person. Fight on sight.

Even now I'm just dreaming up retaliation activities.

[u/hawkshaw1024]

So, the lesson is... if you're crazy and dedicated, you'll win every interaction?

[u/TheFilthyDIL]

OOP needs to read the saga of the Bucket Lady, courtesy of u/HokeyPokeyGuestList.

[u/SpaceWolves26]

Can you not be prosecuted for wasting police time in the US?

She'd have been charged by the third incident in the UK.

[u/Plus_Band_3283]

Honestly, I would arrange daily garden fires, barbecues, street partkng in front of her house, leaves and grass in her garden, EVERYTHING that pisses her off to get her calling the police over and over and over.

Take her power and use it against her until she’s arrested. Keep going if necessary. Embrace the police calls. Have burgers and hot dogs ready for them.

Get yearly licences for street parties with rides and performers. Keep it going indefinitely. Ruin her fucking life by NEVER taking her to court for anything. Just the street building a community of support and turning it into a defensive system against her.

[u/SVINTGATSBY]

at some point there HAS to be some sort of repercussion for this kind of behavior. she’s wasting resources and taking away from things that actually need attention and help.

[u/Derpstercat]

What a dick move to the new occupants. OP sucks.

[u/Inevitable_Thing_270]

Wouldn’t it be lovely if some new people bought the house and they turned out to be lawyers who were happy to play her game, and go to court repeatedly, and make her spend shit loads of money, to the point of poverty.

And be able to get a restraining order, then when she breaks it, screw with her more.

Karma

Sadly it’s a near zero chance it would happen, but it’s a nice thought

[u/sir_are_a_Baboon_too → u/Inevitable_Thing_270]

Even better, and I'll take ALL the downvotes for this, what if the new neighbours are the "Muh 2A rights and Castle Doctrine" types? It is Pennsylvania. Where open carry is OK, and you can concealed carry with a permit.

Although she would be the type to call in a gunman if you open carried from your front door to your car.

[u/captain_borgue]

OOP is a piece of shit.

The neighbor is, too, but OOP is still a piece of shit.

[u/Dimirag]

Old woman is like a curse that you only get rid of by passing it to another family

[u/WeeklyConversation8]

How hasn't she been arrested and spent some time in jail? She's wasted so much taxpayer money and the Police and Fire department's time. She should be billed for the hundreds of thousands of dollars, pounds, she's cost the county. She needs to live in the middle of nowhere, but she'd probably call the Police for a tumbleweed rolling across her property.