It’s impossible to get along with everyone. That’s why we build fences. But the house Reddit user Cactusloverforever had rented didn’t have any. So when their neighbors’ kids started running amok, it became a problem. The two boys repeatedly trespassed onto their property, ringing the doorbell, playing in the yard, and causing all sorts of chaos. After several requests to stop, including speaking to the parents, the issue persisted. To protect their space and sanity, the neighbor planted a thorny wall of bushes, but the situation only worsened.
Unruly neighbors can cause all sorts of problems
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
Especially when you, just like this person, are a tenant and don't have complete control over the property
Image credits: Liudmyla Shalimova (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Mike Jones (not the actual photo)
The author clarified that the events took place during the pandemic
Image source: cactusloverforever
Image credits: Notstrongandstable (not the actual photo)
Such neighborly conflicts are quite common
A few years ago, HomeAdvisor surveyed 2,201 people and learned that while a majority (58%) consider their neighbors to be friends, 31% think of them only as acquaintances, and 11% say they're total strangers. Men are also more likely to be friends with their neighbors than women (62% versus 54%). But interestingly, almost two-thirds of those surveyed (64%) admit they actively avoid their neighbors, and this story vividly illustrates why this might happen.
More than half said they've had at least one argument with a neighbor, and 45% admit to having or having had a long-running feud with them.
Three in five, like the author of the post, prefer to try and handle these issues directly rather than contacting someone like a landlord or HOA board member. Of course, that doesn't always work. In fact, neighbors can be so frustrating that 42% say they've considered moving, and 13% actually have moved because of a neighbor they could no longer tolerate. Perhaps somewhat predictably, those who live in apartments are more likely to have done so (61%) than those in single-family homes (41%).
Another survey from 2023 by LendingTree discovered that the biggest reasons for animosity between neighbors are:
So while some neighbors can become close friends or reliable allies, there are no guarantees that yours won't require thorny barricades at some point.
The person behind the post also joined the discussion in the comments to answer people's questions and most of them said they didn't do anything wrong
Some, however, felt like the author of the post could’ve handled things differently
After a few weeks, we got an update on the situation and it had escalated quite a bit
Image credits: Eli Pluma (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Sobia Akhtar (not the actual photo)
Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
Image source: cactusloverforever