Another annoying neighbor story, this time with an unexpected ending

A year ago the neighbor across the street (great family, kept the house in great shape) moves out, and in moves some renters. I go introduce myself. The husband and wife are really nice and polite. The kids (younger than 12) are the 'yes sir. thank you sir. Have a nice day, sir' type. You know, the kind of kids that you NEVER see these days. I think I've hit the jackpot again!

Then it unravels. He works for some company that has him hauling heavy equipment around. This means 3 large trucks, 2 of them with large trailers are parked all over the place. Plus his personal trucks. They are parked on the lawn, at the end of my driveway making it very difficult to get in the driveway, mostly blocking the street. All of the trucks have the bro-dozer exhaust so at idle the turbos are whistling.....times 3 or 4 trucks, at 5 am. For 30 minutes. Then there's the large dump trailer full of garbage sitting in the driveway. Then there's him doing a trans swap in the driveway (no problem with that) and leaving the transmission on the lawn for 3 weeks (hate that). Then there's the junk golf cart, broken riding mower, straight-piped 125cc (?) mini bike that they will start, and randomly rev to hear the noise at any hour, and the general red-neckness that most folks could do without.

He and his work crew think it's ok to use my driveway to pivot their trailers around. Leaving dragged-tire marks all over my driveway (many driveways are painted down here. It's weird, but it looks like crap with tire marks all over it). We evacuated in the last hurricane, he didn't. He offered my driveway for his buddies to park their big trucks. Some were 1/2 in the driveway, 1/2 on the lawn. I did not offer for him to use my driveway, he figured I wouldn't know. I have  Ring cam, so I knew. Even if I didn't have the Ring, his buddies trucks left deep ruts in my yard as the ground was totally saturated.

In the beginning I mentioned some of the things, like the trailer full of garbage and him mostly blocking my driveway with his work trucks and he was polite, but made no effort to change things.  

As his house and lawn started to look crappier and crappier I decided to dig into public records and find the current owner of the property. I found the full name (only knew the first name before, and knew that could be a shortened name or a nickname.) I found the wife on facebook and just let her know that she might not be aware of the state of the property. She was not. She drove by the house and was horrified. I guess the property management company wasn't checking things out. She assumed the inside is being shown the same level of care. She told me that they would not be renewing the lease. Well, yesterday was the move-out day for the folks across the street.  

Part of me feels bad, like I did something wrong. Part of me feels that I did my neighborhood a service. I mean, I did try to approach him about the crap he was doing, but to him, I think that's just how you live. Do a trans swap? Just leave the old one on the front lawn. Have a large high-sided trailer that you're not using? Toss your trash in it. Want to hear an obnoxious engine at midnight, rev it up!!

The deed is done. Maybe I'm a jerk, maybe I'm not. But I can't wait for my property value to recover.

You're not the jerk in this story, no matter how personally polite the renters may be.

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Some people just need.....

You may be a bad guy to the renter (a bad guy himself) but you're a hero to the landlord.  

Focus on that portion. 

The renter is a victim of his own actions, not yours. 

 There are at least 50 reasons why what you did is the right thing.

You did nothing wrong. 

Former landlord here.

Thank-you.

John Welsh said:

You may be a bad guy to the renter (a bad guy himself) but you're a hero to the landlord.  

 

And the rest of the neighborhood.

I recently sold my house and I missed out on a number of offers because of a next-door neighbor like that.  Lots of feedback like this


 

Exactly why I have no desire to be a landlord.    I cannot believe the guy would just appropriate your driveway.  These people make their own bad luck.  

This is a perfect example of why an HOA isn't ALWAYS bad. My previous, the house next door to the West. Yard going to E36 M3, part of their fence falling down, they had an older, dead F150 in the driveway with the windows down.

The windows had been down so long and rained in so many times you could smell the mold from the interior at the sidewalk.

House next to his car in blocks in the driveway, 4-5 dead BBQ grills in the front, shrubs so overgrown they were blocking the sidewalk. Code enforcement did exactly nothing.

Where I live now, no HOA more of a neighborhood watch with voluntary $40/year dues. I parked my 135 in the grass so my dad could use my garage to do some work on his van......within 30 minutes someone from Code Enforcement was here to tell me I couldn't park in the grass. 

At first I was incredibly annoyed, but I also appreciate that are neighborhood doesn't look like a bunch of squatters either.

I've had similar renters across the street. I know the owners and they don't check in very often despite living very close. I keep them informed when things get too out of hand. The previous tenant was an alcoholic/addict that didn't pay rent for a year and punched holes in the walls etc. and overall scumbag.

There is a tipping point where it is too much , 

Smart thing to get the owner involved , 

You probably waited much longer than most of us would have !

AITA? Definitely NTAH. 

You did just fine. No apologies needed whatsoever. Now the guy across from me is nuts. Not dangerous, not mean, just take one look at the house and you know that something is deeply, seriously wrong. Problem is, he owns the house. Fortunately I don't plan to sell soon. 

Thanks all. I'm usually one to stay in my lane, and REALLY go out of my way to keep good neighborly relations since we all know how crappy things can turn out when you and your neighbors aren't getting along. But I saw it as a pain in my butt, and a property-value issue. 
I think my street is at an odd tipping point. Our house was priced right at the average for our area when we bought it 3 years ago. The house across the street WAS above that in my opinion simply because of how nice the neighbor kept the yard. I'm sure the inside is just as nice. There are three rentals on the street. They are all stick-built homes. Down here that means cheap. One of them is occupied by trashy people, one is occupied by the kind of people most people would rather have living somewhere else, but it's not a huge deal. The other rental house is occupied some a super-nice guy. The kind of guy anyone would like to live next to them.  
There are 4 houses that were all either finished and just sold, or are awaiting sod before they are listed. Those houses are all priced at least 15-20% over what I think my house is worth. So the street could slide down hill, or make a turn up hill. I really don't want to see it slide down. I was trying to do my part.

Now I just need to get my landscaping done.

We have a raging shiny happy person in our city that most everyone hates. I know he's short on money. I submitted his contact into to every "we buy any house" ad I could find. He sold, now waiting for him to move.

If you hadn't tipped off the property management they likely would've found out on their own eventually (they're supposed to be doing some kind of work for the money they're getting paid after all).

The guy sounds like he was a bit of a jerk and kind of deserved it anyway. Gratuitous revs late at night are a total jerk move. If I felt compelled to commandeer a neighbor's unused driveway to save some trucks I would as least tell the neighbor as it was happening and sure as hell fix any damage they caused.

You did the right thing and got rid of them without it blowing back on you.  The situation was only going to get worse.

If the trailer owners on the rented property across the street from me had responsible land owners I wouldn't have the headache you managed to very diplomatically handle. I could get pics but I might also get shot at or be attacked by an off leash dog.

I could visualize the mess across the road from me by your description! Was there a junked RV trailer on the property as well filled with all manner of detritus? A broken down ford conversion van with smashed glass? A rear axle from a truck? 

He also stops everything he's doing when I drive by to flip me the bird. No matter what. Nice to know he cares enough to communicate with me.

The Vermont State Police officer I spoke to knows him on a first name basis. And it's not cause they're friends!

In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :

Wave back, and smile. Makes them think you're up to something.

You are not the shiny happy person

When my neighbors do odd stuff I feel like I'm the lady from Bewitched.  I agree with the other dudes. 
 

Another You Done Good!

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

My aunt's neighbours across the street put a big fern in their front window because of her.