Help dealing with a neighbor throwing junk into my yard

Help dealing with a neighbor throwing junk into my yard

Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2015 · 110 posts · 37 votes

We bought a rental property a month ago, and we want to be friends with all the neighbors. But - a neighbor that borders our lot along the back line has been throwing her trash (large items) into our yard.  

While we don't have proof that whatever junk we saw came from her, even though other neighbors tell us so, we have evidence of the last "load" belonging to her. I was taking pictures during our survey last month and one of the photos captured this junk sitting on her yard. Last week it was thrown into ours, and even tore off one of the survey stake ribbons. 

Does anyone have advice on how to handle this peacefully? 

As a Plan B - I would involve Code Enforcement Office. I already consulted with them and they can help, but this certainly wouldn't help establishing good relationships with this neighbor. 

Are there any other methods? 

The neighbors describe this lady being in her 40s and quite aggressive/confrontational. So, we expect our interaction to be difficult. For now my husband and I are thinking to visit her and ask her to clean up the last load of trash. We can even offer her to use our dumpster. If she doesn't open the door, we thought we'd leave a polite note with the same request and a deadline. If nothing is cleaned up by the deadline - then we call Code Enforcement. Does this plan sound reasonable?

Below are some photos. The first one was taken during survey and on the far right side you can see the junk on her yard, which later migrated to our lot. The other two photos were taken last week. 

Thank you!

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Investor · Oxford, MI · Member since 2016 · 110 posts · 41 votes
9y
To her credit she may view that stuff as coming from your property originally. You are correct to think you should try to talk to her. You never know what she will say but definitely try to talk to her/them. If a issue like you suspect you wont be surprised. Maybe just deal with it but in dealing with it ask if she wants the stuff you moved and have set aside next to your dumpster since you last saw it over there before you toss it in. This sort of takes care of it and gives her a non confrontational way to say whatever but affirms you are a nice guy but not necessarily a fool.
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  • Joe SplitrockPro Member
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    Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes
    9y
    Originally posted by @Ludmila M.:

    @Joe Splitrock, thank you for your response, very timely as I am trying to eliminate all what-ifs about going after her.  

    We are still undecided regarding the fence, it's just going to be a large expense on top of already depleted budget. My lot line along her property is quite long.  But I am not saying no to it, just hesitant at this point.  

    In terms of your second post - introducing ourselves to the neighbors - we already done that and people seem to like us. We first dropped letters into everyone's mailboxes introducing ourselves, and then met everyone personally whenever we had a chance.  One of the neighbors had an encounter with this lady too on a separate issue and now is terrified to piss her off. 

    Good fences make good neighbors:) Just keep in mind if you let her pull this crap, she will keep doing it. If you take her to court, you can tell the judge you tried to go over and talk to her and she called the police. If you let it slide then later people will ask why you didn't take action sooner. The bigger concern is she will probably mess with your tenants and will likely run good people out of the property. I have had it happen with crazy neighbors.

  • Investor · Dallas, TX · Member since 2016 · 60 posts · 65 votes
    9y

    Hello everyone It's too bad you have to deal with this person. I found the nice neighborly advice completely hilarious. Has anyone heard of fighting fire with fire. Put a camera up and call 911 whenever you have evidence. Not everyone understands decency. 

  • Investor · Savannah, GA · Member since 2016 · 79 posts · 62 votes
    9y
    Sell it and move on. Not worth your time and energy to deal with her.
  • Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2015 · 110 posts · 37 votes
    9y

    A quick update to my story, if anyone is interested. I contacted Code Enforcement, the inspector came on Thursday and left a notice in the lady's mailbox to clean the junk off my yard within 10 days. Today is Saturday, and we saw that all of the stuff migrated back to her yard. So, it worked. Now we just need to pay close attention in case she pulls something else to get back on us.

    Once again thank you everyone for input!

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