'My neighbors wanted to call a professional... my parents agreed': Man chops neighbor's plants down, then decides to get their property line assessed

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 4, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

This is not the neighbor you want living right next door to you. 

When you're young, you never understand why people care so much about their plants. Who cares about a bunch of dumb flowers if they're blocking the path you want to bike through? But as an adult, I totally get why people are so precious about their plants. It's because they're fragile in a bunch of different ways. If you pull a flowers' petals, it's done for. If you forget to water it for a few days, it'll do a dramatic wilt. If you pull it up by the roots or take a cutting, that could end its' life too. If you break a vase, you can possibly glue it, but with a living thing, once it's dead, it's done for. 

That makes it even more sinister that this grown man was going around chopping down the plants of his neighbors. He watched them move in, plant thousands of dollars worth of foliage, and then decided to take it upon himself to remove all their hard work. 

At least this family found a great way to put a stop to all that nonsense. Check out the entire story below. Then, these chefs shared the biggest mistakes they ever made in their professional lives, like one dude who grated 4 pounds of carrots, only to forget to put them into the carrot cake. 

Advertisement
  • 01
    Building - +44 Ett P D ******* ALM am 0744 HE
    via Maximillian Conacher on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - r/r/MaliciousCompliance Posted by u/BalloonUnderstudy 235 52 12 My neighbors wanted to call a professional to mark their property line, my parents agreed
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 03
    Font - This was a long time ago but I remember it clearly. We moved in to a community with tight space in between our house and our neighbors, and we didn't like them being able to see into our kitchen. We put up a bunch of plants, costing thousands but my parents thought it would be worth it. A week later my parents awoke to the plants completely chopped down. My father was furious, and marched down to our neighbors house. He told my father the plants were on his property line, therefor he had
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 04
    Font - Later that day my father called the company that put in the plants, and with the warranty we could have them replanted next week for no charge. We made sure there was no way it was on our neighbors property. However a few days later we caught him chopping them down at 2am. We called the police upon obstruction of property, and after a chat with my neighbor he decided to call a professional and mark his property line. My father agreed.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 05
    Font - A few days later i got home to find orange tape in my neighbors yard. Apparently, his fence was 11 feet over our property line! We watched as he took down his fence, completely furious. Within the next month we were enjoying our new space and privacy in our backyard, and my neighbor ended up losing 1/4th of his backyard. My neighbor ended up having to pay almost 10k for the destruction of our property, and we got to plant our plants again.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 06
    Font - Tl;dr My neighbor chopped down our plants because he claimed we were on his property, after calling a professional he lost 11 feet of his backyard and had to pay for destruction of property, and we got to keep our plants.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 07
    Font - froggyc19 Something similar happened to my parents last year. New neighbour bought the house beside ours, started doing renos (without permits... but that's a whole other story), and complained that our fence was on his property, and that the new stone walkway leading to the back my stepdad had built the previous summer needed to get dug up and removed along with the fence.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 08
    Font - My parents tried to reason with him, explaining that all the land lines in the area are all crooked, and that everything had been this way for 30+ years without issue. He wouldn't hear of it and insisted on the removal, so my mom called the city and requested a new eval after fighting with this guy for months.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 09
    Font - Turns out, not only was the fence on OUR land, but his new one was on ours as well. His back fence was on the land of the backyard neighbour and same on the other side. My mom got the three other houses that bordered his to all get evals as well, so in the end he lost almost half his yard to the surrounding houses. Justice is so very sweet.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 10
    Font - shadowshooter9. This is why any one curious about property lines should get city plans and measure it out
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 11
    Font - [deleted] Yeah my mom's neighbor cut down all her lilacs that were on her yard the day before the surveyor came. Talk about going to war. There is a dispute, you agree to call the surveyor, and then just go out and do it anyway cause you know you will be found wrong.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 12
    Font - [deleted] How has no one talked about how absolutely crazy that neighbor is. Instead of handling this like an adult and going to talk to your new neighbors to sort this out you sneak out at 2:00 am and cut them down. Who the h thinks like that. People are something else.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 13
    Font - Mullenuh Exactly my thought. Like he was trying to pick a fight. My guess is that if it hadn't been about the plants, he would have found something else to make a fuss about.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 14
    Font - milhouse234 I feel like some people live for the drama. My friend moved into his house and within the first few days their neighbor came by and asked them if they could avoid parking directly in front of their house on the street, since her husband comes home late and it's convenient for them.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 15
    Font - No problem, doesn't make a difference to them. One day this past winter it was hitting -60 with wind chill and cars weren't starting, so we had to push his car out of the driveway so his gf could leave, and the only spot we could get it in was that one spot. Literally an hour later they complain about it and start arguing about the spot. He didn't park there at all for over a year no problem but you bet your a he parks there every chance he can get now.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 16
    Font - laikewag When the person you threaten to call someone on says go on do it, you better watch out.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 17
    Font - SCSAutism As a first time homeowner who is about to take down a faulty fence this hits home. I'm glad my neighbors are decent because I'd hate for them to fight me tooth and nail over this. Grats on the bigger yard
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 18
    Font - generica_ccount My parents recently got in a spat with a neighbor over a similar issue; my folks had cleared out some of "the neighbor's" brush and the neighbor threw a fit.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 19
    Font - The neighbor worked for a legal firm, and she used her company's letterhead (without permission from their company) to try and send a threatening notice over the value of the destroyed plants (they referenced a law written to protect trees, not weeds - they would've been entitled to 3x the cost of the destroyed shrubbery, which would've been around $0). She also delivered it to the mailbox herself, which is illegal.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy
  • 20
    Font - They had a surveyor find the property line, and when it came up 2-3 feet too short, they fing moved.
    via u/BalloonUnderstudy

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

neighbors homes professional malicious compliance malicious-compliance-reddit property parent home parents neighbor plants fence backyard
Scroll Down For The Next Article