'This gave my neighbors their temporary victory': Couple complains that neighbor's truck blocks their view, neighbor organizes plan to get them back

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 20, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

Some people don't know how to pick their battles, like these next door neighbors. 

U/PipeOrganTransplant shared their neighborhood drama, which all started with a hedge. The OP loves their forsythia hedge, while the neighbors think it blocks their view. But the rules and regulations around them state that the neighbors can't do anything about the plants. So instead, they got creative, and tried to find other ways to bring the OP down a peg. 

There are some people in life that you just can't please, because they like complaining. It's like whining is a sport to them, and they'll find even the littlest of issues to chatter on about. Perhaps this couple were like that---after all, they were complaining about a forsythia hedge, which grows lovely yellow flowers. Oh, these beautiful gifts from nature are blocking your view? Grow up. 

At least the OP and their brother managed to find a solution to get back at their neighbors. I'm sure that will be their new favorite topic to gab about. 

People in the comments loved the story, and few had their own neighborhood tales to share. Check it all out below. Then, these kids had a bake sale together, but when one kid left early, his mom got involved---and brought receipts with her. 

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  • 01
    Tire - 부
    via Meghan Hessler on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - Typical jrk neighbors complain about the truck in my yard - so I replace it...
    via u/PipeOrganTransplant
  • 03
    Font - I live in a mostly-quiet neighborhood with lots of snowbirds and weekenders because of the proximity to a lake. The year-rounders are mostly retired and people generally get along fine.
    via u/PipeOrganTransplant
  • 04
    Font - A couple years ago, neighbors on one side built a new garage and driveway - moving their cars much closer to my existing forsythia hedge. I love the forsythia in the spring and basically let it grow however it likes so I can have the bright yellow flowers.
    via u/PipeOrganTransplant
  • 05
    Font - Almost immediately they started complaining that the hedge blocked their view as they backed out of their driveway. In my state, neighbors have no right to a "view" extending over someone else's property, and our supreme court has repeatedly ruled that as long
    via u/PipeOrganTransplant
  • 06
    Font - as trees and bushes do not actually impinge onto the roadway, property owners have no obligation to trim for visibility. I keep a 5 foot strip mowed between my hedge and the road - perfectly reasonable to my way of thinking..
    via u/PipeOrganTransplant
  • 07
    Human body - Since they have no recourse RE: Hedges, they instead complain to county code enforcement about anything else they can think of.
    via u/PipeOrganTransplant
  • 08
    Font - My brother parked his (licensed and insured) project truck on my property a while back because he was in the process of moving and needed a spot for it while he was figuring things out. In the meantime, he was in a bad
    via u/PipeOrganTransplant
  • 09
    Font - accident in another vehicle and the truck has been sitting for over a year now. The licence plate recently expired - and I got a letter from the county with threats of fines if it wasn't removed.
    via u/PipeOrganTransplant
  • 10
    Font - Cue the malicious compliance: My brother decided to sell the truck for scrap and had it towed away this morning. This gave my neighbors their temporary victory as they observed from their deck - and nearly 6 inches of improved view from their driveway.
    via u/PipeOrganTransplant
  • 11
    Font - At least until I moved my second vehicle - a 1960 Lincoln (which is about 2 feet longer than the truck - with current plates and insurance) into that place this afternoon... As a single person with more than one vehicle, I may get around to driving that old car at least once more before winter...
    via u/PipeOrganTransplant
  • 12
    Font - Koyoteelaughter My brother lived along a stretch of highway outside of a small town where we grew up. In his yard was a old volkswagon bug, one of the old ones. He'd had it for years and had hoped to fix it up some day. He was sentimental that way since it was his first car.
    via u/Koyoteelaughter
  • 13
    Font - For three years his neighbors along that stretch of highway complained about the old car and badgered him to move it. They complained to the county over and over again, but the county couldn't do anything. Then one year, the town annexed a part of the county and spread its city limits to include the stretch of highway my brother lived on. After that, they started complaining to the city about his car. The city after three months of badgering by his neighbors finally served him with a noti
    via u/Koyoteelaughter
  • 14
    Font - My brother who doesn't like being outmaneuvered combed through the city bylaws and ordinances and learned that why he couldn't have an old junk car in his yard, he could display lawn sculptures, art, decorative masonry, etc. So, my brother gave his kids paint and brushes, sent them out to paint the car while he raised it up so the tires didn't touch the ground and left it sitting on trailer house adjusters he'd cemented in the ground under each axle. He finished it off by having a brass p
    via u/Koyoteelaughter
  • 15
    Font - His kids had painted flowers and dinosaurs all over it and something that looked like a carnivorous big bird. When the thirty days was up code enforcement showed up after a call from his neighbor. They hee- hawed over it, but in the end, art is subjective. With a plaque and children's paint he'd transformed a junk car into art and because the tires weren't touching the ground and the jack stands were permanently anchored in cement and not temporary, the city had no choice but to agree tha
    via u/Koyoteelaughter
  • 16
    Font - My brother loves telling this story and describing the I-just-bit-a-sour- lemon face his neighbors made when they found out there was nothing they could do about it.
    via u/Koyoteelaughter
  • 17
    Font - MissileWaster I have a 1967 Mustang in my driveway, but it currently doesn't run. Hasn't run for a little over 10 years actually. It was my moms, she never got around to fixing it, then just shifted that burden on to me. I never plan to get rid of it because it's way too cool, I just haven't been able to get the funds together to fix it.
    via u/MissileWaster
  • 18
    Font - Anyways, a handful of people would constantly badger me about wanting to buy it, and I always refused. I never intend to sell that car basically. Well, one of the people I repeatedly turned away turned me in to the city compliance, and I got a letter in the mail saying I had 30 days to comply or they'd tow it. My options were basically get rid of it, or show it could actually move (the issue is that it had been sitting for like 5 years without ever moving). Well, I read through the entire
    via u/MissileWaster
  • 19
    Font - included putting it behind a fence or gate, putting it in a garage, or, as I verified with code compliance, putting a tarp over it. I don't have a garage, and I don't really want to block my driveway with a fence and gate, so I bought a 20 dollar tarp and now nobody can do anything about it. And I'm sure the view of a c looking tarp is way more appealing than a beautiful classic car. Side benefit is I get fewer people knocking on my door asking about it!
    via u/MissileWaster
  • 20
    Font - capn_kwick Once a week move it forward or back a couple of feet. That way you truthfully say "I've started and have moved the vehicle once a week. It is not an abandoned vehicle".
    via u/capn_kwick
  • 21
    Rectangle - Kahiltna My dude. Replace the car with a big ol RV
    via u/Kahiltna
  • 22
    Font - yParticle And so self-unaware that they created the problem themselves. It boggles me how people feel they get to complain about what other people do on their own private property as long as it stays within those boundaries (unlike, say, loud noise).
    via u/yParticle

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neighbors view vehicle malicious compliance neighborhood malicious-compliance-reddit neighborhood-drama cars neighborhood-stories terrible neighbors retired lake trucks neighbor
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