Neighbor tries to stop resident from cutting down hazardous pine trees that pose a threat to the resident's property, then steals their wood after the trees are cut down: ‘He went on chopping’

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Oct 29, 2025 11:00 PM EDT

And what do we say to neighbors who think they can do whatever they want? "Stay off my property, or I'll call the authorities!"

There's no way to sugarcoat a demand. Being nice in many cases just reads to entitled people as you being a pushover. Sad, but true. If you don't set clear boundaries with the people in your life and those who live next to you, you will spend a lifetime trying to deter others from walking all over you. If you're strict, stern, and direct, they'll get the message much sooner than you'd think.

In the story below, an older woman shares her recent neighborly debacle. When the woman purchased her home, she wasn't informed that multiple trees on her property were at risk of damaging her home, due to them having been struck by lightning before she lived there. So, she realized she needed to have them cut down. Her next-door neighbor, however, tried to block her from doing so behind her back. He was unsuccessful. After her trees were cut down, however, she noticed all of the excess wood from her yard was missing. What do you know? The neighbor helped himself to a bunch of her wood!

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    man chopping up logs of wood in backyard
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    "Lumber Stealing Neighbor"

    I'm single with two kids, so it was a huge thing for us to finally buy our own house about four months ago. The
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    neighbors to the right and those in front of us were friendly, but those to our left could barely look at us. No waving. No nothing.
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    I mean, we live in the South, so this was odd. Nevertheless, I chalked it up to personalities and went on with my life.
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    Part of the reason why we could afford the house was because it needed a lot of work, some of which I knew about going in, some of
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    which I didn't, mainly because the previous owners hid some things and lied about others. The deal got really contentious. It
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    s ked. And then it was over and I had a house. One of the things that the previous owners never disclosed was that
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    trees on the property had been struck by lightning and were d d or d ng. They were huge pine trees, just looming over the
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    home and they had to come down. To get HOA approval, I had to talk to the left hand neighbors. I tried for a week. A week after
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    that, I found out from the HOA that they tried to put a stop to my removing the trees. Without a single word to me!
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    Turns out that they were best friends with the previous owners, who had, spread some pretty nasty rumors about me, rumors that
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    these neighbors chose to believe even though we had never met. It's a long story, but they put every block
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    they could in my way of taking down the trees. Nonetheless, I won out and scheduled this two-day operation. I knew it
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    would get messy, so I put notices in people's mailboxes apologizing and warning them.
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    However, the tree guys were amazing. I had given them the lumber from the trees in exchange for getting a better
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    lumberjacks working in backyard chopping down a tree
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    deal, but on the second day, I saw something odd. Logs in my left-hand neighbor's back yard. More logs in
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    his garage. Logs all over his driveway. I asked the tree guys. They said that they thought I said
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    that the neighbor could have them. I said no. A day later, the neighbor was in his back yard, chopping away at lumber from
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    my trees that I had paid to get cut down. Mind you. I'm a single, older woman. I couldn't swing an ax if you paid me. But here he
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    was, chopping up my wood for their fireplace. I had to say something, so I just said that I wish that he had asked me.
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    That's all. He made up some excuse about the logs being put in the back for scrap.
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    (They were not; it was a lot of wood). And he went on chopping. I can't believe that I have to live next to these people now.
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    I hope they move.
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    uniquecombo Karma will get him. Pine is horrible for creating creosote in fireplaces, and he is at high risk for a chimney fire.
    via uniquecombo
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    fairygodmotha I'm an older woman too. I'm usually very quiet and polite. As I get older though I am running out of patience, especially with a les like him. Channel your inner rage and find your voice. Practice yelling. I'm very low on estrogen these days and all out of fucks to give. Life is too short to always compromise with bullies.
    via fairygodmotha
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    bbqmaster54 That's theft. Make a police report. Start a record. If you don't it will get worse. As far as he's concerned you planned to sell those logs. He had no right to them. Protect yourself.
    via bbqmaster54

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