'I think my neighbor is the reason our house was for sale': Homeowner discovers new neighbor's bad habit, HOA refuses to intervene

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jan 11, 2026 3:00 PM EST

Every new house comes with a few surprises, and this homeowner soon discovered that their neighbor had a bad habit they could've never anticipated. 

Your leisure time is yours to plan out, and for those 48 hours of weekend time, there's no limit to what you can do. You could plan a weekend away with your spouse and really live it up. You could do all your chores on Sunday after partying hard all Friday and Saturday. You could invite your friends over and watch TV all day — hooray for bed rotting! If you have kids, you probably have to shuttle them to sports, get groceries, and clean all weekend. Basically, every 9-5er has those same 48 hours to spend as they choose, but not all 48 hours are equal. 

For example, lately I've been doing my chores on Friday nights so that I have all day Saturday and Sunday to do fun stuff. I also love to sleep in very late on weekend days — if I'm awake before noon, I'm going to be so grumpy! 

But you know what, not everyone is like that. Some of you are morning people. I may never know what it's like to enjoy a 5 AM gym session or watch a sun rise over a dewy lawn at 4 AM, and I thank my lucky stars for that. Part of it seems to be an age thing, too. A lot of older folks seem to love waking up at the crack of dawn, napping on the couch by 2 PM, and going to bed at like 8 PM. For whatever reason, their circadian rhythm wants them to be early risers. 

Listen, though — if you are a morning person, you cannot drag us night owls along with you. If you want to go for a 5-mile run starting at 6:30 AM, I'm so happy for you, but I don't want to be involved in that. That's a nice, quiet, solitary activity. You know what isn't? Mowing your lawn at 6 AM every single Saturday morning. 

That kind of behavior is totally unacceptable, unless you live on a farm miles away from your neighbors. If you live in the suburbs and you are revving up that engine while the grass is still dewy, brother, seek help! You're going to wake everyone up, including all of their children and pets, making everyone start their day at the terrible, terrible hour of 6 AM. Let this be a reminder for us all to sleep more and mow less. 

Interestingly, though, this person didn't seem like they tried to stop their lawn-mowing neighbor with much oomph before just giving up. This is one instance where recording his mowing before calling the cops would've been the right move. You can't just be loud at all hours of the day and night, and I wonder if an intervention of that sort could've saved these homeowners the trouble of moving once again. 

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  • 01
    Our neighbor started this whole thing where he'd mow his lawn at 6am on weekends. Every. Single. Weekend.
    via u/Plomaster69
  • 02
    We tried talking to him about it twice but he just said he's allowed to do yard work whenever he wants. Then he started parking his work truck right on the property line so we could barely get
    via u/Plomaster69
  • 03
    into our driveway. The final straw was when he put up these massive flood lights that shine directly into our bedroom window all night.
    via u/Plomaster69
  • 04
    We talked to the HOA and they basically said there's. nothing they can do. Called the city about the noise ordinance and they gave him one warning that he ignored. After months of this we just couldn't take it anymore.
    via u/Plomaster69
  • 05
    Put the house on the market last month and already accepted an offer. I feel bad for whoever moves in next but we're done dealing with this guy. Sometimes a bad neighbor really is enough to make you pack up and leave.
    via u/Plomaster69
  • 06
    Roid-a-ho... At least two of those things are usually prohibited in various city bylaws. I would have tried harder to enforce with the city. I also would have had an accident that broke his lights.
    via u/Roid-a-holic_ReX
  • 07
    johnson7... My neighbour was the first person we met on the street. He gave me a warning about all the people who are weird and who to avoid.
    via u/johnson7853
  • 08
    After meeting more neighbours I came to realize he was the one to avoid. I just smile laugh at his poor jokes and tried to play nice.
    via u/johnson7853
  • 09
    Until he took my face off for parking in front of our own house. We have one car and a driveway in the back. If I go out and know I'm going back out I'll park in the front if one of his three cars aren't there.
    via u/johnson7853
  • 10
    I can hear honking outside. It's him honking at my car. I ignore it. He comes yelling at my door about how we have a driveway and need to use it. That he has parked in that spot for forty years and it's never been a
    via u/johnson7853
  • 11
    problem and we move in and now it's a problem. I said no. So I made it a mission if that spot was open I was parking there. He then stopped driving the car that was parked in front of my house.
    via u/johnson7853
  • 12
    So I went to city hall and filled for a parking permit out front of my house. $300 per year and now only I can park there. I was walking into my house last week and waved at him, he gave me the finger.
    via u/johnson7853
  • 13
    PrimeBris... Boy I would be out there doing everything he does. but twice as bad. almost sounds like a good time. Too petty to let them win.
    via u/PrimeBrisky
  • 14
    Man in slacks, blue shirt and bucket hat pushes red lawnmower across large lawn
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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