r/BadNeighbors

I just moved to a home with a nice big back yard a few months ago, but barely get to enjoy my yard in peace. Almost everytime I go outside, the backyard neighbor comes out to watch me from his deck. His yard faces a different direction, yet he somehow always sets himself up to face my yard. I find being outside relaxing but now it’s extremely hard to feel comfortable when outside as he’s always outside when I am. I wouldn’t mind if he didn’t face my yard and watch me, play his music loud, or let his dog bark and rile my dogs up. I could switch up the time I go outside and no matter what, within minutes he’s out there too. Am I crazy for wanting to enjoy my backyard without someone staring me down. I haven’t had a single conversation with this guy, don’t think I want to, as the few times I’ve waved at him to be polite, he’s never waved back. At first I thought it was a coincidence that he always came outside at the same time but even after switching when I go out… There he is. Every time. The whole reason we got this house was to enjoy the nice backyard but I just feel anxious at the thought of going into my yard now. Am I overreacting?

I just needed to make a vent post - there's nothing i can do to change or fix this, so advice isn't necessary

My upstairs neighbors recently moved in from Texas. Its been about 6 weeks, and I've grown to hate these people. Their marriage is a fucking mess and I've been held hostage to it with no end in sight.

The root of the issue is the wife. Within their first week, I overheard her scream-crying on the phone so loud I thought they had a sudden death in the family. Little did I know, that was just the opening act. EVERY 3-4 DAYS she finds something to scream, stomp, slam doors, and wail about. And she will continue this for at least a couple hours, sometimes all day.

Worst incident is when she started pulling this shit at FOUR IN THE MORNING.

They have one child, but she seems to be largely allowed to do whatever she wants up there, including her favorite game of jumping on the furniture and landing on the floor. (Its exactly as loud as it sounds.) The only time I've heard either of them raise their voice at her is the one time it sounds like she broke something.

No, her ire is usually reserved for her husband, who just responds more quietly and takes it. On a couple of occasions it sounded like things were getting physical, but I can't be sure. I can't understand what she's yelling about (they don't speak English at home), and at this point I don't care. He could have cheated on her and I'd still level the blame on her for staying and exposing her kid to a desperately toxic household rather than leaving. Seriously, if I woke up one morning to find him moving his shit out, I'd stand in the window and applaud.

It's EXTREMELY stressful. Its embarrassing. I DO NOT have people over anymore. I've lost sleep, either from being woken up or unable to relax for all the screaming.

And its only been six weeks.

Yes, they are screaming as i type this.

Hi Brisbane

I want to get some opinions and some advice.

For context,
Recently we have had new neighbours ( of the cricket loving country )purchase, demolish and build an enormous property beside us. Not only was the build long and frustrating for us, (issues with the builder) over a year for them to replace the boundary fence they collapsed and much more. I am a builder myself and gave the owners countless hours of my time and advice for free ( lots of taking, zero giving)

The new owners have been moving in for the last two months, removal trucks coming late at night owners parking across my driveway, parking there 6 cars all over the street half way on the road.
My main point of anger is for some stupid reason they are outside anytime from 8pm making noise slamming gates talking at the top of there voices, shuffling cars around all the way up until almost midnight nearly every night.
My wife and kids are being constantly woken up and it’s really starting to anger me.
I have had a civil conversation with him ( multiple text messages) and mentioned a simple thing called neighbourhood respect ( don’t make unnecessary noise after 9pm) etc. his response was he’s allowed to be outside and do whatever he wants.
I have lived in the street for 10 years with rentals either side of me and not even once had to deal with this kind of disrespect.

What can I do besides sell up and move, I am literally at my wits end with these inconsiderate disrespectful arseholes.

I live in an apartment building in a studio with a little porch area. I have a family above me and beside me. The family beside me continuously let their children play on my porch and they constantly leave garbage, food, and random toys/bikes all over it. I’ve never minded because I hate causing problems and I really needed this place (I lost my house to a fire and this is my only option) and I love kiddos. Today their kids (maybe 4-6 and 8-10) were playing with a garden hose and running into my porch sliding door (mind you they have their own porch….) so hard I was afraid they were going to break it and just slamming into it. I have no idea what they were doing, they were just spraying each other, my door/porch, and sliding into the glass repeatedly.. wrestling maybe? They were also trying to open and close it and only stopped when I locked it. I asked them if they could play elsewhere…I just slid it open and said “hey guys, I’m trying to sleep…can you play over there?” (I have to go to work at 4am and wouldn’t be bothered by the noise if it weren’t so close, I’m not asking them to be silent or anything like that…) And now I can hear the kid’s parents complaining about me outside because I asked their kids to play elsewhere (their porch maybe? Or the shared yard?). I’ve never lived in an apartment building or with neighbors this close and I don’t expect anyone to walk on eggshells around me. These neighbors in particular constantly take my parking spot (and the ones of the other family), have constant parties, and are generally very ignorant to everyone else in the building and to the neighbors all around.

I’ve never rented before so I don’t know if I even have permission to tell them to move. Am I the asshole here?

Again…I don’t mind the kids playing or making noise, but why does it have to be right there on my porch and not their own? What happens if they break the door? Or hurt themselves?😅 or what if I go out that way and slip in the mess they’ve made? I already can’t keep anything like flowers or a grill on the porch because I’m afraid they will break it…

Hi everyone, not sure if this is the right place but I need some outside perspective.
I live in a mid-terrace housing association property on my own, and my neighbour is usually very quiet. The issue is, whenever my partner comes to stay (sometimes for a few weeks at a time), I feel like she suddenly becomes really loud — stomping around, especially early mornings or when we’re just going about normal life.
When I’m on my own, I barely hear anything from her. It feels like the change is really noticeable when there are two of us in the house, and it’s started to make me feel quite anxious and like I’m being watched or “reacted to” whenever we make normal living noise.
For context, the bedroom wall is a party wall, and the living room wall is also a party wall where the TV will be, so we are quite exposed on both main living areas. The only place the bed can realistically fit is against the shared bedroom wall. We’re not doing anything extreme — just talking, watching TV, cooking, having a normal couple’s routine, etc.
My partner also brings his dog when he stays. The dog is well-behaved, but obviously there’s some extra movement and general household noise that comes with having a pet in the house.
On one occasion, when we were coming back from walking the dog, I noticed my neighbour looking out of her window as we arrived back in. It made me feel quite self-conscious, especially given the ongoing tension I’ve been feeling around noise.
My partner will also be moving in permanently soon, and we’re planning for a baby in the future, so this is making me quite stressed about how things are going to be long-term.
Even intimacy is a problem cant have sex without my neighbour stomping around the house and slamming doors and we do it in the afternoons and still, seems to piss off the neighbour
For context she lives with her mum and dosenr seem to have much of a life for someone who’s similar in age to me (23) and i just feel like because they live in complete silence they expect the same back even though im just trying to live my life ?
I’ve started feeling like I can’t fully relax in my own home when he’s here, because I’m constantly anticipating a reaction from next door.
I guess I’m wondering:
Am I overthinking this?
Is this just normal terrace house living and thin walls?
Or should I actually be concerned about the situation?
Any advice or similar experiences would really help.

Hi everyone, so I live in a house with just me and my mom. Before I got locked out of my account, I frequently posted on here and a different subreddit. Last year, the neighbors wife pulled out the three plants on the side of our house. It was a long story but I found out, told my mom and then she told them to stop. She spoke to the wife and wrote a note as well. The lady thinks that the side of our house belongs to her as well.

When they pulled out our plants, my mom told basically everyone like my uncles, aunt, hair dresser, etc. My aunt told her to let them grow herbs for another year then don't let them grow anymore so this is technically the last year. My mom has allowed them to grow herbs in our backyard for 4-years. We're both the same race and they like to ask for favors a lot.

My mom allowed them to grow herbs in our backyard and the fucking neighbors decide it's a good idea to go into the backyard when I was gonna take a nap at 7pm. They talk really loud like scream talking. I even spoke to my mom on speaker and I'm pretty sure they heard me because they were talking outside near my window. Btw he usually has Fridays off but decides to annoy me and do work at that time.

I need to set some boundaries but my mom just screwed us into this situation because she can't say no to people. I'm growing frustrated because I'm mostly home alone for the weekdays and I don't give a shit if they work in the backyard on weekends or Friday because my mom's mostly home. But they decide to work during a weekday and I usually take naps after work or rest. I don't wanna fucking hear loud scraping and talking.

Sometimes they would let strangers into our backyard to pick the herbs that the neighbors grew. It would be so fucking weird to wake up and see someone in your backyard. Like obviously they watch them but it's just so weird and invasive. I'm not sure what to do but I'm so frustrated and angry. We're not even close with them or anything. Btw they grow herbs at their in-laws place and they're too lazy to rip out bricks to grow more herbs and get more dirt patches.

I have lived in my house for 14 years, my husband has been there with me for 13 of them, and we have a tween child. We’ve been through 4 neighbours in the house just east of us in that time. The newest ones moved in last August. The girlfriend seems nice, the teen daughter is a typical teen, but the boyfriend is just awful.

Within 2 days of moving in, they had people in my large tree, which is growing in the back corner, and has been there for longer than I have. Our city has a tree protection bylaw stating you need a permit to cut branches off large trees, so they were 100% in the wrong as they cut several limbs off it. I let it go, and I shouldn’t have.

Since then, he has obsessively cut branches and whole trees down along my fence, and the trees are less stable than they were before because the keeps hacking away at them. Every 2-3 weeks he knocks on the door demanding we cut down a tree and we did originally plan on taking down a few that were near the house, but I guess we didn’t move fast enough for him so he left a nasty note about calling his insurance and then started verbally harassing us whenever we are outside. I told him to stop or I will call the cops, and he stopped for a week.

Unfortunately we just had a bout of really bad weather and a couple of branches came down. I went out to look at the damage but it was still storming so I couldn’t do anything about it. He stormed out and started shouting about how he was calling a lawyer and the cops on us. No damage was done to his property, they would tell him there is nothing that he can do.

If he calls the city on us, we’ll point out the trees were fine for the last decade until he started hacking at them, but honestly the cops/insurance/lawyers he keeps threatening to call will do nothing unless there is actual damage to something. But I am now so nervous about going outside because of this jerk. I kind of hope he does call the cops as I will report it as harassment. We have not said anything back to him other than “stop harrassing us” each time he goes off.

I just needed to rant. I hate my house now thanks to this jerk and I can’t afford to move. :(

My wife and I have lived on the same street, at the back of a cul-de-sac, for 20 years. We raised 3 kids there, and our youngest is still at home. We understand kids playing outside because ours did too.
About 4 years ago, new neighbors moved in next door with 3 boys ranging from middle school to high school age. We share a property boundary and there are 2–3 public street parking spots between our houses.

Shortly after moving in, they put up a portable basketball hoop facing the street and began treating that area like a permanent basketball court. Their kids have knocked on our door asking us to move cars so they can play, but then sometimes their own parents park there afterward. It created tension because these are shared public parking spaces.

The bigger issue is the amount of sports activity happening directly in the street and around neighboring properties. The kids regularly play basketball, soccer, football, whiffle ball, kickball, etc. with real/hard balls. Over the years, balls have hit our cars, house, and mailbox, and landscaping/flowers have been trampled. This hasn’t only affected us either; other neighbors have had similar issues.
Recently, one of the kids ran directly through freshly planted flowers in our yard and I confronted the father. I told him I felt there was a lack of respect for our property and that I should be able to have nice landscaping and park my cars without constantly worrying about damage. His response was basically that “they’re kids” and that he would pay for anything that gets broken.
For context, we live about 200 feet from a township park that we can literally see from our front yard. It has basketball courts, playgrounds, and several acres of open green space specifically for sports and playing.
I’m not against kids playing outside. I actually think that’s a good thing. But I also feel like there should be some boundaries and respect for neighboring property, especially when there’s a large park right nearby.
So I’m asking honestly: are my wife and I being unreasonable here, or are the neighbors minimizing behavior that has gone beyond normal “kids being kids”?

My downstairs neighbor has been blaming me for a bad odor starting April 20th (I moved in March 28th). I am certain it is not from me, as no other tenants have expressed this when I asked, and she even invited my partner into her apartment to show the smell (it smelled like nothing). I do my own gel nails and sometimes my friends, maybe a couple hours a week, and after she somehow got that knowledge, she keeps alerting management that I am responsible for the odor, and that I am using harsh chemicals to produce that. Gel has nearly NO SMELL, and I went to my next door neighbor to ask if they smelled anything, which they said they did not. Management texted me earlier asking (not demanding) me to stop doing nails, and I replied offering to have them take a look around to see if there is any smell. I have also not done any nails in several days. This has been going on for a couple weeks now with this phantom odor, and I am wondering if management can even do anything about this? I am worried if she keeps complaining they might try to evict.

A while ago I thought I was going through a very bizarre and unique situation when I lived in a apartment community and all my surrounding neighbors were constantly knocking on the walls.
More predominantly at night when I'm in bed, and only precisely each moment I start to drift into sleep. Over & over & over again. Daily. Not kidding at all. Eventually I overcame it and learned to navigate life.. barely. Slept in my car a lot. Stayed at friends. They started this after 2 years into my lease randomly. I moved into a house now thinking there's no possible way of something or anything could ever happen like that again, but instead that is exactly whats happening and from all my surrounding neighbors not even a month into my lease. Seems like this will be my life no matter where i go and for the rest of my life & theres abs nothing i can do about it. WWYD. & no I’m not schizo or something else crazy

Private homes (moving is not an option as easy as an apt) very quiet neighborhood.

However new neighbors has a son about 2/3 years old that screams excessively in the home and in their backyard. I am not an expert on children but it doesn’t seem normal. I am not sure if the child is neurodivergent OR if the parents are just bad.

When he screams for 10 minutes straight at the top of his lungs the mother says NOTHING.

Should I (CAN I?) ask them to lower the volume? Many of my neighbors are also upset with this. Everyone is understanding (but there are other children who are not as loud.)

My neighbors are also just very loud ppl, they always sound like they’re arguing and have no respect for others and their volume.

Throwaway account because this situation is ongoing.
My significant other and I have lived in a duplex for almost 3 years. When we first moved in, our neighbors were an older couple who were very kind and quiet. They moved out last September, and after the unit sat empty for a few months, a new older couple moved in.
The very first thing the husband said to me when I met him was: “My wife is bipolar and off her meds. If she starts screaming, call the police.”
That immediately made me uneasy, and unfortunately he was serious.
On the very first day she stayed there, she was screaming, punching their sliding glass door, yelling about being abused for 25 years, and calling her husband every insult imaginable. I didn’t call the police that day because I honestly didn’t know what to do.
Since then, it has become almost a daily issue.
Some days she’s completely calm and friendly. Other days she sits outside chain smoking in our shared backyard yelling at people who aren’t there, screaming about someone named Denise, accusing people of murder, calling everyone devils, ranting about politics, and shouting obscenities loud enough for the neighborhood to hear. One day I looked out the window and saw her fist bumping and talking to people who physically were not there before saying “I love you so much Denise.”
I know mental illness is real and I genuinely do feel bad for her, but the constant screaming and unpredictability has made me feel uncomfortable in my own home. At this point, the yelling immediately triggers anxiety for me because I never know what’s coming next.
It’s affected our routines a lot:
We stopped letting our dog out in the backyard
My wife had to move her work-from-home office into the living room because coworkers could hear the screaming during calls
I barely use my office anymore because I can constantly hear yelling through the window
We can’t even comfortably open our windows now that the weather is nice
I installed security cameras and have captured multiple incidents on video. My landlord told me himself that he “knew she was crazy” when they signed the lease because she was yelling during the paperwork process. He told me to send him videos and call the police whenever necessary.
So far I’ve:
Sent him 5 videos
Called the police 4 times
Asked repeatedly for responses in writing
Most of my emails go unanswered unless I directly call him.
Last Friday, shortly before 5am, I was woken up by her slamming doors and yelling in the backyard. After listening to it for a while, I finally called the police.
When the police arrived and she saw the cruiser pull up, she immediately ran back inside, shut all the lights off, and refused to answer the door.
A few weeks ago the police actually arrested her, but she was back a couple hours later and screaming outside again that same night.
I don’t want to be the neighbor constantly calling the cops on someone clearly struggling with mental illness, but this situation is seriously affecting my mental health and ability to feel comfortable in my own home. I’m constantly anticipating the next outburst.
At this point I honestly don’t know what I’m supposed to do anymore.

Please give me advice.

I've been renting my apartment in Spain for 5 months. It's a really small building with only 4 apartments (2 up, 2 down) and ever since I've moved in I've had issues with the couple living in the other apartment on my floor.

They yell, they argue, they are up at all times of night thumping around and talking to themselves. Laughably though, if I make any kind of noise no matter the time of day, they slam furniture against the wall to tell me to shut up. I've heard them yell and call me a whore for speaking English, and they've given similar treatment to the family below. Written like that, it seems quite mundane but it's been a genuinely quite terrifying campaign of harassment. They are clearly unwell or using substances. The family below is looking to sell up. We've been to the police but they can't help.

Mysteriously, they never leave their apartment. They don't answer their door. They never have lights on. They don't even go up to the roof terrace to use their washing machine. I've never come face-to-face with them.

My lease is up at the end of June. What can I do to get my revenge on these people in my last weeks here? I don't want my revenge to in any way negatively impact the other neighbours in the building, so how can I drive them crazy? It's difficult when they don't even leave their apartment. Their balcony connects to ours so I've thought about stink bombs or something like that. Any ideas?

We live in a semi-rural right to farm community. 15-20 minutes from stores and shopping so not out in the sticks by any means. A few years ago our neighbors sold their house and the buyer renovated & expanded the house into a beautiful farm house complete with modern barn/garage and new sheds, coops etc. That neighbor stayed until a bear ate one of her sheep... She moved back to the city.

New neighbors (mid-thirties) moved in a couple weeks ago & were out for a walk, saw me out in the yard/garden and walked over. I happen to be letting my chickens free range at the time. After introductions, Becca the wife of the couple started asking me questions about my garden, neighborhood, the town etc.

They moved from the Boston suburbs after finishing college, graduate programs & working out there. She immediately let me know they're vegans though the look on Kurt's, her husband's face when I offered fresh eggs makes me think she's the vegan & he's just going along with it.

Complimented my yard & garden but suggested I make my garden a "community garden". I told her that the town library had one of those, mostly for kids to get experience but that plenty of retirees & parents help out. I hauled a trailer of compost over for their upcoming planting. She explained that they had had a community garden where they lived before & loved it. I told her almost everyone on our road had at least a kitchen garden & that their property had huge spaces to establish one of those or a community garden, she didn't seem interested in that.

The chickens made their way over to see if anyone had any treats and she asked me if I ate the birds, I don't, they're egg-birds only. She informed me that an egg is still a chicken. I don't have a rooster so that isn't scientifically true. An egg is an egg unless it's fertilized, which mine aren't.

She then told me I should "let them free". I couldn't help but laugh & then right on cue the neighborhood crows started making noise and flew overhead chasing the pesky red tailed hawk that I catch eyeballing my birds every day. I pointed up at hawk & told her I'd lost half a dozen chickens over the years to hawks which is why I only let them free range when I'm out & why their 1500sqft run is completely covered with hawk wire netting. Also that the chickens would probably last a day out there between the hawks, fox, bobcats, fishercats & coyotes. Even if I let them go wherever they wanted all day, they'd come back at dusk to the safety of their coop.

She harrumphed a little and then asked about a neighborhood/community garden again. I told her I had no interest in it being on my property but if she wanted to start one she should & could, but better start soon because spring is here & so is planting time.

One of our more personable chickens (Cuddles) was poking around her feet so I told her she could pick her up if she wanted. Pick her up and tuck her under your arm. She did, Cuddles likes being picked up, hence her name. After petting her for a few minutes she asked if she could keep her 😂. Sorry, no, Cuddles lives here, is one of my favorites & is 6 years old & one of the older grand dames of the flock. She would be missed.

She pointed out that I had so many chickens that I wouldn't miss one. I told her that Cuddles would not enjoy being separated or set free to become a snack for wildlife which would 100% happen.

At that point I'd had enough of meeting the new neighbors & excused myself to get back to the yard work. This will be interesting

Cop neighbor pretty much owns the whole street. Except our house. Dude always been a jackass. Since I’ve been here about 4 years now dirty looks rumors. Now he’s got his buddies driving by 2-3 times a day. At night they drive by shining the spot light. It’s like dude you can try all you want I’m not moving! He’ll be fired before I move! Whole town hate him dude a punk with a badge.

A bit more context, caught neighbor 1. opening up their curtains everytime I go to start my car and leave for work. I tested this theory numerous of times to see if it was just a certain time and it was not their watching me all because of me setting boundaries and not giving in to their entitlement. Neighbor 2 has gotten close with them over the last year I guess they bond over hate. I’ve never said or had any conflict with neighbor 2 I just stopped engaging because I started to realize she was joining in on the hate trying to make me feel unsettled but it won’t work. Both neighbors would sometimes not even go to work when I’m off just to watch me which is crazy. I cannot believe people will go out of their daily routines just to harass or stalk someone, to not even go to work is just shocking.