Hi All,
Sorry if this comes across as a rant, but my Crazy Neighbor is driving us nuts!
Just wanna share my ordeal with her and any advice is appreciated.
Here's the situation, moved into a house 3 years ago. 4 houses share one private road, I'm the second house on the road and my crazy neighbor is the first one.
All the neighbors were really nice at first including the crazy one.
Just my wife and our 1 year old living here, very few visitors and we like to keep to ourselves. Her, I estimate to be in her 50s, divorced, with 3 kids that she said stays with the father. Ex-husband is an architect, so she's an "expert" in the area and can't stop telling me about it.
It was all good at first, I did all the neighborly stuff like move her bins, help her with moving furniture etc….
But the nightmare started when we wanted to renovate our house and do a small extension inside our old garage space.
Fencing Saga:
As part of the DA process, we had to get a surveyor to mark the boundaries, with our house being in a bushy area, there's actually no fence in between the houses. As soon as she saw the surveyors, she confronted them and asked them flat out whether we were going to put up fencing.
The surveyors told me about this and being still neighborly at the time. I explained to her we are doing an extension and not intending on putting up fencing. But that didn't stop her from telling me how many lawyer friends she has and how she hates fencing and how its bad for the wildlife (even though she has fence on all other sides of her house).
Building Saga:
DA gets approved and work commences, that's when stuff gets bad.
1)Strategically placing bins near the corner of her block, so big trucks will have problems moving in. She will then go harass the tradies for moving her bin.
2)Complaints directly to the council for illegal asbestos removal and council proved to be false.
3)Complaints directly to the council for illegal building works, even though there is a big sign on the property with the builders's and PCA details.
4)We tried to keep the place as clean as possible, but if she sees any pieces of paper/plastic, we'll see it hanging on our branches.
5)Our new baby arrived during this time, so my section of driveway was a little neglected. But the good neighbor on the other side helped out with the sweeping. Crazy lady didn't like it though, came over and gave me a lecture on how I should keep my section of the driveway clean and went as far as telling me I should get my parents to move in if we couldn't handle the baby.
After these complaints, we kinda avoid her.
The Carport Saga:
Recently, I put up a carport, which I had a development exemption for. It was a DIY kit and over 10 meters from the boundary on all sides. Couple of weeks ago, I got a letter from council saying they need to inspect my carport because my downpipe was not correctly connected. They were also going to inspect my air conditioner, because someone complained that its location (unused pathway) can potentially be a fire safety risk.
I admit the downpipe wasn't connected, but the water was running into my garden. Since it didn't really affect anyone, it was quite low into my to-do list. But seriously, complaining about a downpipe on your neighbours carport and their AC? I must have really p1ssed her off!
I got pretty annoyed at this point and called the council and made my own complaint about her running a youth hostel in her property (A story for another time).
The Letter Box Saga:
Last week, I replaced my old letter box with a new one, at the exact same location. She comes banging on the door just before 8 in the morning(waking the whole household up in the process) and tells me I have to move the mailbox because she can't get to her mail without cutting herself on it. I was a bit shocked and she repeated it 3 times really slowly like I was an idiot. I got the letter box from bunnings, so all the edges were rounded and there was plenty of room to get her mail! I couldn't be bothered arguing with her, so I moved it anyway.
Today:
Today my parents came to visit while I was at the shops, apparently she came over to them and told him he was driving too fast on the private road (which I doubt, he's in his 60's and drives an old bomb).
She came and confronted me in my backyard and accused my dad of yelling at her. Seriously, its Christmas. Chill out! I couldn't stand it anymore and asked what her problem was, how we pissed her off and when are the complaints going to stop? She just keep repeating, if you received any complaints from me, let me see it in writing. But I ended up telling her I've had it and I'm putting a fence up in the new year and I expected her to pay half.
So Here are my options:
1)Put up the fence and just stay put.
2)Sell and move on
3)Do nothing.
Honestly, I've got a baby and wife to look after and I don't really have the energy to deal with her constant complaints. So I'm thinking of selling up. It'll be less stressful on all of us in the long run, but its so sad that we are being forced out of our home by the crazy lady next door.
What does everyone else think?
Update:
Thanks for everyone for their replies, just went to the station and had a friendly chat with a constable there.
I told her about my ordeal, she was really nice and sympathetic but unfortunately the crazy neighbor is being really smart and there's nothing they can do at this point.
However, she told me the first step I should take is to write a letter to inform her she's no longer allowed on my property. If she needs to discuss anything, she is to either do it via email or snail mail.
After doing this, if she gets caught on my property, I'll be able to apply for an AVO at my local court.
I'll be drafting the letter and putting it in her letterbox tonight. I'll also keep my camera's on and hopefully catch her in my property.
The more I read the replies, the more I wanna put the fence up and stay-put. (Hopefully I don't waiver, when her next compliant comes. :) Thanks everyone!
Edit: Modified headings for better readability
I think you should discuss with her. If that doesnt work… call the bikies.