Are My Neighbours Inconsiderate or Am I Intolerant?

LOcelot5 on 18/06/2021 - 11:46
Last edited 20/06/2021 - 16:40 by 2 other users

Long time reader first time poster

I feel like I am becoming more and more intolerant and my neighbors are really starting to annoy me.

They are not my direct neighbors, they live across the street from me

Some of the things they are doing:

Leaving green bins in front of my property for 3 weeks (council land)
Never put bins out in front of their own property always in front of mine.
Allow their dog to poo in front of my house (council land)
Basketball ring sitting in front of my property indefinitely (council land)
Allow their children to walk and play in my front yard
Park in front of my house (this one is less irritating, but its still strange when they have space in front of their own house)
Put their rubbish in my bin

Is this acceptable behaviour? Do you think they are being malicious or just entitled and lacking empathy. Am I making too big a deal over over what you would consider non issues?
Should I escalate the situation? Try and forget about it? Drink more? Build a front fence? Any advice is appreciated

I would like to avoid direct confrontation if possible as I anger quickly
I have never done anything to these people I am a quiet and respectful person who likes to keep to themselves.

Why post on Ozb? I want differing opinions from all walks of life. I believe that these forums have a significantly different demographic to mine.

Update:
I returned their bins and hoop
I have spoken to them.
They have agreed to not put the bins in front of my house but that the council told them to do it
They said they will remove the hoop but the kids are just trying to have fun (apparently I'm trying to ruin the kids fun)
I said I didn't care if they used the hoop but to store it on their property
They said they didn't realise the bin had been there for 3 weeks (3ullsht).
He also told me that this was all part of living in a neighbourhood (This agitated me)..
and that he wouldn't care if I put my bins in front of his house

But they have agreed to stop

So now I will wait and see if there is retaliation before I escalate further
(I still want to keep the council out of things unless absolutely necessary)

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Ughhh on 18/06/2021 - 13:09
    +1

    Allow their dog to poo in front of my house (council land)
    Basketball ring sitting in front of my property indefinitely (council land)
    Allow their children to walk and play in my front yard

    Are you cleaning up the poo?
    Will the kids still play there if the poo was still there?

    Put sprinklers on?

    • Ocelot5 on 18/06/2021 - 13:29

      No I just leave it. it is on the council land outside my house.

      I just step in it every so often

  • RonDMC on 18/06/2021 - 13:09
    +3

    Everything you mentioned in that list would fire me up, they're inconsiderate and selfish, nothing to do with you being intolerant. Normal respectful people would just know not to do those things.

    I don't think you can change people like this, so you have three options, learn to live with the laundry list of annoyances, confront them about it which probably won't go well as you'll start getting angry while airing your grievances to them and as a defensive mechanism, they will probably get angry back and things will spiral. Depending on your personality this may make living there even more intolerable and they may go out of their way to make things even harder for you. The third option is to move.

    If you can stay calm and be polite, it may be worthwhile trying to approach them and ask them about a couple of these issues without pulling the whole list out, if that goes ok you can tackle your other grievances later on.

  • Godric on 18/06/2021 - 13:23

    Talk to them first maybe they have their own strange reasons, then try to work it out

  • Archi on 18/06/2021 - 13:31
    +2

    cant believe no-ones asked for a MS paint diagram

    • lord henry on 19/06/2021 - 17:32
      +1

      I think we need an ms paint drawing.
      If there's space for bins and a basketball net on this 'council land' in front of OP's house, it must be bigger than a standard verge.

  • Summoner on 18/06/2021 - 13:32
    +2

    Allow their dog to poo in front of my house (council land)

    Not sure where you are, but if you are in Brisbane, it is an offence to not pick up the droppings. I would consider installing cctv and keep complaining to Council so they enforce the law.

    Basketball ring sitting in front of my property indefinitely (council land)

    Just contact the council and tell them there is a abandoned basketball ring on the natures strip in front your house. They will get rid of it. General rule is that the nature strip is for pedestrians, so leaving items on the nature strip indefinitely is prohibited. You can even be fined if you keep your bins on the nature strip indefinitely.

  • tsunamisurfer on 18/06/2021 - 13:39
    -1

    Yes your neighbours are selfish, very inconsiderate.

    If you feel you get angry easily and wish to avoid confrontation, type up a friendly but firm letter outlining the acts and the normal etiquette.

    Leaving green bins in front of my property for 3 weeks (council land)
    Never put bins out in front of their own property always in front of mine.

    After the letter , place it on their side once. If it happens again, place it on the road on their side.

    Allow their dog to poo in front of my house (council land)

    Fling in on their side after the letter.

    Basketball ring sitting in front of my property indefinitely (council land)

    This is totally unacceptable, I have a basketball system which I enjoy playing with a lot, I would never think to put in a neighbour's property. Give them a time frame to remove it, by that time call the council for advice as to its removal.

    Allow their children to walk and play in my front yard

    Kindly ask them to play on their side, must be careful with children even if you are in the right.

    Park in front of my house (this one is less irritating, but its still strange when they have space in front of their own house)

    Unless they are illegally parking in front of your driveway this can't be helped.

    Put their rubbish in my bin

    I would let this slide unless it is excessive and takes away space you need or the rubbish is leaking and horrible.
    If excessive simply take it out and place on their front lawn.

  • John Kimble on 18/06/2021 - 13:48
    +4

    Do they own or rent?

    If they live across the street from you, that means they are purposely walking their bins across the road and putting them in front of your house? That's so weird, why would they do that?

    I would save up for a front fence and camera system…

    You could also leave a trailer in front of your place, this has been discussed and done in a previous forum post.

    • Ocelot5 on 18/06/2021 - 13:58
      +1

      Own
      I don't know why they do it. It makes no sense to me.
      I'm heavily considering a fence
      my street frontage is 25m id need a few trailers

      • John Kimble on 18/06/2021 - 14:00
        -1

        Yeah, unfortunately those options would all cost a bit of money.

        I suppose the parking is one of the least worst of the issues you are experiencing then.

        FYI This is the trailer post.

        https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/364437

        • Ocelot5 on 18/06/2021 - 14:05

          Wow that's unreal. yeah the parking isn't the worst thing. It's constantly seeing bins outside my property that pisses me off. I guess there are a lot of inconsiderate people out there

          • Lvl1pro on 18/06/2021 - 18:51

            @Ocelot5: Maybe you can try being nice and putting there bins back for them? It may not work but hopefully they will get the hint that you don't like it outside the front of your house and because you are being nice they may feel bad about it doing it in the future.

      • cuteseal on 19/06/2021 - 22:34

        Maybe try some stakes with rope, and rope off 3 sides of the nature strip (I'm assuming by council land you mean the nature strip in front of your house)? Something that's not too expensive and easily removable later. If anyone asks, just say you are treating your grass or something like that.

        The basketball ring sounds a bit over the top. It's almost a permanent fixture - if someone put that on my nature strip I would definitely be having words with them. The rest of the stuff is a bit odd but at least it's temporary.

  • GG57 on 18/06/2021 - 13:56
    -3

    I think everyone just needs to chill out a bit.
    OP doesn't even appear to have had a chat to their neighbours. The neighbours may consider OP to be a grumpy old bugger who watches everything we do.

    • Ocelot5 on 18/06/2021 - 14:02

      I'm 10-15 years younger than them.
      Ive expressed my unhappiness about the trash being in my yard before.

      • GG57 on 18/06/2021 - 14:20
        -3

        Ok, so maybe they perceive you as the feisty young aggro across the street.
        BTW, how did you express your unhappiness?

        • pharkurnell on 18/06/2021 - 19:48

          The whole situation is a shambles.

          I have issues with them, growl,, spit, stomp feet - but I'll keep it my secret.

      • GG57 on 18/06/2021 - 14:59
        +1

        You haven't mentioned '…trash being in my yard…' as one of your greivances.

  • lachhelix on 18/06/2021 - 14:19

    I'm with you OP

  • morse on 18/06/2021 - 14:25

    It's a tough one as you definitely don't want things to escalate. Even asking politely can put some people offside. It's a shame, but I've certainly have it go both ways when I've spoken to people nicely about issues like this. Some people just go into defensive, resentful, vengeful mode pretty quickly

    It would seem very reasonable to ask them to move the basketball hoop. If you've ever spoken to them about this before, they'll know it was you if it just disappears. I don't endorse this but… if you did want to make it disappear, a facebook marketplace 'free' listing (from a fake account obviously) would do the trick.

    Otherwise give some local real estate agents their details - maybe they can be convinced to sell up and move in this hot property market.

  • freefall101 on 18/06/2021 - 14:30
    +12

    From what I can tell from this thread

    1. You don't want to talk to them
    2. You don't want to call the council
    3. You don't want to do anything that will escalate (i.e. touch their stuff, move anything, etc)

    I think the only option left is a letter in their mailbox asking politely or move house.

    The steps I would take are a letter, then politely ask them to move their stuff/stop their kids (don't argue, just state it and walk off if they try to argue about why they should do what they're doing) then engage the council. Or if you don't want to talk to your neighbours at all, straight to the council because they might not know it's you (they'll probably guess though).

    • borrisz0r on 19/06/2021 - 12:47
      +2

      I think this post summarises it well.

      OP is seeking advice, he's got it, and doesn't want to act on any of it.

      Are you after sympathy or just validation of remaining passive? I don't why these posts exist, ask for help, shoot all logical solutions down, continue to defend the position which you seek advice on.

      /Rant.

  • Lysander on 18/06/2021 - 14:38
    +1

    Engage the Council - that is their job.
    Emphasize to them that you want to remain anonymous and they are not to disclose your identity to the neighbours.
    Yes, they might guess it but then other neighbours could have called them, too. Either way, that should solve the problems and you do not have to care what they think (remember, they do not care about what you think either as otherwise this situation would not have arisen in the first place!).

  • Hvrd on 18/06/2021 - 17:02

    you sir need to go to intolerance camp

  • tikei on 18/06/2021 - 17:25
    +4

    I'm kinda annoyed at OP for being a pushover…

    • Ocelot5 on 18/06/2021 - 19:13
      -4

      me too…. He's definitely the bad guy in all this

  • herecomestheoost on 18/06/2021 - 18:30

    I do feel for your situation, I had very similar people next door to my previous rental.. I spent 12 months listening to their drug induced yelling and screaming, riding monkey bikes up and down the street at all times of the night, burn outs in clapped out Falcons and Commodores, police / ambulance visits constantly…

    I just ended the lease.. Had I of said anything it would have had more problems.

  • No ONE on 18/06/2021 - 18:40
    +1

    Kick their bin. Take the rubbish and throw at at their doorstep. Response to unconsidered people with inconsiderate behaviour.

  • Grat on 18/06/2021 - 18:44
    +2

    You could get some blood and bone fertilizer and leave damp on the lawn. The smell is terrible. Dogs love it and will roll in it. Your front lawn and the nature strip will become the least popular place in the neighbourhood and eventually the greenest. You could also plant some flowers and fertilize. Some councils allow you to do this on the nature strip. Others will with a plan. Yes, the kids might still shoot hoops and trample the plants but won't be back if they walk that stuff through their homes.

    Have you thought of booby trapping your bin. Not dangerously. Think the lid opens and smelly liquid is ejected. Perhaps the action of the lid opening inverts a bag of fish heads in water with liquid ejecting splashing out the opening.

    • Homr on 18/06/2021 - 18:48

      L
      O
      L

  • ldt on 18/06/2021 - 19:19
    +1

    I have some nasty neighbours who used to have parties until 4-5am every weekend night. The noise was so loud it was like it was playing in my bedroom. After politely asking them a few times (and hearing multiple apologies), sending them a few warning messages, and then finally after a year of putting up with this I called the police. They no longer keep me up until 5am.

    So just go straight to the council, and get it sorted.

    • HelpMeiCantSee on 19/06/2021 - 09:36

      This. Plus mufflerless lawn mowing at 7am the morning after the party with particular attention paid to their boundary

  • imme1386 on 18/06/2021 - 20:23
    +1

    a few things to do

    1. if baskettball hoop is in front of your house on council property, call council get a cleanup and report the hoop as part of i t they will take it with them,
    2. for rubbish / dog poo put a camera up submit evidence of neighbours dog doing it to council they can get a fine depending on state NSW is a $275 fine

    “We encourage residents who have problems with dogs defecating in public places to contact the council’s customer service (line) on 9777 1000 or [email protected].”

    1. as for the kids generally they will go where they want but you can put up a no tresspassing sign and when they are on the property call the police to have them escorted off the property use excuse that the yard is not safe for kids i.e. could be spiders, bindies etc "having security camera makes alot of neighbours paranoid and will stop their kids from being recorded"

    2. cars parking infront of your house, cant do much here if its registered annoying as it is you can get a box trailor and put it there to prevent them doing it.

    3. for the bins issue report to the council of them attempting to use your bin services to allow for more waste removal "have done this before with a neighbour" the council will leave a sticker on the bin that will warn them 3 times of miss using the bins will result in a council fine.
  • belongsinforums on 18/06/2021 - 21:48
    +6

    Next post:

    Guys, my neighbour keeps sleeping with my wife. I want to ask him not to, but I want to avoid confrontation. Am I intolerant?

  • pegaxs on 18/06/2021 - 22:18

    Why post on Ozb? I want differing opinions from all walks of life.

    Asks for advice, gets roasted and tries to delete the thread… next step… disableduser394739

    • Ocelot5 on 18/06/2021 - 22:20
      -2

      How am i roasted. I got some good advice to act on. and had enough of the same bullshit telling me to alpha stare them or steal their bins.

      • John Kimble on 18/06/2021 - 22:29

        Ask the mods to close the comments then.

  • MatrixM on 18/06/2021 - 22:29
    +1

    Why did ….I clicked a link about baptizing ducks…what's…I am so confused.

  • Kranbone on 18/06/2021 - 22:39
    +1

    Your neighbours seem like c***s.

    At the moment you're unhappy because they're acting selfish. If you speak to them they may change for the better (unlikely), they may do nothing (extremely likely) or they may become more petty/selfish etc (likely).

    Speak to them and at least try, if they continue to act like c***s, return the favour. You can find comfort that you've at least tried, or that they're slightly uncomfortable.

  • Amour on 18/06/2021 - 23:32
    +6

    If you don’t want to escalate matters and the bins annoy you the most, I’d suggest telling your neighbours that someone must have dobbed you into council for having bins constantly on the footpath and you have received a nasty letter from council about it. You could probably even lump the basketball hoop in and say it was about dangerous hazards that need to be removed from the footpath. Failure to do so will require council to remove said items at full cost to the owner.

    Then you and the neighbour can share your annoyance at the ‘person’ who dobbed you into council.

    • morse on 19/06/2021 - 08:38

      I like this suggestion!

    • Dee333 on 19/06/2021 - 09:40

      I think this is a great idea.

  • fredk1000 on 18/06/2021 - 23:47
    +1

    To answer your question, your neighbours are inconsiderate.

  • verisimilitude on 18/06/2021 - 23:51

    I wish I could think of some way to help you that is non-confrontational, covert and effective but I really am at my wits' end. The logical and helpful responses provided above seem to make you feel that you can be identified by the neighbour and will face further retribution. Really tough…. I hope that your situation can have a good resolution.

  • MrKnowItAll on 19/06/2021 - 01:51
    +1

    Based on your unwilligness to do anything whatsoever about the problem, I strongly suggest your sell your house and move, preferably out into a country town where you wont have any neighbours to bother you.

    Failing that, you need to stand your ground - there's no other way around it. Throw up some bloody big and obvious security cameras and then report them for their bin being on your yard - this will have it taken away and also serve as a deterrent for them using your bin. Then give away their basketball hoop on gumtree / marketplace (don't use your real name) - use the cameras to prove you had nothing to do with the 'theft' (make sure they aren't in a position to capture the poor unwitting persons license plate) and either find an indirect way to shoo the kids away ie. water your lawn when they're likely to come over, use a really potent fertiliser or put up a small fence and report them for trespass if they climb over it.

    You won't 'win' by tolerating it indefinitely.

  • Brendoo on 19/06/2021 - 07:33
    +2

    Just do the old (in Simpsons Ned Flanders style)… "hi-didly-o neighbour! Just bringing your bins back for you, looks like the garbos dumped them across the street! Have a wonderful day!".

    I think you should talk to them (but not in the way they might expect), or try to break the ice little by little.

    It's bizarre their car and bins are across the street outside your place. Who wants to walk across the street all the time? Weird.

  • Canberralad92 on 19/06/2021 - 07:50
    +5

    This is pretty circular. This dude is incapable of handling the situation - says he doesn't want confrontation or to escalate things or to talk to council. Just do nothing, or move is my advice

    • Ocelot5 on 19/06/2021 - 09:27
      -1

      I'm clearly doing this Have you thought of booby trapping your bin. Not dangerously. Think the lid opens and smelly liquid is ejected. Perhaps the action of the lid opening inverts a bag of fish heads in water with liquid ejecting splashing out the opening.

      but really I'm just going to escalate things and make everybody as uncomfortable as possible.

      Snitching to council will be the last resort.

      This thread is circular because everybody gives the same (profanity) advice as if id never thought to ring council or move the bins.

      I'm certain there is no way to win in this situation but at this point I don't really care

      • [Deactivated] on 19/06/2021 - 11:48
        +5

        there has been plenty of normal, constructive advice that you have been ignoring. you're cherry picking the joke / most extreme suggestions as an excuse to ignore all the suggestions. if you don't want to do anything about it and just wanted to vent, that's fine, it's your property and time, but don't get frustrated if people are calling you out for ignoring all the suggestions (which you asked for).

      • Hangryuman on 19/06/2021 - 12:34
        +2

        'I'm certain there is no way to win in this situation but at this point I don't really care'

        hmmm - asking random strangers how to solve your problem with 'other people'

        yet unwilling to take the obvious commonsense advice - saying you 'don't have time' for this

        blaming other people for your life problems while not recognising your own contribution to the problem

        … sounds like my definition of a Loser …

  • HelpMeiCantSee on 19/06/2021 - 09:25
    +1

    My usual way of dealing with neighbours like that is a 7am fire up of my home made jet turbine. Really gets the feels flowing and is a great conversation starter.

    • pegaxs on 19/06/2021 - 10:46
      +3

      Where I work, we have a neighbor that gets their knickers in a knot if we make any noise before 8:30am. He throws rotten eggs and oranges all over our property in the middle of the night.

      After explaining to my boss that the idiot chose to live near an industrialised area and that noise laws end at 7am, I now have full permission to start any work at 7am. We have had the council and police come around and monitor us making noise, and then seen old mate yelling at them at 7:10am while they stand at his door trying to explain that we are not doing anything wrong.

      To really rustle his Jimmies, I like to drop flyers in his letterbox that outline the noise legislation every time he sends us one of his "cease and desist" noise complaint letters.

  • FittyFitty on 19/06/2021 - 09:35
    +2

    The father of the offending family has targeted you for being a wimp; you must beat him in a fight - that's how territorial animals operate.

  • DemocracyManifest on 19/06/2021 - 09:50
    +1

    Put up a big fence, just wheel their bins back in front of their house. I used to have (profanity) like this living around me. Do they rent? The poo thing is something you can definitely do something about if they rent by sending a picture to the property manager, they are not supposed to disturb the neighbours piece and quiet. I wouldn’t get the council involved.

    My mate when dealing with someone in the same unit blocks dog pooing all over his grass got little toothpicks with Australian flags on them and put them in the poo, it weirded the (profanity) out of them and they stopped doing it. Do that and then bag it up and throw it over their fence

    • DemocracyManifest on 19/06/2021 - 09:58

      Also about them using their bin just say hey happy to for you to put stuff in after it’s out but please bag it up if so. Other solution to them parking in front of your house is just leaving your bins there - even just put their green bin where they park because that will annoy them

  • ozbjunkie on 19/06/2021 - 10:36

    Tldr even though you might be quick to anger, consider that the best resolutions often come from just being calm, firm, and very reasonable. Start nice, start really nice, then you can always get nasty if they won't come to the table. You might be surprised how far you'll get with "I bet having 2 kids is a massive job, and I know they have a mind of their own, but XYZ has been bothering me, is there something we can do about that? I'm not trying to be a busybody I'm just trying to enjoy my property, as I'm sure you are and your kids are".

    My little anecdote:

    I had a small issue with my new downstairs neighbours.

    Late nights, loud music, parties that would quiet down around 5am and then pickup again around 8am with guitars and singing.

    But I heard this guy have an epic meltdown fight with his girlfriend who apparently moved out. He's trying to have a good time, and I'm separating my wish for perfect peace and quiet from my recognition that blasting loud music can dispel mental demons temporarily.

    Point is, I went down, said 90% of the time I'm good with loud music, but we should exchange numbers in case mine was too loud or theirs was too loud. Matey apologised thinking I was basically just telling him off but after holding firmly but gently to the idea that "this way, neither of us have to worry we are pissing each other off, because we have communication and it's all good". Eventually he extended his hand to shake and basically said "thanks for not being a dick about it".

  • fairyflossgrapes on 19/06/2021 - 11:32
    +2

    I usually lurk but had to log in to comment. All due respect, but it's obviously bothering you and yet you're not willing to do anything about it. It's hardly 'snitching' to the council when most of what you mention is literally their job to deal with. I get that you don't want to rock the boat but clearly doing nothing and hoping they read your mind isn't working out for you, so you might actually have to, y'know, take some action.

  • Mugsy on 19/06/2021 - 11:40

    A friend from high school would have recommended touch powder as a solution for half of these matters.

  • Dack Smith on 19/06/2021 - 11:48
    -1

    Do you live in Victoria?

    Seems like people have lots of personal problems there, and from the papers they knowingly travelled elsewhere while infected with COVID-19, not to mention the constant outbreaks

    Maybe move to another state

    • hueylewis on 19/06/2021 - 18:38

      That is what I had to do. Victoria is a cesspool.

  • spaceflight on 19/06/2021 - 12:40

    Leaving green bins in front of my property for 3 weeks (council land)

    They are lazy

    Never put bins out in front of their own property always in front of mine.

    On your side of the road?
    If so they must want you to have them so bring them in to your house and put them away

    Allow their dog to poo in front of my house (council land)

    Deliberately, they are inconsiderate
    Because the dog happened to poo there, it is a dog and doesn't know. But they could clean it up.

    Basketball ring sitting in front of my property indefinitely (council land)

    Talk to them about it, if they leave it there report it as abandoned rubbish to the council

    Allow their children to walk and play in my front yard

    What's wrong with walking through your yard?
    I wouldn't mind if children played in mine, as long as they didn't leave rubbish, kill things, break things and so on.
    But the children alike be supervised and I would still wonder why my yard and not theirs.

    Park in front of my house (this one is less irritating, but its still strange when they have space in front of their own house)

    It's annoying if you want to park in front of your house and I don't get why they wouldn't park in front of their house so they don't need to walk as far.

    Put their rubbish in my bin

    If your bin is already out and theirs is full then it's okay.
    If they are coming into you yard, opening the fence and so on then it is strange.

  • serpserpserp on 19/06/2021 - 12:56

    Lock for your bin.

    Hose the kids if they play in your yard.

    The rest of it is council land so suck it up.

  • Nexo on 19/06/2021 - 14:23

    Park your car inside, pick the dog poop up and throw it onto their windshield at night

  • OzHunterNSW on 19/06/2021 - 15:27

    They can play and park anywhere they like, but can not leave their rubbish strewn about. If they park on your property, or upon the nature strip, you can report them to the Council.

    In fact, by law, they are NOT to place their garage out upon the curb before the day of collection, and are to retrieve their garbage soon after collection. It is a breach to leave the garbage bin out upon the street/curb after time of collection: 24hours or more.

    Ring your City Council and explain the breaches.

  • MagicMushroom on 19/06/2021 - 16:03
    +1

    Sounds like you're afraid to take a lot of actions due to the possibility of escalation, but sometimes you do have to take these risks to solve problems. I'd suggest making sure to keep records of their action with security cameras just in case thing escalates out of your control.

  • mezje on 19/06/2021 - 17:13
    +1

    Talk to them first, if nothing changes just move the hoop and start to (profanity) with them.

  • hueylewis on 19/06/2021 - 17:44
    +4

    I lived in a beautiful inner city street, with houses on one side and a nature reserve and creek on the other. Multi million dollar land value properties. A few doors from me was a housing authority house. It was a recently rebuilt 5 bedroom modern brick home. It was let to a family of a certain demographic. This demographic is at the top of the protected species list. The next few years was hell on earth. There was a series of families move in and out after each of the same demographic behaved in the same way. Each one worse than the previous. Just a few of the issues. Screaming and fighting at all ours of the night, not only in the house but in the street. Police and other authorities in attendance constantly. Dogs roaming in and out attacking pedestrians. Various drunk and drug effected members of the family and extended family threatening neighbors, the postman and any other person who dared to confront them. 20 foot skips appearing every 6 months to remove truck loads of junk. Dumped cars in the front lawn. Rubbish littering the front lawn and surrounding area. Situation became dangerous. Spear through the neighboring fence. Fire brigade attending multiple times due to fires being lit. None of the relevant authorities were interested in intervening and any complaint was met with accusations of racism and fobbed of as a 'cultural issue' The immediate neighbor's concerns, who copped the bulk of the effects, were ignored by the rest of the woke neighborhood, who sided with the family as it did not affect directly affect them. After years of this misery, I read the book, How I found Freedom in an Unfree World by Harry Browne. The gist of the book was, don't bother fighting the system, you will never win. Put all of your energy into obtaining the resources to have total control over your own situation.
    It was then that I decided to dedicate every single ounce of my energy and money into focusing on obtaining the means to make choices of what I will and won't put up with. I now live happily in a gated paradise over a thousand kilometers away, where any similar issues are dealt with promptly and effectively. Sadly most people are not able to take control of their life and finances and emotions in this manner and are doomed to misery, especially in this age of wokeness.

    • CalmLemons on 19/06/2021 - 19:44

      You read epictetus / stoicism yet?

      The greeks covered this millennia ago, control what you can, don't worry about stuff you cannot control. Move, you're not a tree.

      You should have offered to buy the property off the DHS.

      • hueylewis on 19/06/2021 - 20:37

        You are a wise man, indeed.

        Stoicism is an apt tool.

        No point in trying to buy out the problem.

        The aim of the system is to spread out the pain, and disperse if from one single area, so that the systematic failures of wokeness can be hidden.

        • CalmLemons on 19/06/2021 - 22:51

          I'll read that book anyway.

          Problem with the system is no one is motivated to be held accountable for the problem/or customer, the resident affected. Public service at your best.

          • hueylewis on 19/06/2021 - 23:45

            @CalmLemons: read the book asap. not everything in it is applicable, but it changed my life for the better.

  • hueylewis on 19/06/2021 - 18:32
    +1

    Good luck with the council. All my council did was side with the miscreants. Any valid complaint was ignored fobbed off to some other authority or slow walked. Hope you have better luck than we ever did.

  • mshanann on 19/06/2021 - 19:04
    +2

    You should start using their bin and start playing on the basketball hoop. Adjust the height. Maybe play in the evening or early morning.

    Take the bin to where you keep your own. Spray paint your street number on it.

  • CalmLemons on 19/06/2021 - 19:38

    "I believe that these forums have a significantly different demographic to mine." lol

    Yes, we're all martians like Elon Musk.

    I would find that annoying AF. I live in a nice neighborhood so people are pretty civil, we all have a lot of cars, so everyone tries to part their car in front of their house. In fact sometimes if all the spots are taken, we park where we have to, but I've found everyone then moves their car out of their neighbors spots when they can. The demographic is very quiet though so that might explain why.

    What demographic are you out of interest?

    • hueylewis on 19/06/2021 - 20:31
      +2

      it only takes one $hitstain to ruin the whole street.

      • CalmLemons on 19/06/2021 - 22:54

        on that note, everyone picks up their dogs shit in our street.

        we had some shit stains that kept on dumping their hard rubbish onto my lawn/council lawn, but infront of my house. i just kept on moving it back. after three times they gave up.

        yeah, in all honestly, i definitely have passive aggressive disorder so you probably wouldn't want to be my neighbor anyway.

  • 2023 on 19/06/2021 - 21:09

    Sounds like you're a little too passive with all this happening and reasoning against some of the ideas posted here.
    I get the fear of repercussions, but at the same time surely the stress of seeing these incidents over and over would be taking a toll too?

  • GourmetFoodie on 20/06/2021 - 08:34
    +1

    Mate you need to knock on their door and have a polite chat. Focus on the most important things. Eg. Ignore the parking in front of your house.

    But I’d start with “you not be aware but there are some things going on that I need to draw your attention to …”
    Depending on their reaction.

    1. never put your bin out early to minimise opportunity for them to use.
    2. Call council re illegal dumping on nature strip
    3. Threaten kids with police for trespassing
    4. Move their bins Wayyyy down the street or back on their property or steal them!
  • bigbadboogieman on 20/06/2021 - 09:37
    +1

    They would have started slow initially and now probably think of you as a pushover. You won't lose any respect from a little confrontation because I doubt they have any.

    I would get a slightly bigger dog or build a fence to limit access to the front yard.

    Get some CCTV on motion detection, catch them dumping garbage in your bin and ask whether you have given them permission. At the same time "request" them to move their bin in front of their own home. If they don't comply, take their bin when it's emptied.

    Next time they play basketball Infront of your home, tell them it's noisy. Do this a few times and then move the hoop to the front of their home. It's on council land so you have an equal right to access as them.

    Re parking, park your car Infront of your home until they get the message. Even better if you have a trailer, just park and lock that infront for a little while.

  • Miss B on 20/06/2021 - 10:36
    +1

    You don't want to talk to them, talk to the council, be passive aggressive or build a fence. I think meditation is your best option.

    Edit: Just saw you went over and spoke to them. This was the best option, good on you for doing it even though you didn't really want to.

  • mincemeat on 20/06/2021 - 11:36
    +1

    Mate you are not intolerant, your neighbours are inconsiderate and taking advantage. But you shut down any suggestions and have a reason as to why you can't do any of it.
    There are only two options- you do something or you don't. They are not changing their scummy behaviour.

  • Ruckmauler on 20/06/2021 - 13:08

    I think as they are leaving their bin in front of your place it’s time to have a rummage. Find incriminating evidence of unlawful activity and then wrap in a box with a bow and leave it on their doorstep.

  • sAmiZZle on 20/06/2021 - 13:18

    Bake them a cake and go around and give it to them and have a nice friendly chat with them. Don't even bring up any issues you have with them. Likely they will find it hard to be a prick to you if they like you and realise you're a top bloke.

    It may fail, but can't hurt.

    • Kamsi on 20/06/2021 - 14:12
      +1

      If it fail you lose a cake and that is not what I called an ozbargainer :)

  • Kamsi on 20/06/2021 - 14:11

    Install a camera and confront the guy if he does it again.

  • Loopenip on 21/06/2021 - 00:37

    They said they didn't realise the bin had been there for 3 weeks (3ullsht).

    He also told me that this was all part of living in a neighbourhood (This agitated me)..
    and that he wouldn't care if I put my bins in front of his house

    See if you think the first statement is BS, then the second one doesn't necessarily contradict the first statement, but it's kinda a downplaying statement

    When you mess up and genuinely say "oh crap my bad" you don't dampen it with "oh crap my bad, but you gotta get used to it"

    So I think they're just spinning it and taking you on a ride…

    Just my 2c (1c because it's half price)

  • USER DC on 21/06/2021 - 10:09

    I honestly think you are very reasonable to believe that those things are a nuisance to you. And if council is telling neighbours to put stuff Infront of your property that's even worse. If it was me on cracked up mind, I'd be complaining at council first especially after knowing the fact council told neighbours to create a nuisance to you.

    Mate I must say I even hate the bloody strata telling me from their complaints that I cannot park 2 cars in my own car park. It's got my own exclusive right I park as many cars as I want to inside of my own exclusive land. The cars don't even go over the Street to dispute any disabled person walking by or something.

    It's like a one car in front of another.

    Only problem I can see in strata Bloody trying to over exercise its own rights.

  • smartazz104 on 21/06/2021 - 11:30

    They said they will remove the hoop but the kids are just trying to have fun (apparently I'm trying to ruin the kids fun)

    And they can't have fun in front of their own home, interesting…

  • pformag on 21/06/2021 - 12:20

    Need MS Paint diagram.

  • MND on 23/06/2021 - 11:12

    I would do the opposite apart from the basketball ring. I would park my car in front of their house, put my bins in the front of their property. I would make my kids play with their basket ball ring. As for the dog poop, that would get on my nerves. I would go take a shit in front of their house!

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