Cilla Carden of Perth, Australia, is planning more legal action against her neighbours, citing their cooking smells, cigarette smoke, chairs scraping on concrete, reflective light, the sounds of children playing basketball, and pet birds.
Seriously? Aren't all those things just what you would expect from a family enjoying their home? Are they meant to creep around super-silently, avoiding any kind of noise or smells or signs of their existence? I would say Ms Carden is ludicrously intolerant and unable to live and let live.
Jenny and I have had a few problems with neighbours, but there's no way we would pour money into lawyers' pockets to deal with them. There are always other ways of sorting things out.
We once had a flat in a London mansion block, and the neighbours were fond of riotous all-night parties. We kept a detailed diary of the disturbances and asked the local council to take action. The neighbours were fined a large sum and moved out shortly afterwards. Result!
A few years before, in another block of flats, our downstairs neighbours were amazingly noisy, one with a constant hacking cough we could hear all too clearly. We asked them politely if they could be less noisy, but their response was to let down our car tyres.
While we were still wondering what else we could do, they moved out and were replaced by a much quieter couple we befriended. Problem solved.
Now we live in a detached house so neighbour nuisance is less likely, though we did have some neighbours who were also fond of late-night parties. Luckily they tired of such revelry, two of them moved out and the one person left is quiet as a mouse.
Legal action? It's a mug's game.
She sounds like a real nut case. We've had some annoying neighbors over the years, but I can't imagine calling the cops on them.
ReplyDeletePeople take slights over the smallest of things which then get overblown
ReplyDeleteLook at my blog comments from time to time
Bijoux: I diagnose narcissistic attention-seeking (among other things).
ReplyDeleteJohn: They do. Your blog comments are often splendid examples of mountains-out-of-molehills.
too long! so deleted it.
ReplyDeleteI agree. a lot of things I can endure. and just normal living is fine.
some things are very hard to endure. but at my age moving is too tiresome and not an option. so … it's to be endured until THEY move I guess! lol
We've been very lucky with neighbors in our apartment building. Once we had some heavy smokers down below and the smoke seeped up, but amazingly plugging up our unused electrical outlets helped a lot.
ReplyDeleteWe once had a neighbor in the apartment next door that came home in the wee hours then played reggae music very loudly. I was still deciding whether or not to report him to management when he moved. Yay!
ReplyDeleteTry living next to a drug dealer. I did. You don't complain and never go to police as it could be your life or your children's.
ReplyDeleteIt was sheer hell. If you think drug dealers live in seedy areas you are so wrong. They live in good neighbourhoods, far more easy to deal from. You post is timely as I dropped off a young woman in trouble at her "home" today. It was a crack house. A McMansion in a posh neighbourhood. She is desperately trying to move out.
XO
WWW
Trailer parks are prone to "close neighbor" disputes, too, in my unscientific analysis. Management is attempting to weed out the problem sorts, but on occasion they were part of the problem. And so it goes.
ReplyDeleteTammy: Yes, quite often the problem is solved by the offending neighbours moving out.
ReplyDeleteJean: Plugging up the unused electrical outlets reduced the smoke - that's amazing!
Linda: Reggae music in the small hours must have been infuriating. You were lucky they moved out before there was a nasty confrontation.
ReplyDeletewww: I know, drug dealers are absolutely everywhere nowadays, even remote villages in the middle of nowhere. I can't imagine anything much worse than having to live in a crack house. I hope she manages to get away.
Joanne: I guess anywhere people live near other people there are going to be nuisance neighbours. Hopefully the nuisance is a minor one you can live with and it doesn't lead to an aggressive showdown.
ReplyDeleteOur new neighbours are pests...but coming slowly under control thanks to various public services and the local development committee. They are the only people with whom we have had problems apart from, years ago, one woman complaining about the smell of sardines on our BBQ
ReplyDeleteHelen: I remember your earlier comment about your current neighbours. Hopefully they'll be brought under control.
ReplyDeleteThe smell of sardines? That's a strange one!
Helen's comment reminds me of the vegan Australian woman who sued her neighbors for "barbecuing, smoking and children playing basketball, among other complaints."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/09/03/vegan-sues-her-neighbors-barbecuing-their-backyard-australia/2196077001/
She lost.
Jean: That's the story I'm referring to. Mind you, I do wonder why people have to set up barbecues and send smoke into their neighbours' gardens instead of cooking where you're meant to cook - in the kitchen. I've never had the urge to set up a barbecue.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I live in a field in the middle of nowhere.
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Ms Scarlet: Very sensible. Except that you can't just nip down to the corner shop for some milk.
ReplyDelete