Reddit Stories - The PERSON living next door has been TREATING my OUTDOOR space as his

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #neighbors #boundaryissues #conflictresolution #communityliving #respectboundariesSummary: The person living next door has been treating my outdoor space as his, causing boundary issues. Seeking advice on how to address this situation and maintain a peaceful community living environment.Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, neighbors, boundaryissues, conflictresolution, communityliving, respectboundaries, outdoor, space, personalproperty, etiquette, communication, neighborly, behavior, propertyrights, dispute, resolutionBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. The person living next door has been treating my outdoor space as his own parking area and trash disposal site for a long time, so when I observed him on video throwing a television into the wooded area on my property, I immediately contacted the authorities. Police and he threatened to sue me. I've been dealing with some bad neighbors for three years now. I thought I'd share my story both for entertainment value but also ask, what would you do differently in my situation? The context behind the neighbors. An old man lives there who had a wife that passed away before I moved in. Now some younger people from the projects, who aren't related to him, take advantage of him and live with him rent-free.

How they met, I don't know. Despite the less than reputable characters that live with him, the old man is the biggest thorn in my side. I wish I could post pictures in this subreddit, but I'll just have to describe it. My house is situated further back from the road than theirs, I can see into their backyard from my front door. The old man likes to drive into his yard and pull up to his front door to unload groceries so he doesn't have to walk as far to take them in the house. I understand that part. The problem is, he pulls down my driveway, then across my yard to get to his front door. It kills my grass and leaves ruts in the yard.

The next time I saw him outside, I asked him. him to stop driving in my yard and he said he would, but he kept doing it. A second time I asked him to stop, and again it didn't stop. After the third I was angry, so I went to his house and pounded on the door but nobody answered. I went home, wrote an angry note, and package taped it to his door threatening to call the police if it happened again. Surprise, it happened again. So after the fourth time it happened I went to the police, and the police told him to stop and he did. To this day he hasn't driven in my yard, thank goodness. But the story doesn't end here. After my trouble with them I put ring cameras up on my property, and last month my cameras

caught something baffling. He dumped a big box TV on my property. I have a huge yard and a lot of land, I even own some woods. He has a fenced-in yard and also owns some woods. He rode his lawn mower into my front yard, down my side yard and into my backyard all the way to my woods, and dumped a box TV back there. It wasn't even three feet into the woods. You know, rather than leave it by the curb for the garbage company to recycle for free, he had to get rid of it on my property. The audacity. So naturally I took a picture of the TV and pulled the recordings from my cameras and took it to the police. The police are charging him with littering and forcing him to remove the TV and dispose of it properly, as well as trespassing him from my property.

He'll be hit with criminal mischief if he sets even a foot on my property again. There was one morning last year where I woke up to go to work in the morning, and there were like ten local police cars and state cops all outside his house. Here the people from the projects that were living with him were dealing drugs out of his house and they were doing a bust on them. Everyone but the old man was arrested, and they just got let out of jail this month and are back in the house. I really just need to move. It's ashamed because I live in such a nice neighborhood. It's the reason I even picked the house, the location. I've talked to my other

neighbors about the bad neighbors and they said everything was fine before the old man's wife died. But now he almost seems like he has dementia and is being taken advantage of by some bad people. And now I have drug dealers and trespassers right next door. FML. Update 1, about a week ago I posted talking about my issues with my neighbor driving through my yard in the past and how I had the police tell them to stop, and how more recently my neighbor dumped a large box TV on my property, caught on my cameras and reported to the police. Yesterday, my camera caught my neighbor leaving a handwritten note on my door that I read when I got home from work, and I also heard from the police regarding the TV. I'll start with the conversation I had with the police and leeway into the

note he left on my door. The police had been trying to reach my neighbor by phone for the last week, and had made multiple visits to their house to tell him to remove the TV, but he wasn't answering his phone or the door. So the officers on duty have been making routine visits on our street to see if they could catch him outside, and they finally did. They told him he had to remove the TV and he was livid, naturally. He tried to claim that the property wasn't mine and was his, it's mine, not sure why he thinks otherwise considering a fence separates our properties, and that he could do what he wants. The officer said whether it was mine or his was irrelevant, as littering is littering and you can't dispose of electric waste by dropping it in the woods

and pretending it isn't there. So they told him he had to dispose of it properly, and they told me if the TV isn't gone in three to four days to call them again and they're going to give him a citation for it. So that was yesterday that this conversation happened between them. Around lunchtime was when my ring camera caught him leaving the note. The note said along the lines of I am giving you until June 1st to trim branches of a tree on your property that are dropping leaves and twigs into my property, or I'm filing a civil suit against you. I am tired of picking up the sticks and leaves dropped on my yard by your tree. So naturally the first thing I did was look up my state and local laws, and also went to the police station to notify the officers

that this happened so they were aware of it and could make a report. The officers at the station told me not to worry about it, they know what he's like and he wouldn't actually go through with it, he's just mad that I got him in trouble and is taking it out on me with any excuse he can come up with, and the officers told me it's not my responsibility to take care of it. Our state and local laws state that it's not the responsibility of the owner to trim branches that protrude over property line, but that property owner that it is protruding on is allowed to cut back the branches back off of their property line. Whether you agree with that or not is up to you, but that's the law that I both read and that the police department informed me of. But here's the thing, the tree is healthy and it's not dropping large branches or anything of the sort, nor does it go over anything that would cause damage to his property. Even if it did, insurance takes care of that, it's not my responsibility.

He's obviously but heard about me getting him in trouble these last few months and is reaching at anything he possibly can to cause trouble for me like I have for him. Unfortunately, I'm an upstanding citizen and he has no grounds to get me in trouble with anything. Also our police department and local government despises him and his residents so much that even if this somehow does go to court, his word is nothing compared to mine. So, I'm calling his bluff and ignoring him. I know him well enough at this point too, I'm not giving him the attention he wants.

If he would have been kind about the situation and had a respectful conversation with me about the tree I would have been a lot more considerate. But he didn't even talk to me about it. Now that he thinks he can threaten me, he can forget it. The amount he's inconvenienced me severely outweighs leaves falling from my tree into his yard. Maybe when he stops driving across my yard and dumping garbage on my property and trespassing, I'll think about whether or not to help him. I can't believe there's people on this planet so selfish. See my last post for the details on how these people are the scum of our community.

Crack-dealing sociopaths in the one garbage house of our nice neighborhood. I'm really disappointed things have ended up this way because the whole reason I even got the house was because of the neighborhood. But I had to pick the one place next door to the crack dealers and trespassers. Again, FML. I'm going to start looking for a new place to live. I'm so thankful the police has been so helpful and understanding of the situation, but it seems no matter how many times I send them and no matter how willing they are to cause trouble for me, this needless drama won't end until they're out of that house or I just leave.

I keep to myself. I'm a single, quiet guy who must be. minds his own business in his own house. I just want to be left alone. It's time to start looking elsewhere, I think. Anyways, I hope my strife has been entertaining. I'll probably have another update after the first week of June regarding all of this. Would you have done anything differently?

Let me know if you have any advice. Thanks. Update 2, June 3rd, 2025. This will be my final update regarding what? what's been going on, unless anything substantial happens in the future. I don't think anything else is going to come of this particular situation, but some things have happened between now and my last post. Here's what's happened. As for the update, it's now June 3rd and naturally I've done nothing about the tree. Countless conversations with other people, including the police,

as well as my own research tell me I'm not responsible. I haven't heard from the neighbor, haven't heard from anybody on his behalf, haven't gotten any more notes on my door or in my mailbox or anything of the sort. It was just as we suspected, all bark no bite. He was mad about me getting him in trouble and tried to intimidate me and it didn't work. He since removed the TV. Where he put it, I'm not sure, I never saw it on the curb for the garbage or anything. For all I know he could have just threw it in his own woods, but I don't care enough to attempt to find out. It's off my property and none of my business anymore as a result. I also double-checked with the police to be sure that he was trespassed for good,

and they assured me he was, and him removing the TV from my property was the last time he or anybody in that house was permitted from stepping foot on it, and he understood this. As many commenters suggested, I went down to our local human services building in our township and spoke to somebody in the office of aging. It's our version of adult protective services. I spent an hour at their office and made a full report on the whole situation to them, the old man and his seemingly declined mental state and physical state, the types of people living with him. I gave them all the juicy details, from the footage of him struggling to climb two stairs onto my porch to leave the note showcasing his physical state, to another time where he chased

a squirrel on his lawnmower into my yard showcasing his mental state. I even showed them the footage I had from the raid on his house where the people that were living with them were, temporarily. arrested for dealing crack out of his house. I gave them the names of the people living with him, given to me by my buddy in the police department who has been dealing with them for me. I left no detail out, no stone unturned.

The woman I spoke with submitted the report to their investigation unit, but she said I wouldn't get an update regarding the situation. I'm only going to hear from anybody if they ask for more information from me. Only time will tell if this will do any good not only for myself, but for the old man too. To summarize, the TV is off my property, they're officially trespassed, their legal action threats were bluffs, and they haven't driven on my yard since. I feel better about everything and I'm hoping that this is the last I have to deal with for the foreseeable future, but only time will tell. Of course, should anything else happen I'll

be quick to tell it here, but for now this will be the last time I post regarding this situation. I also wanted to thank everybody for the suggestions made on my previous posts. I wouldn't have thought to make a report with the Office of Aging if it wasn't for commenters. Here's hoping he gets the help he needs and I get the peace and quiet I've been longing for. Next story, Dad always opened my mail so I decided to get revenge by opening his, but instead I found evidence he was having an affair and my parents got divorced when I showed my mom the letters from his mistress. I, 24F, don't want to say what I do for work, but let's just say it's the type of job that includes a lot of written letters from clients that are supposed to be confidential and only

for my eyes. I'm fresh out of college and living with my parents so I can finish paying off for school. My work letters, of course, go to my parents' address since they live miles away from a post office and driving to a PO box is a huge pain. The issue started with my father. Ever since high when I received mail my dad would open it. Whenever I received Christmas slash birthday cards and the mail with money in them, my dad would hand me the card and insist he'll keep the money safe for me until I demanded he handed over. Any package I would order for myself he would open and hand to me. Sometimes the products were used by him as well. The final straw was when he received my acceptance letter to my dream college and instead of waiting for me to come home to

open it, he opened it himself and called me while I was at work to congratulate me. I've spoken to my mother about how much this makes me feel uncomfortable and she told me she'd speak to my father about it, to which he would apologize and not do it for a week before doing it again the next week. I had also spoken to my dad about the confidentiality of the mail I would be receiving now that I'm working and he says he understands but it all came crashing down a few weeks ago while I was working my dad came into my room and handed me opened envelopes from my clients and even tried to have a conversation about it with me, but I just ignored. Him until he got the hint and left. After work I yelled at him for violating client confidentiality

to which he got defensive and said that I live in his house and any mail sent to his house would be read by him. Furious, that next week I thought I would take revenge on my father by going to the mailbox and reading his mail. But what I found was what ended my relationship with him. I had found credit card statements on jewelry and restaurants that were too fancy for my dad to go to a loan and I don't remember the last time my dad took my mom on a date nor bought her any jewelry. I also found a latter address to my dad from a woman who stated how tired she was for hiding this relationship for so long and how she is so desperate for his letters to reach her. When my dad noticed the mailbox was empty, my dad ran back in the house as white as a host. He walked into the kitchen to see me and my mom in the kitchen reading his mail. Before the fighting could start, my mom asked me to leave the house.

So I drove to my aunts who lives 45 minutes away and explained everything. I came back after two days when my dad's stuff was gone. My mom told me my dad's living in a hotel and she will be in contact with a divorce attorney. Turns out my dad has been having an affair with a family friend and were hiding it through letters oh leave no digital footprint. My dad ended up showing my mom the stash of letters he had and she took photos of each and every single letter before she asked him to leave. I feel at fault because I at first wanted to be petty with my dad

but it unraveled into this huge event and made me think, oh wonder he's been looking through my shit. He was giving himself away. I feel like I shattered my mom's world since I can hear her cry every night about it since the incident. Update 1. Thank you all. all so much. I wrote this all out last night drunk off my mind and I never expected this much kindness from strangers. I'll go ahead and answer a few questions here and then give an update.

1. Was my dad using my money from the gifts to buy stuff for his mistress? I'm 50 to 50 on this answer. I received cards when I was young with money and it was the same routine. Ants and uncles would leave $100 per card and my dad always gave them to me. me when I was younger. As I got older, obviously, the money reduced to $20 to $40. I do believe my dad would give me back half my money and those cards back which would make sense as to how he was able to make such huge expenses on his mistress. I need to collect proper evidence so I plan on calling my aunts and uncles and other relatives who would send me money. Two, the mistress would send letters addressed as a business or a credit card company. If you ask me they were doing

most. When my mom would check the mail she would see the letters that were addressed to my dad as bills or some crazy BS and never open them because she doesn't handle the bills. A lot of packages were sent by the mistress as well which is why he went through my packages and I don't want to imagine what kind of crap she was mailing him. Now for the update. Like I said before, it's been a few weeks since it happened. I've been doing my best to comfort my mother while she deals with all the legal business and my dad's constant appeals to my mom to apologize and beg for forgiveness. I've been a here to listen to her and she keeps spiraling between wanting to forgive him and cursing him to hell. I told her my own personal opinion which was to never take back a cheater.

She did basically everything for him and she shouldn't see it as her not being enough for him. That's his fault for not appreciating her. The mistress also was a married woman. My mom reached out to her husband sending him the letter she had taken photos of. Even had a long phone call with him about what was going on. He initiated the divorce and the mistress is now angry at my father for not being more careful. The mistress's ex-husband who I'll call Henry, has been a best friend of my mom's throughout the legal cases. I hear the mistress is still reaching out to forgive him which I honestly think is very funny since my dad is doing the same thing.

She was financially dependent on Henry and my dad isn't making enough at his job to support the lifestyle she wants. Yesterday Henry asked my mom to come out to lunch with him. They've been sad shut-ins for the past few days and they agreed to go and get some fresh air. I encouraged my mom to do such and to call me if my dad or the mistress decide to show face when they went just so I could pick her up. My dad hasn't apologized to me at all about reading my mail. In fact he's called me and left me voicemails telling me that this whole situation was my fault. Been going and crying saying he regrets everything and he hopes he can still be my dad. I honestly don't know what to do with him right now other than ignore him.

I don't know if there will be another update but I will if something major happens. Again, thank you so much for the supportive comments and I hope some of what I said clears up for you all. Update 2. Hi guys, it's been a full year since it happened and I wanted to update you guys. A few months after the post, my mom grabbed me and my younger sister, 20F, Rachel to talk about her interest in possibly going on a date with Henry. Obviously we were thrilled. They've been dating for almost a year now and I'm happy for them. Henry treats my mother with way more respect than what my father ever did for her. She glows with joy whenever he's around.

Our biological father was putting more mental strain on her than we thought. She went from being a shy, soft-spoken person, to a strong, confident woman and I couldn't be happier. As for our father, Jerry, and his mistress, Martha, they got married immediately after my mother, I'll call her Reagan and Henry. I didn't speak to Jerry other than the occasional text from him asking about how I was doing or to ask me for some cash. After they got married neither if their families support the marriage, they got black sheep respectfully. They tried to sue for cash but the case fell through in Reagan and Henry's favor.

I stopped talking to him fully when he spent a month harassing my sister for cash. Calling her repeatedly, texting her, showing up at her college, to the point where the dean had to get him escorted off the campus. That's when mom got us a harassment protection order. So now Jerry can only contact us when he wanted to meet with us, which was rare, or for medical emergency. My sister and I haven't heard from him since. That didn't stop Martha, though. Turns out the reason my dad was hounding for cash was because he got her pregnant. She wants expensive everything and Jerry is pulling everything out of his but to satisfy her.

Martha ended up being the one harassing my sister until she ended up at our door demanding to speak to Henry about he left a poor pregnant lady with nothing. Henry is a man that takes no bullshit. He opened the door, looked Martha dead in the eyes and told her, was it not cruel to cheat on your husband when he provided you with a mansion, designer bags, nice cars, trips, and all the love in the world. You have no right to call me cruel after everything you've used me for, and you're lucky I didn't demand any money back.

He shut the door and Martha ended up throwing a huge fit, even faked her water breaking with a water bottle. Police escorted her to the hospital and luckily, we were able to show them everything through our ring doorbell. Thank you everyone for your support in my story. I hope none of you guys have to go through this mess like me.