So our neighbors have been a growing problem for a few months now. They seem to be a flop house for six or seven people, most of them look high all day. They go out and Rev a Harley at 3am, they burn plastic been our houses in a fire pit, they have a new dog every two weeks because they keep getting out and getting hit by traffic in the busy street we live on, the current two have bit people. I’m not one to care how someone lives, but these folks make the rest of our slum neighborhood look downright utopian.

I’ve tried taking to them, they’re stupidly hostile. I’ve put in complaints with the city, noise complaints with the police, they don’t do anything about it. Does anyone have advice on dealing with this? I’m tired, at my wits end, and my small town tactics aren’t as easy to pull off in a proper city.

  • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Rev a Harley at 3am, they burn plastic been our houses

    Finally people with some culture!

    Imagine them using cheap chinese motorbikes instead …

    /s

  • AmidFuror@fedia.io
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    7 months ago

    People only seem to hate on HOAs because they don’t like the rules they agreed to when they bought or moved into a property. But they can also enforce better behavior and conditions on nuisance people like these when the law otherwise does not require being a good neighbor.

    • suction@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      In theory they can but IRL HOAs don’t solve these problems. Because not all members of the HOA are equal either, those with bigger houses / older contracts get preferred treatment and or will just bribe the HOA board to be able to do whatever the hell they want, ie noise.

    • Wahots@pawb.social
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      7 months ago

      Chill HOAs for stuff like rusted wrecks on the front lawn, totally understandable. But the HOAs around here have $500-$1,000 a month fees, which seems excessive to say the least.

    • Delphia@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Seconded.

      You only hear the horror stories, my parents sold their house and theres a horder house on the corner of the Cul-de-sac. The agent thinks that house cost them $50,000 easily.

  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Yeah… so I had a trap house move into the abandoned house next to mine.

    Lots people spouting off with this and that and the other but won’t give you advice that works. And advice that works? Banana bread.

    Dead ass. Make them banana bread. Monthly if not weekly. Make them notice when it’s not there.

    We did this with the gang / crews that would rotate through next door. Was a rolling assemblage of cardroom, drug spot, ladies, just depended on the crew.

    But I’ll have you know, they do not fuck with the house that makes them banana bread. We ask them to not having people smoking and talking around outside? Next day, signs up on the porch “No smoking or hanging around”, same with music, you name it. Obviously there are limits, but it took what could have been a terrible situation and made it bearable.

    For this to work you have to change you attitude. Eventually they got busted by the feds, but once we had made “neighbors” with them, the rest was easy. They even started moving the trap house lawn. Respect earns respect. Change your attitude and you might be able to change the situation.

    • Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 months ago

      This is actually the tactic I used on the rest of the neighborhood. The small town charm and my double chocolate brownies cooked in a waffle maker (I call them Wownies) has me on good terms with everyone from the dealer down the street to the homeless under the bridge. Unfortunately these folk don’t bite when I offer and bite too much then I don’t. After the first few tries they just started trying to hang out in my yard and started peaking too close at me workshop.

    • Thorry84@feddit.nl
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      7 months ago

      And then they all clapped, the gang, the neighbors and even the banana bread joined in

  • RBWells@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    What you may not have tried yet: If the yard is bad enough, call code enforcement, not police, they will send notices to the landlord not the residents, then the landlord will come yell at the residents. Burning trash may also be a code enforcement thing, not police. Those code people don’t mess around, once they send a notice you have to respond/address it.

  • spittingimage@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I’ve been in this situation several times. In the first case we moved out because the neighbour was also harassing our landlord and he decided to sell rather than deal with her. In the second case, the neighbours’ landlord evicted them because they accidentally burned down the garage. In the third case another neighbour (a big guy whose face is mostly scars) threatened them with violence and it worked.

    • Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 months ago

      I think the first avenue I’ll have to try here is the land lord, I’ve never seen him but there’s gotta be documents who owns the building.

    • Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 months ago

      If in being frank, they have an open crawl space next to unguarded electrical boxes and a gas main. This is an easy fix, but I promised my partner is keep it legal until we had a real reason not to.

        • Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.worldOP
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          7 months ago

          Well the dogs are constantly trying to get my son, the burning plastics can be smelt in the house, they’ve broken a section of our fence trying to get their dogs, and of course the 3am motorcycle business.

  • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    Aside from the Harley thing being a nuisance, I’m absolutely thankful we live in a society where there is nothing you can “do about” the neighbors you don’t like.

    You have the option to move, I suppose.

    • joneskind@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Where do you live? Need a place with a friendly neighborhood to cook my moonshine and get drunk all day with my cousin wife. She’s a huge fan of Barbra Streisand and a bit deaf so I hope you won’t mind. Most of our dogs are friendly with the kids unless they don’t ride a bike.

      I need to warn you though, sometimes my wife and get arguments about politics, especially when we start drinking in the morning, but it only happens once or twice in a week. No biggie.

      Did I say she’s a bit deaf?

      Anyway. See you soon neighbor!

    • Hacksaw@lemmy.ca
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      7 months ago

      Yeah getting dogs run over every 2 weeks, letting dogs bite people, burning plastic, running illegal drug dens… These are definitely the kinds of freedoms we need to protect! The only problem is running motorcycles at night, that’s where you draw the line apparently…

  • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    It sounds like you’re dealing with a biker gang. If that’s the case then you’re not going to be able to reason with them. They’re further entrenched in their lifestyle than in regular society. I hate to suggest narcing, but next time you call the cops, let them know that they’re running gang activities out of the house. Cops care more about gangs than they do noise complaints. If you’re in a really bad neighborhood then they still might not do anything about it, but they’re more likely to mobilize if they think that there’s the possibility of a big bust. Be careful though, if the gang suspects you ratted on them, it can be a hard time for you.

    • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      Also when the cops find out you lied about gang activity, to manipulate them into moving against non gang members, you’re fucked.

      • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Doesn’t seem like a leap at all to me. What they described is a gang flop house, not some po-dunk family. It should be fairly easy to tell the difference though. Biker gangs typically wear patches on their jackets indicating their membership.

        OP never said that they’re white, and there are many different ethnicities that ride Harleys.

        • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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          7 months ago

          there are many different ethnicities [who] ride Harleys

          Huh. Here I thought it was trashy old white guys and their fans.

          • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            The Mongols are a huge gang and they’re predominantly Hispanic. There are plenty of African American motorcycle clubs that ride Harleys on the West Coast.

  • daltotron@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I mean, those neighbors sound awesome, for one. For two, they also keep rent low, which is pretty good.

    But in any case, if you want them to move out, probably I would [redacted]. As a bonus, you won’t have new neighbors for maybe a year, unless they just throw in a manufactured home or a prebuilt or something. On the downside, you might have to deal with construction noises next door.

    • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      I can also recommend [redacted] but wearing the lead-lined jacket afterwards does get tiring. Can OP negotiate with planetary [redacted] for a better solution?

  • suction@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Not sure where you live but if this happened in Japan you’d talk to the local Yakuza and they’d take care of it. Meaning they’d make them an offer they can’t refuse.

  • Legend@lemmy.sdf.org
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    7 months ago

    Oof i didn’t give any fucks until the dogs part seems like an awful waste of dogs for no reason other than being a pos . I don’t think there is much you can do unless violence is an option like you can’t ask them nicely or get any help from law and violance may even decrease your life quality rather than increasing it .

  • RIPandTERROR@sh.itjust.works
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    7 months ago

    Catnip.

    Buy a bunch of catnip (it’s not expensive on eBay) and sprinkle that shit all over their yard. Get it in the flower beds, get it in the ditches, get it everywhere. It’s a mint and it grows like a weed. Next thing you know the neighbors front lawn will be littered in cats and there will be no way to get rid of them.

    Added bonus is you’ll have cats you can pet, and very little pests in your neighborhood.

    • Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 months ago

      Actually, catnip was on my garden list already! I was planning on getting fast and loose with the seeds so this won’t take much extra.

      • RIPandTERROR@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        If you want to get really nefarious and don’t mind getting a little legally sketchy, bug spray normally kills grass in the areas that it’s sprayed in. If you happen to draw rude things in someone’s front lawn there’s no way to stop it from showing aside from spraying more, or just waiting for it to grow out

      • RIPandTERROR@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        Gonna level with you… If they’re roaming outdoor cats, they’re already in danger. If you really feel motivated to help them this would also bring them to an easier for SPCA to pick up. They’re also a threat to local wildlife.

        • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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          7 months ago

          Used to be - by the numbers - a cat that goes outside At All would live half as long as one that never-not-once went outside.

          Now it’s 1/4. Source: SPCA contact.

          And sure they’ll kill pests, but a housecat is an absolute killing machine for songbirds. You want less mosquitoes, you need to see far fewer cats.

  • BigTrout75@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Sounds like you have a case of shitty neighbors. Like cockroaches, only way of getting rid of them would be burning the house down. Since that isn’t a humane option, I would look at moving.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Many paces so not allow more than “x” number of unrelated people to live in the same house. Might try that avenue. If its several people, see what zoning allows max capacity of the home to be. Buildin, housing and fire departments don’t like too many people in one house.