Posted on 05/18/2008 12:13:10 PM PDT by Krankor
I live in a big city on a nice street. My neighbors are very nice people. We don't socialize or anything, but we get along very well and I'll cut their front lawn in the summer and they'll shovel my snow in the winter. No formal agreement or anything, we just do it. They have two little boys and the dad will play catch with them out in front, oh, maybe once or twice a week. Dad will be in front of his house and the two boys in front of mine. Now, I don't really care about my lawn because there are just too many dogs and other kids on the block, but I do care about the bushes in front of my house (took 15 years to grow them). Also, I have a garden apartment that I rent out and my tenant has a very nice garden down there. Anyway, when the trio are playing catch, the ball often goes into the bushes, which means one or both of the kids run down the steps to the garden apt area and sometimes into my tenant's garden to retrieve it. My concern- they're eventually going to ruin my bushes and my tenant's garden. Do you think it's acceptable to go to my neighbor and simply ask him if he could be the one who plays in front of my house instead of the two boys? In other words, he's going to be a bit more careful getting any errant balls. I should mention two things. I have two mulberry trees in my yard which I trim every year, but a good number of berries (a couple hundred) fall into their yard and they've never complained. Also, the mother planted about two dozen tulips in front of her house so she probably doesn't want the boys playing in front of her house either. Advice please.
Put up an electric fence.
(Just kidding)
Bush Rearrangement Syndrome?
I put a hex on you
Tell him you would really appreciate if he would talk to his sons to let them know to use extra care when they are retrieving a ball that lands in your plant areas.
I would not ask him to switch spots with the kids because he might take offense to that. (he might think you see his children as irresponsible)
If the father is sympathetic to your request then he will talk to his boys or he will switch “spots” with the boys on his own.
I also have my own problem with a neighbor - but he is a total jac@ss. His water well sits on the property line. His water well is leaking a bunch of water into the corner of my yard. This has drown and killed one of our full grown Forsytha bushes and the water now is making a 10' plus long rut in our yard. We have asked him to numerous times to please repair his well but he ignores our request. The next step is for us to get a lawyer involved because if he keeps ignoring it the damage to our yard is going to be costly and we should not have to pay for it. The problem is it is senseless to repair our yard until he repairs his leaking well. (We live in the rural country BTW)
You sound like Obama.
Couldn't he slip on a mulberry? Or would that be considered an act of God?
LOL
I love troubled children, but let them play two doors down.
The desire to maintain the landscaping is not unreasonable. Joy can be found without destruction.
It’s fine to sacrifice to help others; I just don’t believe th you don’t have to let little boys trash your property is in that realm. They also need to learn respect for others’ things.
That should have read: “Letting little boys trash your property is not in that realm”.
I agree sorry I said anything. He did not say they were being trashed, just that he did not want them to be. Which is reasonable.
Now thats the funniest thing I’ve heard all day
Great one
Don’t be sorry, Easternsky.
Cva, I liked the idea of getting the children involved in maintaining the bushes.
I love the fact that you are such a great neighbor. Mine is a monster. It seems like everytime he came over he was complaining about something. Obviously we avoided him. He was sort of respectfull to my husband, but was very aggresive with me when I was alone. The city ended up citing him for frivolous complaints against us. He really started to scare me. After a few conservation from 3rd parties who intervened, they determined he felt slighted by us. Wierd!
I’d say your neighbors are lucky to have you, and you may want to somply hint that your tenant may complain about the balls so tell him to please be carefull. Good luck!!!
You should consider digging a trench that would re-route the leak away from your property and then get the repairs done. Find out who his insurance company is and file a claim against his liability coverage. Try to do that before doing the repairs, though you could re-route to protect your property from further damage.
You might check with your own insurance carrier... but if I remember correctly, branches hanging over the neighbors property could technically be considered his to harvest and enjoy the fruit or do as he would like to with them. That means the liability is his if the mulberries are on his ground and he slips on them.
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