Can you be more specific about what the angst was with the old neighbors?
Sure thing. The day I moved in they approached me to ask if they could occasionally use my drive so they wouldn't have to move cars. They would drive the car over the small hump and exit/enter via my drive. Within one month this went from occasionally to 10-15 times per day, with them complaining about tire damage through out.
Single lane drives are the norm on my street and everyone just moves cars and/or parks on the street as needed. When they told me they were listing the house I asked them to stop using my driveway as I didn't want to give potential new neighbors the impression that doing so was a viable long term solution. There were several instances of potential buyers parking in and/or blocking my driveway and when I approached a realtor one day (who had been a culprit several times) it turned ugly. I again asked my neighbors to be sure to note that the drives are not shared (as clearly spelled out in the deeds) and they flipped out telling me I was preventing them from selling the house.
There were other bizarre issues- essentially they seemed to feel as though my drive and yard were their drive and yard and when asked to stop they became increasingly nasty. The house is about to close and I would very much like to have a friendly, even if distant, relationship with the new neighbors, as I do with the others on the street. Heck, anything is better than being called an "on the spectrum, fucking bitch" as happened during this morning's interaction with the "old" neighbors. I guess they felt within their rights to leave garbage in my garden and on my drive last night (yes, I know for certain it was them).
So, ditto on the "good fences!"
Your neighbors were out of line.
My thoughts:
- Keep your yard clean
- Stay out of my driveway.
- Do not let your dog poop in front of my house. I don't have a fucking dog. Do not throw your dog poop bags in my conveniently located trash can on trash day (before I am able to bring it back behind my hedge). Use your own damn trash can.
- Do not have a dog that barks incessantly
- No loud parties
- Your chickens are fine
- If you are going to have a party annually, just let me know (and hey, invite me up for a drink)
So I've got 3 immediate neighbors, because I have a shared driveway. Actually, it's ours, but there's a house behind ours with ingress/egress rights.
- Don't drive up and down too fast, I have kids
- Don't park big vehicles on the street so that we can't see to pull out
- If you've got extra fresh salmon, sure bring it on down!
- If your elderly brother is visiting to house sit and he needs help, give him my number no problem.
- If you want to work on trimming the hedge together, that's fine too.
My neighbors are great. One is a young divorced man who rents out a room and a garage. Which is a parking bummer, but they are all quiet.
One is a young family - some of our kids are the same age and are in school together. They are easy to talk to and watched our fish when we traveled. I like to hear their chickens. They are adding a rental unit to their garage - another parking bummer but it will bring them income.
The third is an older man who used to own 4 vehicles, but is now down to 2. He's very nice, we are friendly, he's got a nice dog.