It doesn't matter if you're in the poshest or the poorest part of town, neighbourly spats can happen to anyone. This was a lesson learned by one man who moved into his grandfather's home after he passed away.
The house was nestled in a quiet neighbourhood and came with a sizeable garden. Although he endeavoured to keep the green space tidy, he struggled to mow the lawn weekly due to juggling a full-time job and other commitments.
Posting about the dispute on Reddit, he explained: "My grandpa passed away two years ago and I moved into his house. He was pretty healthy but he let the yard go down a bit, the grass was maintained but the trees were overgrown, his pond and patio was dirty."
"Our neighbour, years ago, sold their yard to a property builder. Our properties are in an L-shape so our neighbour was using our backyard as her 'virtual' backyard.
"For the past two years, I have been trying my best to maintain the backyard, while also working and dealing with my grandpa's stuff."
Recently, work stress and a bout of illness meant he fell behind on the gardening, though he planned to tackle it once back in good health. However, before he could get cracking, the neighbour came round, demanding he sort out the "mess" in his garden, reports the Mirror.
He continued: "This neighbour has always had nitpicks but I mostly ignored them. But they rang my door one day to complain about mess in the back and I told them, 'I have a life outside this house, if it bugs you that much you're more than welcome to do the work'.
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"Following that bylaw [enforcement officer] came by and they were very understanding about my situation and gave me more than enough time to feel better and mow the lawn."
Feeling less stressed about the situation, the man thought about how best to deal with the nitpicking neighbour. He then came up with a clever plan to ensure the neighbour wouldn't ever see any mess in his garden.
He said: "The whole thing got to me and I wanted to get the typical white picket fence as there wasn't a fence and we were passively looking for a dog.
"I decided, screw it, and built the largest fence I could and since her house was right on the property line, she now looks out the window and instead of seeing my backyard she sees just a wood fence."
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Other Redditors were impressed with his ingenious home improvement work, with some suggesting ways to tick off the neighbour even more. One user said: "You should paint a picture of tall, unkempt grass on her side of the fence to stare at every time she looks."
Another joked: "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Too bad that with your 8ft fence, she'll never know."
A third said: "I can only imagine the sour cat-face this neighbour must make towards you now and of course you can maintain the backyard lawn to your own preferences now that she can't see it."
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