NWR - Reasonable expectations regarding neighbors

cupcait927 · November 2015

I need some advice from the group regarding an issue that has come up regarding our neighbors. Not sure if we have a right to say anything or if we're being unreasonable and need to suck it up. This is a little long -

Over the weekend, a family of renters moved in to the house next door. This house is very close to ours - their driveway is less than 10 feet from our house, and our bedroom window overlooks the driveway. We noticed that one of their cars is very loud, like they have either a bad muffler or one of those can mufflers on their exhaust, to make it louder. I'm thinking it's the latter but can't be sure. Either way, wasn't a big deal over the weekend.

Yesterday morning, the husband goes out to start his car at 5:30 in the morning and lets it run for close to 10 minutes before leaving for work. I woke up startled out of a sound sleep - the noise was incredibly loud and went on for a long enough duration that I couldn't fall back asleep. H was sleeping in our guest bedroom (came to bed way after I did and didn't want to wake me up) and he said that it was very loud in there as well, and woke him up. We figured we'd let it go, see if it happened again before considering saying something. Well, this morning it happened again. 5:30 am, car starts, wakes us up again, and runs for almost 10 minutes in the driveway. I'm now on day two of being woken up almost 2 hours before I need to be awake and I'm exhausted.

Here's where my dilemma is - do we have the right to say something to our neighbors? We do have noise ordinances in our town, and one of the points is that cars cannot have unreasonably loud exhausts, which this car does. I want to be sympathetic to the fact that this guy has to leave at such an early hour for work, but he's waking up the whole street (all of the houses are very close together, and we have a narrow street that amplifies the sound). How long should we let this go on before we say something? If we say something and nothing changes, should we go to the landlord next (we know where they live, just a few houses away) or let the village know and have them handle it? I don't want to create any bad blood so early on but I also would like to sleep and not be woken up every morning at 5 am.

julieanne912 · November 2015

I would say something, nicely. Maybe they don't even realize that your bedroom windows are right next to where this is happening? Just say something like "Hey, I'm sure you didn't even realize, but our bedroom windows are right next to where your car is parked, and the idle noise in the morning is waking us up earlier than needed... any way you can avoid letting it run continuously in the mornings, or maybe move it to the street to do it?"

We had this issue in our house, and we're on big lots. The neighbor rides his motorcycle (Harley) to work sometimes and right after we moved in, he fired it up at like 600 one morning and let it run for a good 10-15 minutes while he went back inside. My H mentioned it to him and since then, he doesn't let it run because he really didn't realize that the noise was loud enough to wake us up.

If it continues to be a problem I would talk to the landlord first. I think going to village to file a noise complaint is the very last resort.

cupcait927 · November 2015

@julieanne912 Thank you! That plan of attack is what we were thinking, but I just wanted to make sure we weren't being unreasonable. I know he can't help that he has to leave for work that early, but that doesn't mean I need to be up at 5:30 am either.

scrunchythief · November 2015

I was actually thonking of starting a similar thread myself! Nice timing.

From what I have read online so far, the advice has been talk to the neighbor first, then the landlord and then the authoities. In my case I would use ear plugs but I have an infant. So that's out. Now I just ned to get over my nerves and talk to them.

labro · November 2015

My only thought is this - we own a diesel engine truck. It is LOUD by design, there's not a lot you can do to muffle the sound. Diesel engines don't like the cold at all and you're supposed to let them warm up for several minutes before you put them in drive. It could just be your neighbor has a similar issue. I know we aren't intentionally trying to be assholes if we're in the pickup late at night/early in the am for a project or camping, but it happens.

Anyway, I like the idea of being nice about it and asking them to move the vehicle to the street to warm it up in the mornings. I sympathize...when I lived in the Midwest I always went out at least 15 minutes before work (so 6 am basically) to let my car warm up before my commute in the wintertime. I'd also consider just making an anonymous report to the village about it and let them take care of the issue rather than create bad blood with people who could be perfectly nice otherwise.

simcal18 · November 2015

cupcait927 said:
I need some advice from the group regarding an issue that has come up regarding our neighbors. Not sure if we have a right to say anything or if we're being unreasonable and need to suck it up. This is a little long -

Over the weekend, a family of renters moved in to the house next door. This house is very close to ours - their driveway is less than 10 feet from our house, and our bedroom window overlooks the driveway. We noticed that one of their cars is very loud, like they have either a bad muffler or one of those can mufflers on their exhaust, to make it louder. I'm thinking it's the latter but can't be sure. Either way, wasn't a big deal over the weekend.

Yesterday morning, the husband goes out to start his car at 5:30 in the morning and lets it run for close to 10 minutes before leaving for work. I woke up startled out of a sound sleep - the noise was incredibly loud and went on for a long enough duration that I couldn't fall back asleep. H was sleeping in our guest bedroom (came to bed way after I did and didn't want to wake me up) and he said that it was very loud in there as well, and woke him up. We figured we'd let it go, see if it happened again before considering saying something. Well, this morning it happened again. 5:30 am, car starts, wakes us up again, and runs for almost 10 minutes in the driveway. I'm now on day two of being woken up almost 2 hours before I need to be awake and I'm exhausted.

Here's where my dilemma is - do we have the right to say something to our neighbors? We do have noise ordinances in our town, and one of the points is that cars cannot have unreasonably loud exhausts, which this car does. I want to be sympathetic to the fact that this guy has to leave at such an early hour for work, but he's waking up the whole street (all of the houses are very close together, and we have a narrow street that amplifies the sound). How long should we let this go on before we say something? If we say something and nothing changes, should we go to the landlord next (we know where they live, just a few houses away) or let the village know and have them handle it? I don't want to create any bad blood so early on but I also would like to sleep and not be woken up every morning at 5 am.

Oh hell to the no. This is not appropriately neighborly behavior, and you absolutely have the right to say something.

I would bake them some "welcome to the neighborhood" cookies. Then I'd go over there with said cookies, chat them up for a bit, make some small talk, etc. etc. Then say something like "you may not realize this, but one of your cars is really loud. It wakes us up on a regular basis and we can hear it as it idles. I wanted to give you a heads up because you may not be aware that we have noise ordinances in this town, and I would hate to see you get a citation for it." Then see what they say. Perhaps suggest that they could get the muffler adjusted on the car or use another car in the early mornings if they insist on having a ridiculously loud vehicle (something I will never understand), but I doubt it will come to that. They'll either apologize profusely and figure out how to fix the problem themselves, or they'll ignore you and continue to be rude because they're selfish cretins.

If it's the latter, I'd have no problem reporting them to their landlord and/or to the city. I'd probably try their landlords first and see if they wanted to try to manage it or if they'd rather I take it up directly with the city. Either way I'd feel absolutely no guilt about it whatsoever. Noise ordinances exist for a reason.

cupcait927 · November 2015

labro said:
My only thought is this - we own a diesel engine truck. It is LOUD by design, there's not a lot you can do to muffle the sound. Diesel engines don't like the cold at all and you're supposed to let them warm up for several minutes before you put them in drive. It could just be your neighbor has a similar issue. I know we aren't intentionally trying to be assholes if we're in the pickup late at night/early in the am for a project or camping, but it happens.

Anyway, I like the idea of being nice about it and asking them to move the vehicle to the street to warm it up in the mornings. I sympathize...when I lived in the Midwest I always went out at least 15 minutes before work (so 6 am basically) to let my car warm up before my commute in the wintertime. I'd also consider just making an anonymous report to the village about it and let them take care of the issue rather than create bad blood with people who could be perfectly nice otherwise.

The bolded is my biggest worry about saying anything. This guy could've intentionally modified his car to make the exhaust louder (which is very possible) or it could just be a bad muffler. Or there could be another reason why he needs to let it run. I do want to wait a week to see if it keeps happening, because I can handle it if it happens occasionally. But if it happens every single morning, that's where I see it becoming an issue, because I don't think that I should have to be woken up every morning because of his car. FWIW, I did put in ear plugs last night and turned the fan up louder and it did very little to drown out the noise.

cupcait927 · November 2015

@bostonbride2015 Funny you mention cookies, H was saying last night that he wants to make brownies before he goes over there with a complaint when we haven't even introduced ourselves yet.

I'm glad that the consensus is that we do have a right to say something. If it does come down to having to go to the village, we'll probably say something anonymously and hope that everyone else on our street has said something as well. All of the houses around them have small children and I can imagine the sound is waking them up as well - as I said before, it's a small, narrow street and it amplifies sounds like crazy. If the people across the street have their TV on and the windows open, I can hear it clear as day in my house with our windows closed.

teddygirl9 · November 2015

If your street is that crazy for amplifying sounds, then they might not have an 'unreasonably' loud vehicle. It could be slightly louder than you're used to, starting up when it's dead quiet, and getting amplified.

I think it's fair to say something, but there are certain cars that are just louder - even unintentionally! My old car (99 sunfire GT) was noisy as shit. I even got the mufflers (dual exhaust) replaced and it didn't make a difference. If someone had've said something I would have been sympathetic, but there wasn't really anything I would've been able to do.

Please don't be passive aggressive about it (Here's some cookies, I'd just hate for you get a ticket for that noisy car...). I do hope you can come to a solution so you can sleep!

kimmiinthemitten · November 2015

I think you should see if there is a way to decipher if it's just a loud engine, like a diesel, an old car with a bad muffler, or if they spent money to "enhance" the exhaust system intentionally making it louder.

If it's the latter I have different advice than everyone else. The louder exhaust system is expensive so they are probably proud of it and think it's cool. IME people who spend that kind of money won't be friendly to requests to undo their work. I work with all mechanics, and I love those guys, but I assure you, when they do this to their cars, they don't give a rats ass about how it affects others. They do it because it's cool and because they want their car to be loud.

Even if other neighbors decide to complain, you'll be the only ones who had the courtesy to come forward first, so you'll be forever blamed.

I'd probably talk to the landlords since they're close enough to hear it for themselves and let them handle the problem. The loud car people have a legal obligation to their landlords, but not their neighbors.

simcal18 · November 2015

kimmiinthemitten said:
I think you should see if there is a way to decipher if it's just a loud engine, like a diesel, an old car with a bad muffler, or if they spent money to "enhance" the exhaust system intentionally making it louder.

If it's the latter I have different advice than everyone else. The louder exhaust system is expensive so they are probably proud of it and think it's cool. IME people who spend that kind of money won't be friendly to requests to undo their work. I work with all mechanics, and I love those guys, but I assure you, when they do this to their cars, they don't give a rats ass about how it affects others. They do it because it's cool and because they want their car to be loud.

Even if other neighbors decide to complain, you'll be the only ones who had the courtesy to come forward first, so you'll be forever blamed.

I'd probably talk to the landlords since they're close enough to hear it for themselves and let them handle the problem. The loud car people have a legal obligation to their landlords, but not their neighbors.

They do have a legal obligation to their neighbors, though. It's called a noise ordinance.

julieanne912 · November 2015

My car as a teenager had a loud as shit muffler on it, and I put it on there on purpose. I'm sure the neighbors loved it (one actually did, he was like my 2nd dad and said if he heard it come in at night, that meant I was home safely, so that was nice).

But yeah, I agree about not being passive aggressive about it. Just go over there and talk to them like adults to express your concern. Because if you hand them cookies and say something like "I'd hate for you to get a citation", they're going to know it was you that reported them if it comes down to it.

simcal18 · November 2015

cupcait927 said:
@bostonbride2015 Funny you mention cookies, H was saying last night that he wants to make brownies before he goes over there with a complaint when we haven't even introduced ourselves yet.

I'm glad that the consensus is that we do have a right to say something. If it does come down to having to go to the village, we'll probably say something anonymously and hope that everyone else on our street has said something as well. All of the houses around them have small children and I can imagine the sound is waking them up as well - as I said before, it's a small, narrow street and it amplifies sounds like crazy. If the people across the street have their TV on and the windows open, I can hear it clear as day in my house with our windows closed.

Hey, you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar, right?

I see no reason to assume that these people are jerks. They may be nice people who just genuinely don't realize how loud their car is in the morning. Then again, they may be inconsiderate assholes. The only way you find out if they're #1 or #2 is by pointing out the issue and seeing how they react.

cgss11 · November 2015

Can you tell what type of car it is?

I agree that I would casually mention it. I feel like this is tough though, because he's just getting ready for work like a responsible person. But, I get that it's annoying also.

I'm non confrontational, and also a pretty deep sleeper, so I would give it a week or so first to see if I adjusted to it also.

kimmiinthemitten · November 2015

bostonbride2015 said:

kimmiinthemitten said:
I think you should see if there is a way to decipher if it's just a loud engine, like a diesel, an old car with a bad muffler, or if they spent money to "enhance" the exhaust system intentionally making it louder.

If it's the latter I have different advice than everyone else. The louder exhaust system is expensive so they are probably proud of it and think it's cool. IME people who spend that kind of money won't be friendly to requests to undo their work. I work with all mechanics, and I love those guys, but I assure you, when they do this to their cars, they don't give a rats ass about how it affects others. They do it because it's cool and because they want their car to be loud.

Even if other neighbors decide to complain, you'll be the only ones who had the courtesy to come forward first, so you'll be forever blamed.

I'd probably talk to the landlords since they're close enough to hear it for themselves and let them handle the problem. The loud car people have a legal obligation to their landlords, but not their neighbors.
They do have a legal obligation to their neighbors, though. It's called a noise ordinance.

That's a legal obligation to the city that ~~the~~ is in place to protect neighbors. You can't refuse to pay rent or property tax (when applicable) if you don't like the landlords or the city, but you can make life a living hell for your neighbors, if you think they're throwing you under the bus.

I'm just saying, tread lightly.

cupcait927 · November 2015

cgss11 said:
Can you tell what type of car it is?

I agree that I would casually mention it. I feel like this is tough though, because he's just getting ready for work like a responsible person. But, I get that it's annoying also.

I'm non confrontational, and also a pretty deep sleeper, so I would give it a week or so first to see if I adjusted to it also.

It's an older Subaru, but a model that is popular among car people to modify and make "cool" (for lack of a better word - I'm not even a little bit of a car person). This is why I'm more inclined to believe that the noise is due to a modification, rather than the car itself (but I don't know for sure right now), which is why I'm hesitant to say anything, because of @kimmiinthemitten's point that he might not care if I think the car is too loud. I don't want to be the one to piss the neighbors off, particularly since their house is right next to mine and they could make our lives hell, so to speak, if they feel offended.

I'm a terrible sleeper, so I do know that part of this is my issue, but H can't hear worth shit, can sleep through everything, and it's waking him up as well.

relliotts · November 2015

A little perspective from a similar situation, in reverse:

We are a two car family with a one car driveway. My daughter is not working currently (and didn't pass her driver's test.. ahem

) so her car does not get driven much. It has been parked on the street and moved sporadically for months. One of our neighbors decided they didn't like the car being parked in the street for whatever reason, and decided to call our local anonymous parking enforcement hotline. I started getting courtesy notices on the car that it needed to be moved. So I would move it, and exactly 72 hours later they would call again and I'd get another notice. At one point the police officer that was leaving the notices left his number with a note to call him. I did, and explained the situation, and he said as long as the car was parked in front of my house and he knew I owned it and it was not abandoned, he would no longer respond to the complaints. So for about a week I didn't get any notices. The car was driven/moved occasionally and always parked in front of my house. Then one morning as I was leaving for work, I noticed that someone had gathered up a bunch of leaves and thrown them on the car. It was obvious someone had done it, because the car is parked nowhere near a tree, we had had no wind, and my car - parked UNDER a tree - had no leaves on it. I was late and didn't have time to clean it up. When I got home, there was another notice. We solved the problem by parking her car in the driveway and mine in the street, which inconveniences me a bit (and I now have to worry more about fender benders/scratches/neighbor retaliation). And I am forever bitter towards the neighbors for not just coming and talking to me about it. Had they just come and knocked on my door, I would have been happy to figure out a solution. Instead they got the law involved in what was really a very minor thing and caused a lot of hassle for me.

I would say just talk to them. Their response will guide you as to what to do next. I also think you have to be careful about complaints to the village, because while the sound may bother you, it's possible it is not actually loud enough to be breaking the ordinance. It's best to try to resolve this in a friendly way if possible; getting the local authorities involved will only create resentment, and you have to live next to these people.

cupcait927 · November 2015

@relliotts Thank you for your side of it! I really don't want to have any resentment, on our side or theirs, which is why I posed the question. I've never been in this situation before (previous neighbor was lovely and we never had a complaint) so I want to make sure that we approach this the right way because we could be living next to them for quite some time. Going to the village office would be my last resort of course. Hopefully we can speak with him and he's understanding of the situation. If not, then it's on to the landlord to see if he can be of any assistance. I just want to get some uninterrupted sleep!

Maggie0829 · November 2015

relliotts said:
A little perspective from a similar situation, in reverse:

We are a two car family with a one car driveway. My daughter is not working currently (and didn't pass her driver's test.. ahem ) so her car does not get driven much. It has been parked on the street and moved sporadically for months. One of our neighbors decided they didn't like the car being parked in the street for whatever reason, and decided to call our local anonymous parking enforcement hotline. I started getting courtesy notices on the car that it needed to be moved. So I would move it, and exactly 72 hours later they would call again and I'd get another notice. At one point the police officer that was leaving the notices left his number with a note to call him. I did, and explained the situation, and he said as long as the car was parked in front of my house and he knew I owned it and it was not abandoned, he would no longer respond to the complaints. So for about a week I didn't get any notices. The car was driven/moved occasionally and always parked in front of my house. Then one morning as I was leaving for work, I noticed that someone had gathered up a bunch of leaves and thrown them on the car. It was obvious someone had done it, because the car is parked nowhere near a tree, we had had no wind, and my car - parked UNDER a tree - had no leaves on it. I was late and didn't have time to clean it up. When I got home, there was another notice. We solved the problem by parking her car in the driveway and mine in the street, which inconveniences me a bit (and I now have to worry more about fender benders/scratches/neighbor retaliation). And I am forever bitter towards the neighbors for not just coming and talking to me about it. Had they just come and knocked on my door, I would have been happy to figure out a solution. Instead they got the law involved in what was really a very minor thing and caused a lot of hassle for me.

I would say just talk to them. Their response will guide you as to what to do next. I also think you have to be careful about complaints to the village, because while the sound may bother you, it's possible it is not actually loud enough to be breaking the ordinance. It's best to try to resolve this in a friendly way if possible; getting the local authorities involved will only create resentment, and you have to live next to these people.

How odd that they didn't like the one car being parked in the street but the other is fine.

emmaaa · November 2015

kimmiinthemitten said:
I think you should see if there is a way to decipher if it's just a loud engine, like a diesel, an old car with a bad muffler, or if they spent money to "enhance" the exhaust system intentionally making it louder.

If it's the latter I have different advice than everyone else. The louder exhaust system is expensive so they are probably proud of it and think it's cool. IME people who spend that kind of money won't be friendly to requests to undo their work. I work with all mechanics, and I love those guys, but I assure you, when they do this to their cars, they don't give a rats ass about how it affects others. They do it because it's cool and because they want their car to be loud.

Even if other neighbors decide to complain, you'll be the only ones who had the courtesy to come forward first, so you'll be forever blamed.

I'd probably talk to the landlords since they're close enough to hear it for themselves and let them handle the problem. The loud car people have a legal obligation to their landlords, but not their neighbors.

I agree with this. DH has a truck that has a modified exhaust on it. It isn't loud IMO, but it is louder than it was before. He works early and goes out to crank his truck at 5:00 am (now, this summer he was leaving at 4:00 am) and lets it run for about 10 minutes to warm up. It's not a diesel but its an older truck and doesn't run good when it's cold.

Granted, we don't really have neighbors (the closest person is 200 yards away) to bother.

Maybe you could bring it up politely to see if there is a way to resolve the issue without offending anyone.

If nothing can be done, I recommend a noise maker to drown out the sound

littlemushroom · November 2015

I have been the complaining neighbor. I have complained to neighbors in various apartments about being too loud (my floor was shaking because their music was so loud or I was trying to sleep) and asking neighbors not to park gigantic trailers in front of our house at times when we had people coming over/we were moving and the moving truck needed to be there/etc. Every time, the neighbor was apologetic for the bother and immediately fixed the issue. There was never any retaliation from anyone. I was always pleasant and polite when I brought it up. I never spoke to anyone when I was angry about the problem.

The guy with the giant trailer was very nice about not parking in front of our house when we asked him. He also complained that some neighbor kept calling the cops on the trailer because they didn't like it, but they hadn't even approached him about it first. He wished someone would have just talked to him before going over his head to the law. He would have been happy to have come up with a solution.

I think there is very little to be lost by approaching the neighbor and a lot to be gained. Give your neighbor the benefit of the doubt. I think it would be pretty crappy to go to the landlord or police with a complaint without even talking to the neighbor first when you have no reason to think they are jerks.

teddygirl9 · November 2015

Maggie0829 said:

How odd that they didn't like the one car being parked in the street but the other is fine.

I'd assume it's because the daughters car would be considered 'abandoned' if not moved for more than 72h (we have the same rule here). People consider it an eyesore to have a car sitting on the street never moving. Hence why they'd put leaves on it, to make it look more abandoned. I assume @relliotts drives to work/grocery store/etc so her car isn't just sitting there. Silly people though. Tbh I don't care what is parked on our street as long as you don't park infront of my house/driveway and I can't get out or park.

Maggie0829 · November 2015

teddygirl9 said:

Maggie0829 said:

How odd that they didn't like the one car being parked in the street but the other is fine.
I'd assume it's because the daughters car would be considered 'abandoned' if not moved for more than 72h (we have the same rule here). People consider it an eyesore to have a car sitting on the street never moving. Hence why they'd put leaves on it, to make it look more abandoned. I assume @relliotts drives to work/grocery store/etc so her car isn't just sitting there. Silly people though. Tbh I don't care what is parked on our street as long as you don't park infront of my house/driveway and I can't get out or park.

But how would they know it hasn't been moved? Are they sitting at home starring at the car all day long? I could understand if the car didn't have tags or something, but this car is parked in a legal space in front of the owners home, not blocking the neighbors driveway or house so really this is a case of people who are just assholes.

labro · November 2015

Maggie0829 said:

teddygirl9 said:

Maggie0829 said:

How odd that they didn't like the one car being parked in the street but the other is fine.
I'd assume it's because the daughters car would be considered 'abandoned' if not moved for more than 72h (we have the same rule here). People consider it an eyesore to have a car sitting on the street never moving. Hence why they'd put leaves on it, to make it look more abandoned. I assume @relliotts drives to work/grocery store/etc so her car isn't just sitting there. Silly people though. Tbh I don't care what is parked on our street as long as you don't park infront of my house/driveway and I can't get out or park.
But how would they know it hasn't been moved? Are they sitting at home starring at the car all day long? I could understand if the car didn't have tags or something, but this car is parked in a legal space in front of the owners home, not blocking the neighbors driveway or house so really this is a case of people who are just assholes.

I mean, I guess I kind of understand the whole eyesore thing. Plus cars parked in the street all the time is a real pain in the ass in a neighborhood. But the neighbor was still an asshole about it. My sister's neighborhood has this problem...people constantly park their cars in the street and it's honestly a huge pain to have to wait for on-coming traffic (because with a car in the street there isn't enough room for cars to pass each other) or to have to weave around yet another vehicle every other house. She lives in an HOA neighborhood though so they've started fining people for leaving their cars parked on the street for too long.

teddygirl9 · November 2015

Maggie0829 said:

teddygirl9 said:

Maggie0829 said:

How odd that they didn't like the one car being parked in the street but the other is fine.
I'd assume it's because the daughters car would be considered 'abandoned' if not moved for more than 72h (we have the same rule here). People consider it an eyesore to have a car sitting on the street never moving. Hence why they'd put leaves on it, to make it look more abandoned. I assume @relliotts drives to work/grocery store/etc so her car isn't just sitting there. Silly people though. Tbh I don't care what is parked on our street as long as you don't park infront of my house/driveway and I can't get out or park.
But how would they know it hasn't been moved? Are they sitting at home starring at the car all day long? I could understand if the car didn't have tags or something, but this car is parked in a legal space in front of the owners home, not blocking the neighbors driveway or house so really this is a case of people who are just assholes.

There are some major busybody neighbors out there!

Here, the street (even in front of your house) is public property. So while you can park in front of your house, it is not your 'legal' spot or property. Why I leave my junk 99 car on my back parking pad, because it's my property so they cant do anything haha.

I 100% agree they are just random assholes though.

Maggie0829 · November 2015

labro said:

Maggie0829 said:

teddygirl9 said:

Maggie0829 said:

How odd that they didn't like the one car being parked in the street but the other is fine.
I'd assume it's because the daughters car would be considered 'abandoned' if not moved for more than 72h (we have the same rule here). People consider it an eyesore to have a car sitting on the street never moving. Hence why they'd put leaves on it, to make it look more abandoned. I assume @relliotts drives to work/grocery store/etc so her car isn't just sitting there. Silly people though. Tbh I don't care what is parked on our street as long as you don't park infront of my house/driveway and I can't get out or park.
But how would they know it hasn't been moved? Are they sitting at home starring at the car all day long? I could understand if the car didn't have tags or something, but this car is parked in a legal space in front of the owners home, not blocking the neighbors driveway or house so really this is a case of people who are just assholes.
I mean, I guess I kind of understand the whole eyesore thing. Plus cars parked in the street all the time is a real pain in the ass in a neighborhood. But the neighbor was still an asshole about it. My sister's neighborhood has this problem...people constantly park their cars in the street and it's honestly a huge pain to have to wait for on-coming traffic (because with a car in the street there isn't enough room for cars to pass each other) or to have to weave around yet another vehicle every other house. She lives in an HOA neighborhood though so they've started fining people for leaving their cars parked on the street for too long.

I guess I just don't understand that if cars are allowed to park in the street how it matters if the car doesn't move. My H has a Supra that he never drives. It stays in the same spot day in and day out and we have never had an issue. And really how do people know that it doesn't move? To me this is one of those things that is ridiculous to get irritated over and these people must not have anything better to do with their time.

When H and I moved into a newly developed neighborhood everyone felt the need to park on the streets even though we have plenty of overflow parking plus people have a driveway and a one car garage. Well if people parked on both sides of the road only one car could make it through at a time and if someone had a larger vehicle, such as a big ass truck or work vehicle they couldn't get through at all. So the HOA decided that street parking was limited to unloading your vehicle. People were pissed. Apparently walking 50 yards from your house to your car was just too much to ask of people. Well it took having the fire marshal come out and signs and curbs painted red to get people to stop parking in the street.

labro · November 2015

@Maggie0829 The people in my sister's neighborhood all have 2-car garages, an ok driveway (enough you could do two rows of two cars per row parked side by side, and they STILL park on the street and enough people did it that it was actually causing traffic jams trying to take turns getting around vehicles.

jenna8984 · November 2015

@maggie0829 I'm totally with you here because I don't understand how it matters WHICH car is parked there. If the mom/PP drives her car for 10 minutes a day, it's still in that spot the rest of the time. So why does it matter if it's an "abandoned" car or a "10 minute a day" car parked there? Either way there's a car parked there.
Totally different situation from @labro 's sister's neighborhood where cars are in the way so the debate is car vs no car. Not car vs different car.

cupcait927 · November 2015

littlemushroom said:
I have been the complaining neighbor. I have complained to neighbors in various apartments about being too loud (my floor was shaking because their music was so loud or I was trying to sleep) and asking neighbors not to park gigantic trailers in front of our house at times when we had people coming over/we were moving and the moving truck needed to be there/etc. Every time, the neighbor was apologetic for the bother and immediately fixed the issue. There was never any retaliation from anyone. I was always pleasant and polite when I brought it up. I never spoke to anyone when I was angry about the problem.

The guy with the giant trailer was very nice about not parking in front of our house when we asked him. He also complained that some neighbor kept calling the cops on the trailer because they didn't like it, but they hadn't even approached him about it first. He wished someone would have just talked to him before going over his head to the law. He would have been happy to have come up with a solution.

I think there is very little to be lost by approaching the neighbor and a lot to be gained. Give your neighbor the benefit of the doubt. I think it would be pretty crappy to go to the landlord or police with a complaint without even talking to the neighbor first when you have no reason to think they are jerks.

We're definitely going to go the neighbor first. There honestly may be nothing that they can do about it, which sucks but I'll understand. I'm a very light sleeper and already use earplugs and a fan, so there's not much more I can do to drown out the noise, particularly since the car is literally only a few feet from my window.

In regards to the discussion about cars parked on the street - our neighbors across the street have had a car with no plates sitting on their front lawn for weeks now. It's definitely an eyesore but at this point, I've stopped caring. Their landlord only lives about a mile away, and I'm sure has seen it sitting in the yard, but if they don't care then I'm not even going to bother saying anything. At least it's not waking me up every morning!

relliotts · November 2015

teddygirl9 said:

Maggie0829 said:

How odd that they didn't like the one car being parked in the street but the other is fine.
I'd assume it's because the daughters car would be considered 'abandoned' if not moved for more than 72h (we have the same rule here). People consider it an eyesore to have a car sitting on the street never moving. Hence why they'd put leaves on it, to make it look more abandoned. I assume @relliotts drives to work/grocery store/etc so her car isn't just sitting there. Silly people though. Tbh I don't care what is parked on our street as long as you don't park infront of my house/driveway and I can't get out or park.

This is it exactly. The complaining neighbors live on a lot with two homes. They have lots of cars as a result of two families and frequent visitors/parties/etc. (I am sort of making an assumption regarding which neighbor made the complaint, but since I'm on fairly friendly terms with most everyone else and the other neighbors don't have any real reason to complain, I'm fairly certain I'm correct.) My guess is they got tired of my daughter's car taking up a spot close to home, which meant visitors had to walk a little to get to their place. With my car, I'm gone from 7:15-5 every day, and a lot on the weekends. That gives them a lot of time to get a car parked in the convenient spot before I get home. Also, my car is relatively new while my daughter's is a 98 Civic (although in very good shape), so it is less of an eyesore I guess. Yes, I do think someone sat around and watched the car night and day because those notices were showing up 72 hours apart almost to the hour, and yes, the leaves thrown on the car were to make it look abandoned.

I mean I do understand the inconvenience, but I also agree - some people are just not very nice.

PrettyGirlLost · November 2015

kimmiinthemitten said:
I think you should see if there is a way to decipher if it's just a loud engine, like a diesel, an old car with a bad muffler, or if they spent money to "enhance" the exhaust system intentionally making it louder.

If it's the latter I have different advice than everyone else. The louder exhaust system is expensive so they are probably proud of it and think it's cool. IME people who spend that kind of money won't be friendly to requests to undo their work. I work with all mechanics, and I love those guys, but I assure you, when they do this to their cars, they don't give a rats ass about how it affects others. They do it because it's cool and because they want their car to be loud.

Even if other neighbors decide to complain, you'll be the only ones who had the courtesy to come forward first, so you'll be forever blamed.

I'd probably talk to the landlords since they're close enough to hear it for themselves and let them handle the problem. The loud car people have a legal obligation to their landlords, but not their neighbors.

I assume that they'd give a rat's ass if sugar somehow managed to get into their gas tanks. . . :-P

I hate when people modify their shitty ass Acuras and Honda Civics in an attempt to make it sound as if they really have an actual sports car with an actual, powerful engine. It makes them look like weenies.

Talk to your neighbors. If they react like asshats, then look into your local noise ordinance laws and then start complaining to their landlord. Landlords don't want to deal with the fines and legal ramifications of having "nuisance" tenants, although I think it takes a lot of shit to get that label.

NWR - Reasonable expectations regarding neighbors

Re: NWR - Reasonable expectations regarding neighbors

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