Need help with trashy neighbors?

Do you have a neighborhood association? Does the subdivision development plan call for the development of a neighborhood restriction? The developer cannot control who buys the houses, or whether or not they keep them up. Once the property sells, it’s the responsibility of the residents in the neighborhood to enforce whatever policies or restrictions are in the deeds. You probably are going to need to find the Deed of Restrictions, and hire an attorney to see what specifically can be done for violation enforcement.

In my state and city there are also code enforcement rules. One of my friends lives in a not so nice neighborhood (with no neighborhood association or CCand R’s). She is constantly calling the code compliance people (which are probably listed in the government agencies in the yellow pages). These are for things like people having dumpsters and litter in their front yards or for having too many cars parked in their driveway and on their lawns or for having illegal built-ons like awnings and sheds and spare rooms that were not built according to building codes. It also applies to having weeds or grass that is too tall in your yard or for having trash and debris pile up in the canyon behind your house.

You can try calling the health department and letting them know about the trash problem. That can’t be a healthy thing for the people living in that particular house or for the neighborhood. You can also notify the code enforcement agency. They will come out and site the people for any problems on the property and give them a set time to get it cleaned up.

My subdivision has policies and restrictions in the deeds, as @BarnacleBill mentioned. Example: no siding, a certain percentage of the homes have to be covered in rock or brick (the rest stucco) and the houses can’t have a “footprint” of more than a certain percentage of the lot. However, those restrictions were for the builders and not for the owners.

After the homes are purchased, I think you have to rely on your city ordinances. The city ordinances would cover such things as no landscaping, tall weeds, junk cars, additions without building permits and cemented-over lawns.

On a side note: we live in a desert and are always being harped on by the water company to conserve water, yet the city has ordinances against zero landscaping. A certain percentage of our lawns have to be in grass.

Isn’t that just the rest of Tennessee seeping into the woodwork? :-\

Call the city or the local health department or something. That’s got to be some sort of violation.

Thanks to all for the input,have filed complaints with codes dept waiting to see if they do anything.