Some neighbors treat neighborhood rules like weapons instead of guidelines.

One militant neighbor made one homeowner’s life a living nightmare by reporting everything they did, despite not living in an HOA.

But when the homeowner banded together with the rest of the neighborhood, they found a clever way to turn the tables.

Keep reading for the full story.

Neighbor’s Complaint to the City Backfires

We have a next-door neighbor who does not like us for no apparent reason.

This is a vacation home for them, and we have never said a single word to or interacted with them—ever.

This neighbor has quite the penchant for snooping on other neighbors’ business.

They seem to think we live in an HOA, which we do not, and they regularly call city code enforcement over perceived shortcomings in our lifestyle.

We let our yard grow pretty wild, whereas theirs is meticulously landscaped and professionally maintained.

Which this neighbor goes out of their way to do.

We have six-foot walls between our houses, so they can’t see much of anything in our yard without trying—such as climbing a ladder to take pictures to send to the city to lodge a complaint.

The city investigates, finds nothing wrong, and closes the complaint.

The last complaint happened a few months ago when we were doing some legally permitted construction.

The city never really takes the complaints seriously.

The neighbor called the city, they came out, and they found no issues.

Apparently, he was upset with this outcome and made more complaints, of which only one was “valid.”

He complained about our vehicle parked on the street not having a current registration sticker.

This time, they let the owner off with a warning.

Parking enforcement came out and put a notice on the vehicle telling me to fix the problem or move it within three days.

Apparently, my current license plate sticker had been scraped off.

That’s when they noticed a big piece of leverage that could be used against this no-good neighbor.

While I was out front, I noticed my neighbor’s new motor home parked in front of his house.

It’s illegal in the city to park a motor home on the street.

Normally, I couldn’t care less, but this seemed like an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

So he brings it up to the officer and lodges a formal complaint.

I asked the parking officer, “What about that thing?”

He said there was no complaint about it, so I said, “I am complaining.”

I watched as he took pictures and wrote out the parking ticket and tow order.

Then, about an hour later, I watched a tow truck eagerly hook it up and whisk it away to the impound lot.

An actual HOA might be more forgiving than this vindictive neighbor.

What did Reddit think?

Never underestimate the power of fighting back as a team.

Neighbors like these are probably a pretty big headache to city officials.

This reader is getting quite a few good ideas from the comment section.

Disapproving of your neighbor’s behavior isn’t the same as blatantly ratting them out for it.

Turns out calling enforcement is a lot less fun when the tow truck is backing up in your driveway.

This neighbor thought he was playing neighborhood hall monitor, but what he didn’t realize was he was writing his own citation.

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.