“He Tore It Down!”: Homeowner Builds Privacy Hedge to Stop Nosey Neighbor, But He Destroys It Overnight
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Privacy becomes a serious problem when someone refuses to respect a clear property line.
One woman feels that way after catching her neighbor looking through the windows of her wooded property.
To create more privacy, she and her husband spent years building a dead hedge entirely on their side of the boundary.
Then, that same neighbor hauled most of it away and crushed what remained near the part of the yard that blocked his view.
Now, the family may need years to rebuild it.
Read on to see what you think about the whole thing.
Neighbor hauled away our dead hedge
I’m a woman who’s home alone a lot, and we have a pre-teen daughter.
I feel our privacy is being violated as we’ve caught our neighbors staring in our windows using the walking path they installed up to our property line, and we’ve also caught them raiding our raspberry patches in the past.
We live in a wooded area, we have chickens, and we have predators. We’ve spent several years building up a nice dead hedge, one storm at a time. The neighbors live a few acres away but have a walking path on the property line that offers a clear view through the large patio door into our kitchen/living room.
Her husband took her time and was building it very slowly and methodically.
Because of those two factors, we’ve been slowly building a dead hedge about a foot from the property line. It’s visually appealing, and we’ve been mindful of how we stack it. My husband is a tree enthusiast, to say the least, and he puts his heart into these types of things.
It was 4-5 feet tall, and we were just starting to get a nice screen.
Well, he took it upon himself to haul most of it away the other day, and he smashed down the rest. Ironically, he didn’t touch it farther down the property, where he can’t see into our home. This will take a really long time to build back up, likely years. Any recourse? The property is staked on both ends with the white poles, as shown. It clearly was all on our side.
Yikes! Talk about some rude behavior.
Let’s check out how the folks over at Reddit would handle it.
This would teach him.
Here’s another great idea.
This reader offers legal suggestions.
If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a frustrated tenant whose landlord says she can only move out with her roommate.
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It may not be best to confront him, though.
They need to document the damage and make sure the property line is clearly marked.
Then, they should tell the neighbor in writing that he can’t remove or damage anything on their land.
Since he already crossed that line once, cameras would probably help protect them moving forward.
If he does it again, they may need to involve the police or speak with an attorney.
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