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When you complain to your neighbors about something, you have to be careful what you say and how you say it, or it might just make things worse.

What would you do if you were planting your favorite plants in your yard when the neighbor came over and told you that this particular plant was not on the HOA-approved list?

That is what happened to the couple in this story, so they removed it and replaced it with much taller (but approved) plants that blocked their neighbor’s view of the lake.

While they may have been within their rights to do this, I think it was needlessly petty, and it will only hurt their relationship with the neighbor. Read through the full story to see if you agree.

Neighbor complains about our plants not being HOA approved, We make some new “Approved” improvements

Our Community is new and houses are still being built.

Ok, seems like a nice setup.

My Neighbor bought a corner lot house and we have the house next door. Our house has a small lake in our back yard.

Corner lots are cheaper because they don’t technically have a view of the lake (they can see it, but only by looking over our lawn).

Well, everyone has different tastes in yard plants.

We also have a strict HOA. Both of us have been living here for about 6 months.

We planted 2 frangipanis bushes in our lawn (my wifes favorite flower) without the HOAs consent, they tend to be ugly most of the year because the leaves fall off but she wanted them.

What exactly did the neighbor say here? And how did he say it?

Our neighbor told us that he didn’t think they were allowed by the HOA (I guess he looked our plants up in the rule book?) and subtly threatened that we shouldn’t plant bushes that would block his view.

We were not having that, and we all know the best way to get your neighbors to like you is listen to their advice and follow the rules.

Honestly, this just seems like a mean thing to do.

So we got 20 Areca Palms and lined our lot with them on both sides (HOA approved the plants and placement).

While we were digging the holes he walked out with a sad look on his face and said this “I guess we should not have gotten a corner lot if we wanted a view.”

Sure, they are well within their rights to do this.

We left the back of our yard open to keep our view of the lake but he was SOL.

You complain about our yard, we will follow the rules. Now he has to live in a house without a view and a tiny lot in Florida. I bet his brand new house just devalued $10,000 .

Unless the neighbor was a jerk about asking/telling them not to plant those first things there, I think this is a bit petty. Why make your neighbors hate you, or even just reduce their enjoyment of life, for no real reason?

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about this situation.

They should be avoided to the extent possible.

Avoid HOA’s at all costs.

The neighbor shouldn’t have complained about those little plants.

Let them complain.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about neighbors who have to set a firm boundary with neighbors who ask too many child-related favors.

Apparently these plants grow great.

It is better to get along with your neighbors than to get in a feud with them. While their neighbor should have minded his own business, they didn’t need to ruin his view.

Just because you can do something does not mean that you should.