Most neighbor disputes start with something minor: noise, property lines, overgrown bushes. But when one neighbor repeatedly damages your property and refuses to take accountability, frustration can build fast.

This homeowner says trouble started shortly after a new neighbor moved in next door. From the beginning, the relationship felt tense. According to OP, the neighbor entered their yard without permission, cut down part of a bush near the property line, and tossed the trimmings back into their yard without explanation. Things escalated from there.

The bigger issue involved a retaining wall in OP’s front yard that had been professionally installed as part of landscaping gifted by family. Not long after moving in, the neighbor allegedly began running over the edge of the wall with her lifted truck, causing repeated damage. Even after repairs, the same thing kept happening. OP says the neighbor never apologized, denied responsibility at first, and only agreed to reimburse repair costs after being confronted directly.

Now, after another repair, OP is considering installing a metal post on her own property to protect the wall, but her husband thinks that crosses a line.

WIBTAH if I put a post in my yard that could damage my neighbor’s truck?

My husband (29M) and I (28F) have lived in our home for over six years now. Our house is over 100 years old and we’ve slowly been making improvements when we can.

When we got married my father-in-law gifted us landscaping for our front yard. We planned out what we wanted, talked to a landscaper, and he wanted to pay for it as a wedding present.

The landscaping was completed over three years ago and we were very pleased and appreciative for such a great gift. The landscaping included a much needed retaining wall where there was a low patch in our front yard that previously turned into a mud pit when it rained.

What a lovely gift.

Fast forward to last year and our neighbors sold their house to a new owner. Almost immediately after she moved in she made it clear that she was going to be unpleasant to live next to.

In the first week or so living there she came into our backyard and chopped the top off of one of our juniper bushes and threw it into our yard. The bushes were next to her garage, but clearly in our yard.

It’s an old neighborhood and a lot of the garages were built long after the homes so everything behind the houses is very close together. Her garage is very close to the property line and maybe even a little bit on our property.

Not very neighborly.

We would’ve understood if she didn’t like the bushes. They were looking scraggly and landscaping for our backyard was next on our list for improvements. However, she gave no explanation and she hadn’t even introduced herself to us. I knew she did it because I could see her from my dining room window.

We ended up clearing all three of the bushes out by her garage because they were unattractive (especially after having the top lopped off of one).

About a week later she ran over our retaining wall with her lifted truck. It damaged the wall, but her truck is so tall it did no damage to her vehicle. Again, she never talked to us about it or apologized but I had seen her do it because I’m home all day.

How rude.

That summer we had the same landscaping company do work on our backyard so we asked them to add on a repair for the front yard retaining wall. The repair cost $100 and we paid it because we didn’t want a confrontation with our neighbor. One week after the wall was repaired she hit it again. Still we had no apology from her.

We’re outside a lot, so we thought eventually she would approach us about it so we gave her time. She never did.

One day I saw her walking her dog and came outside to discuss it. I just opened by saying that I wanted to talk about our retaining wall and she responded back by saying that she didn’t know how the wall was damaged.

Bracing myself for the response…

When I said I’d seen her run over it with her truck many times she started making excuses. She said the wall is too close to her driveway and that it could’ve been a delivery driver or any random person who used her driveway.

I stayed firm. Initially, I was just going to ask her to pay for the next repair, but I decided that since she didn’t even apologize, I would ask her to reimburse us for the initial repair as well as the upcoming repair.

She agreed, but said it wasn’t a big deal and she couldn’t make any promises she wouldn’t just hit it again.

Wow.

The wall was repaired again yesterday and this is the part that my husband says I would be the AH for. I put an ornamental iron post at the edge of our wall, but completely on our side of the property. That way it would be easier to see where the wall is, but if she hit the wall again she would also hit the post and it would probably damage her truck.

My husband told me to take the post down. He said I was being vindictive and immature. I took it down immediately after I put it up, but I really want to prevent further damage to our property. I don’t want her to hit the wall again, but if she did hit it and our wall wasn’t the only thing being damaged I think she’d be less likely to do it again.

So, would I be the AH if I put the post back?

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about some renters who moved out and left their apartment in the same state of disarray they’d found it in when they moved in.

Reddit came down firmly on NTA, with commenters overwhelmingly agreeing that OP has every right to protect her property after giving this neighbor far more patience than most people would have. Many readers were stunned by the neighbor’s repeated behavior—not just damaging the retaining wall multiple times, but cutting plants on OP’s property, refusing to apologize, denying responsibility, and openly admitting she might continue hitting the wall in the future.

For most commenters, that was the key issue: this stopped being an accident a long time ago. At this point, the neighbor is fully aware of the wall, fully aware she’s caused damage, and still refuses to change her behavior. That made many feel OP is well within her rights to install a post, marker, or barrier on her own property to prevent further damage.

A lot of commenters also pushed back on the idea that protecting your property is somehow vindictive just because the neighbor’s truck might get damaged if she hits it again. Their view was simple: if the post is clearly visible and entirely on OP’s property, any damage caused by hitting it would be the neighbor’s responsibility, not OP’s.

The overwhelming takeaway was that OP isn’t creating the problem, she’s responding to one.

This person says the only way OP is the AH is if they DON’T put it back up.

This person agrees.

And this person says it was literally a hit and run…no questions here.

If your neighbor keeps driving into your property after multiple warnings, whatever she hits next is on her.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who got creative with his parking after his neighbors started using his extra spot without asking.