Good fences make good neighbors, but only when the neighbors are willing to accept them.

One homeowner learned that the hard way after she and her husband put up a six-foot privacy fence that broke the local height rules.

A neighbor who was building a house next door took them to the zoning board. But even after making the changes the board decreed, the neighbor still wasn’t satisfied.

He falsely claimed it blocked his lake view from a basement window, and he told her husband he’d run a chainsaw at annoying hours until the whole fence came down.

The harassment only got worse from there, and now she’s locking her doors during the day in fear of what he might do next.

Keep reading for the full story.

Neighbor Problems

Does anyone have any words of advice on how to deal with a neighbor who is in the process of building a house next to ours and does not approve of a fence we recently installed?

This neighbor has really put these homeowners through the ringer.

He took us to the zoning board because we tried to build a six-foot privacy fence, and the height is against the rules, so we filed for a variance, which was denied. So, we took down the section that we had built and put in a 4-foot-high fence, which was approved by the ZBA.

Neighbor claimed we were trying to block his view of the lake from a basement window, even though none of the fence actually blocks it.

The neighbor escalated things from simple complaining to full-on threats.

He told my husband that until the whole fence comes down, he is going to use his chain saw to cut wood right next to the fence at annoying times of the day, even though he is legally within the noise limits.

Unfortunately, this neighbor was true to his word.

He would show up at 7 a.m. and use the chain saw for a few minutes and then lock it back up in his truck.

He would work throughout the day, and then at approximately 9:00/9:30 p.m., he would use the chain saw again for a few minutes.

Soon the rest of the neighborhood gets involved.

The neighbor on the other side came unglued on him a few weekends ago, and it was a screaming match that lasted quite a while.

Now the homeowners feel scared to take things too far.

We do not do anything to retaliate against him because, quite honestly, he is scary.

His behaviors have intensified over the summer, and I have started locking my doors during the daytime, even though we live in an otherwise peaceful and safe neighborhood.

The police are now involved too.

We caught him taking videos of my adult daughter raking out the lake, and she was mad and reported him to the state police. We have a report number.

His wife won’t do anything because she said she is supposed to honor him.

Their primary house is downstate by a few hours, and she is rarely here because he yelled at her for waving to me and saying hi, because we are the enemy.

What a horrible situation.

Redditors chime in with some potential solutions.

This user thinks surveillance is the proper way to go here.

This neighbor will eventually take things too far, and maybe, by then, karma will finally catch up to him.

Some people just look to get a reaction out of people with their outlandish behavior.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who escalates her issue to the state when a third family is added to a shared neighborhood well.

Eventually this neighbor will tire himself out.

This neighbor lost a zoning fight then somehow decided neither the rules nor common courtesy applied to him.

The fence is shorter, approved by the board, and it doesn’t block his view. Yet he’s still running a chainsaw at all hours just to be annoying.

Filming someone’s daughter is a whole other level. So is screaming at his own wife for waving hello.

Nobody should have to lock their doors in broad daylight over a fence.