Ask Lemmy

Yeah.. so I had a trap house move into the abandoned house next to mine.

Lots people spouting off with this and that and the other but won't give you advice that works. And advice that works? Banana bread.

Dead ass. Make them banana bread. Monthly if not weekly. Make them notice when it's not there.

We did this with the gang / crews that would rotate through next door. Was a rolling assemblage of cardroom, drug spot, ladies, just depended on the crew.

But I'll have you know, they do not fuck with the house that makes them banana bread. We ask them to not having people smoking and talking around outside? Next day, signs up on the porch "No smoking or hanging around", same with music, you name it. Obviously there are limits, but it took what could have been a terrible situation and made it bearable.

For this to work you have to change you attitude. Eventually they got busted by the feds, but once we had made "neighbors" with them, the rest was easy. They even started moving the trap house lawn. Respect earns respect. Change your attitude and you might be able to change the situation.

You can't, end of discussion.

The most that the city or the police can do is issuing them a small fine for the noise complaints. The only one with even an ounce of power here is their landlord, but then it depends heavily on your country/state.

There isn't a hell of a lot you can do to really get rid of them. I'd try to find out if they're renting the property and see if you can get in contact with the landlord/property management company and tell them about it. Most lease agreements require that you disclose how many residents are staying there so there's a good chance theyre violating that rule among many others. The other thing is (assuming that this is the US since no location given and that's where I have experince) document absolutely everything. Make a notebook just for writing down the date and time of every stupid / possibly illegal thing you see them do. Take video / audio recordings whenever possible and avoid direct contact. Then every time they rev their motorcycle at 3am call the non emergency police line. Every. Single. Time. The cops will get tired of it, but they'll be more tired of the likely rude/violent reaction from your scumbag neighbors. Also call animal control any time you see their dog running outside of their property or of it bites someone. Long term / extreme pettiness is what's going to work. Most importantly though never confront them directly and never tell them you're calling the cops.

What you may not have tried yet: If the yard is bad enough, call code enforcement, not police, they will send notices to the landlord not the residents, then the landlord will come yell at the residents. Burning trash may also be a code enforcement thing, not police. Those code people don't mess around, once they send a notice you have to respond/address it.

Theres legal ways and Illegal ways. How morally flexible are you?

Seems like the issue is what can you do that won't also blowback on you. They know where you live, and anything you do to make their lives miserable can also happen to you. As others said I would document everything, and report anything that's illegal. You might be able to get animal control or some agency like that out for the dogs. There might be noise ordinances for the night motorcycles. Anything you file I'd try to make anonymous.

Sometimes your local legislator's office can make things happen if police or whoever seem to drag their feet. You talk to your city councilor / state reps staffer, maybe get a bunch of neighbors all to sign a thing or show up at their office/event, and then they'll lean on the cops. Local politicians pay attention to organized groups of people who seem like they won't give up (vs individuals who are pissed off but seem unlikely to be persistent)

I'd recommend those cameras with the ball enclosure so someone can't see which direction it's pointed. If you don't already have a fence (and it's appropriate) I'd put one up. Could also plant privacy hedge type plants (like arbor vitae).

Do you know if they own the house? Find out.

They could be renting the place or - as was the situation in my neighborhood - one of your bikers could have "borrowed" the house from a family member. In our neighborhood, the house previously belonged to a distant relative who passed away. The majority of the family lives over a thousand miles away, so they told their wastrel daughter that she could use the house while she was getting clean.

Needless to say, the "getting clean" process never happened. She invited a host of random people to hang out at her place and they trashed it over the course of almost a year. Eventually, the family found out about the situation when one of the neighbors thought to look into ownership. They kicked the daughter out of the house and have been gutting it for the last two months, trying to clear out all of the damage done by the daughter and her friends.

Long story short, find out who actually owns the house. That may give you some options...

Catnip.

Buy a bunch of catnip (it's not expensive on eBay) and sprinkle that shit all over their yard. Get it in the flower beds, get it in the ditches, get it everywhere. It's a mint and it grows like a weed. Next thing you know the neighbors front lawn will be littered in cats and there will be no way to get rid of them.

Added bonus is you'll have cats you can pet, and very little pests in your neighborhood.

It sounds like you're dealing with a biker gang. If that's the case then you're not going to be able to reason with them. They're further entrenched in their lifestyle than in regular society. I hate to suggest narcing, but next time you call the cops, let them know that they're running gang activities out of the house. Cops care more about gangs than they do noise complaints. If you're in a really bad neighborhood then they still might not do anything about it, but they're more likely to mobilize if they think that there's the possibility of a big bust. Be careful though, if the gang suspects you ratted on them, it can be a hard time for you.

I've been in this situation several times. In the first case we moved out because the neighbour was also harassing our landlord and he decided to sell rather than deal with her. In the second case, the neighbours' landlord evicted them because they accidentally burned down the garage. In the third case another neighbour (a big guy whose face is mostly scars) threatened them with violence and it worked.

Many paces do not allow more than “x” number of unrelated people to live in the same house. Might try that avenue. If its several people, see what zoning allows max capacity of the home to be. Buildin, housing and fire departments don’t like too many people in one house.

A lot of it depends on local regulations.

HERE, a property can be declared a "chronic nuisance property":

https://www.portland.gov/code/14/b60

But your mileage may vary depending on local ordinance.

Are they renters? Can you complain to the homeowner?

Have you tried setting their house on fire?

/s

Depending on where you live, you have a few possibilities. First, I'm assuming that you do not have an HOA. The premise of an HOA is that they can enforce certain restrictions, even if the law cannot/will not. I'm also writing this with the assumption that you are in the US.

If they are breaking the law, you may need to find ways to encourage the local authorities to take action. Generally, this involves doing the cops' jobs for them. The company CompuTrace, makers of LoJack for laptops, has been criticized for selling (at a high price) software that does very basic tasks that anyone can do to collect evidence on the thieves. But what they really sell is that they can use that evidence to spur the police into action, since it's an easy win. You'll probably need to talk to an attorney, or at least the prosecutor's office (not the police) to find out what they need.

Also, be sure that you have contacted all of the relevant agencies. The burn pit may need to be addressed by the fire department (especially in times of wildfire risk), or an environmental agency. They sound like irresponsible pet owners, which might be of interest to the humane society or animal control.

If they haven't broken any laws that you know of, you still might be able to sue them. You have no say in how they choose to live their lives, but you can get an injunction on how it impacts you and your property. The dog bites, specifically, are likely actionable. Loud noises probably are not.

In any event, talk to an attorney. I'm not even sure what type you would need, but the bar association can probably help.