Weird annoying neighbour, any ideas

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mr_maurice

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One of our neighbour is a retired electrician living with is wife on the other side of the road (that's like 8m from our yard gate)
Everything could be fine if it was'nt for his new annoying habit: for almost a year he's been putting tree leaves under my windshield wipes every night, and sometimes during the day.
Our front yard has a tree just along the public road, and my car is usually parked at the limit of our property, near the road and the tree, and has giant super heavy leaves, almost the size of a dvd box.

My mother once hid in one of our cars and caught him in the act, he would'nt give a real explanation when confronted.

It obviously did'nt deter him since he kept doing it every time he could.

This is not a menacing or dangerous behavior, but it's really getting on my nerves. I'm thinking I could setup a webcam with motion sensor, then hand him the pictures, but he probably would'nt care. Involving the authorities would also be a waste of their time I guess.
So if you guys have any simple and innovative ideas to deal with this without being confrontationnal towards an otherwise decent man, I'm listening.
 

cjmorris

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Lean his garbage can up against his front door,then fill it with water. When he opens the door....FLASH FLOOD!
 

B.B.

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I would talk to the wife. Approach her as a caring individual worried about his strange behavior. It could be heath related, and she may not have seen any weirdness yet.

If she's no help, put up a video cam and record a few incidents and forward to the state board of health. Let them decide if he's wacky.
 

oKtosiTe

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I know it sounds silly, but could he be doing this out of annoyance with your tree's leaves landing in his yard?
 

mr_maurice

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Naw, the leaves are so "dense" that they usually stay where they fall, on our land, they cannot really fly.
If they went in his direction they would be blocked by his gate, and remain on public ground.

What really bugs me it that this guy usually behaves like a nice and almost cheerful individual, that is waving to say good morning, have a bit of smalltalk if we cross paths, he even helped me maneuver my car out by checking for traffic on our narrow street. Yet he will still go out every night, grab a few leaves and stuck them in the wipes.

I don't know if he's intentionally sending mixed messages to further confuse the situation, if he's just plain nutjob on this particular issue without realizing it, or if he's really trying to make a point.
 

Labrador72

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Man, what your neighbor is doing is pretty much harassment, one of a weird kind and surely not violent but still harassment. Sounds something is wrong with the man, some kind of childish disfunction or maybe retirement triggered something wrong in his head.

You could go talk to him first very nicely. If he's alone, I'd suggest you bring a witness with you as he could later saying a bunch of lies about your conversation, maybe even that you went to threaten him about some stuff. Maybe leaves aside he's a very nice neighbor and he never would but if he isn't, better safe than sorry.

If he keeps playing his stupid night game, I suggest you wait up for him one night, film him, and then flash him 2000 lumens before you nicely tell him that this has to stop once and for all or you'll be forced to go to the police.
If he doesn't give it up go to the police or gendarmerie.

Do you live in the countryside or town or city?
 

NonSenCe

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maybe he dont like your car.
maybe he is retired parking ticket officer that gets mental lapses when he sees those leaf tickets laying in the ground.

anyways.. weird behaviour that sounds like some kind of mental or more like ocd problem. needs to put them under the wiper. he is a bit nutz i would say. as if it were the passive agressive annoying the hell out of you aspect, i doubt he would chitchat with you like normal person..

how to fix it.. hmm.. i dont know.. i think you need to either catch him do it and talk to him. or take photos and then talk to him, first discuss person to person..just to say it is not tolerated. then, if it happens again. then show the evidence to his family too and talk about it with them. if it still continues to happen.. then i would go to see if the authorities of somekind could do something about it.

personally i know would have someone else tell the person im getting pissed off, then give one warning by myself, then tell the authorities that they better deal with it. and if they cant get it right quickly.. well then i would easily become the neighbour from hell myself. they say "eye for an eye.." hah, i say "i have eyes and ears and then some" to get my revenge.. it would spiral pretty bad pretty fast. im full of evil schemes. :D
 

mr_maurice

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It's in a small village in the countryside. I think I'll try to document one or two occurences before doing anything else.
It's probably time to hack some old remotes for IR leds and put together something that will film at night

Edit:noncense, I just saw your post. I'm not going to get out of my way either to get this fixed. If the soft method does'nt work I won't have a lot of reasonnable options left to choose from.
 
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biglights

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Document this and then talk to him. If he continues then contact the police and let him know of your intentions. It may be harmless, but it is still harassment. And it needs to stop!!! I am sure a little intervention from the police will put an end to this crazy habit. Good luck..
 

Leoht

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I would get a 12 V electric fence energiser and electrify the car that would soon stop him from touching it
 

mr_maurice

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Haha removing the wipers sounds like a fun one-time idea. For some reason I don't feel like electrifying my car's body, or I would remove all traces of gas in the tank before.
I smeared the little bush of grass he usually takes the leaves from with dog poo though.
If he doesn'nt strike during the next 1 or 2 hrs I'ill have a camera hidden in another car and see whatever happens, thats a good 3h30 of footage before manually deleting the file.
 
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If your neighbor is suffering from some sort of medical/emotional trouble, it might not be a good idea to escalate the situation. :shakehead

Even if he's not, arming him with dog poo might lead to a totally different mess for you to clean from under your windshield wipers. :ohgeez: :green: :barf::hairpull:

~ Chance
 

PhotonWrangler

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I agree with others here that this seems to hint of a mental/emotional issue with this fellow. I think Labrador has it right; strike up a friendly conversation with his wife and see if you can steer the conversation to that of concern over his behaviors. If you approach the situation with an air of concern rather than anger, you might help him get on the road to receiving appropriate treatment, which would be a win for everybody.
 

peterkin101

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Best way with these things is IGNORE it if you can. NOT Ideal but at least it doesn't escalate and in time he'll grow tired of it.

Then try talking to him and if that doesn't work you'll need to apprach a Lawyer with a view to an Injunction.

Whatever you do DO NOT get involved with booby trapping your car, throwing dog mess at him or any of that rubbish-despite the temptation.

First it gives him ammunition to report you to the Police which then gets YOU into trouble.

Secondly it could dramatically escalate the situation.

I think it needs to be videoed and you need to take down dates and times etc for evidence

Court is the last resort but that may be the only option and you need to be in a position to win.

Hope it gets sorted.
 
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JemR

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Difficult situation mr maurice. This man could well be dealing with some mental health issues. Unfortunately, too many people do. So any face to face confrontation may go badly. When you have some video evidence, I think I would send him a letter. Being very polite, but formal and concise, telling him you know what he does and you would like it to stop immediately and if it does then that may be the end of it. Not mentioning his mental heath or the video at this point. Worth a try to see what happens. Hopefully if he or his wife/family read what he is doing, how it effects you and your family, it may stop. If it continues send a letter weekly detailing what he has done and telling him you may now take the matter further and what that further will be with the video evidence you have. Police, authorities, law etc. It is harassment as it is obviously troubling you. You may have to decide how far you wish to take it, unfortunately, for it to stop. Whatever you decide I wish you well.
 
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